THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



585 



whose surface has been so often fer- 

 tilized by the bodies of human beings 

 slain in battle. 

 Battle Ground, Ind. 



National Farmer. 



Colorado as a Locality t6r Bees. 



J. S. FLORY. 



When I made my first visit to Colo- 

 rado I considered the propriety of en- 

 gaging ill the bee business here, but 

 must say that the apparently desert 

 plaitis and absence of honey produc- 

 ing forests made quite an unfavorable 

 impression on my mind in the direc- 

 tion of ajiiarian science. J^ike the 

 stockman on his first visit to our arid 

 plains who declared that there was 

 not enough grass to the acre to give a 

 goose a decent living, I could not see 

 otherwise ihat a colony of bees would 

 soon starve here, and from the ob- 

 servation of otliers engaged in the 

 business, I am prepared to say Colo- 

 rado is well adapted to successful bee 

 culture— at least a good portion of the 

 Slate is so adapted. As it is true 

 *' full many a rose is born to blush un- 

 seen," so that there are many a thous- 

 and pounds of delicious honey in 

 Colorado left to waste its sweetness 

 on desert air, all for the want of bees 

 to gather it. A man once said he lost 

 $10,000 in one season, simply because 

 he did not have cattle to eat up the 

 grass on the prairies around him ; in 

 a like manner our losses in the State 

 are great by not having the bee at 

 hand to gather the sweets that are in 

 nature's storehouse all around us. 



Every person of experience in the 

 Eastern States knows that warm 

 weather, with occasional showers, are 

 accessory to a good honey season, and 

 that a continued drouth was fatal to 

 the bee's harvest. Looking at the 

 matter from this standpoint, we had 

 our doubts in regard to our arid clime 

 being favorable for bee culture. Our 

 conclusions, however, now are that 

 hot days followed by cool nights facil- 

 itate the secretion of honey in tlowers 

 better than anv other state of weather. 

 In the East tlie drought days usually 

 followed by warm night, was fatal to 

 the honey prospects ; occasional show- 

 ers cooled the air, and this was favora- 

 ble, therefore, the temperature was of 

 more importance than dampness. 

 Again, continual rains destroy tlie 

 honey crop, and deprive the bees the 

 opportunity to go on the wing. Now, 

 taking these things into consideration, 

 and reasoning from the above alluded 

 to hy])othesis, we arrived at the solu- 

 tion of what seemed to be to us a puz- 

 zle : Why bees did so well in our dry 

 climate." Our hot days followed by 

 cool nights give to nature her sweets 

 in abundance, and -having no pro- 

 longed rains, bees have the best op- 

 })ortunity to improve each shining 

 lour, and that you know, in Colorado, 

 means from sun-up to sun down, one 

 day after another, week in and week 

 out. Thus we see instead of Colorado 

 being a poor country for bee-culture 

 it is just the reverse. 



Of the many honey producing plants 

 tliat abound in our State, the despised 



and much abused cactus, probably 

 stands first; then in their season, we 

 have goldenrod, aster and thousands 

 of others. All we need to make honey 

 an important item of wealth added to 

 Colorado's prosperity, is an awakened 

 interest in the matter and bees to 

 gather the honey. Nature makes the 

 lioney, we want the bees to gather it. 

 To secure success, in the lirst place, 

 we want the Italian bee, it being 

 more prolific, more hardy, and a 

 climate more akin to ours, w^e think 

 them far superior to the common 

 black bee. Second, a rcovable hive. 

 Third, colonies sliould be kept strong 

 in numbers and rich in stores in order 

 tostiiuulate toearly breeding. Fourth, 

 enough apiary science to give one the 

 knowledge the queen bee is not a 

 king, but the mother of the whole 

 colony; that an abundance of drones 

 are a nuisance, being a class of tramps 

 that live off the industry of others, 

 but few should be allowed to be reared. 

 Fifth, common sense enough to know- 

 how and when to make artificial 

 swarms, and when to leave these 

 alone ; too many colonies are killed 

 by kindness— too muchattention. The 

 fatal mistake with many, is wanting 

 to get along too fast. 



Fur tho American Bee Journal. 



The Best Comb Foundation. 



J. V. CALDWELL. 



I have been taken to task by Mr. 

 Ileddon for presuming to say the 

 Dunham foundation is a " first-class " 

 article. Well, the meaning of this, as 

 I infer, is when the article fulfills, in 

 a perfect manner, the purpose for 

 whicli it was made, then I say it is a 

 first-class article, and when 1 say the 

 foundation I make does fulfill its pur- 

 pose, I do not wish Mr. Heddon to 

 doubt my word, as I certainly shall 

 not doubt any assertion he may make 

 in this discussion. 



Mr. Ileddon thinks my foundation 

 has been found fault with ; well, I de- 

 sire to say that any of my customers 

 of this season have the liberty to make 

 any statement they wish to, either in 

 public or jirivate. Because I have 

 succeeded in making the Dunham 

 machine a success (which Mr. Iled- 

 don has not), he infers I must be a 

 better mechanic than he is. The fact 

 is, I have never had the advantage of 

 a mechanical trade. Mr. Ileddon gets 

 the impression I am of a conservative 

 turn of mind, and do not want the 

 best bees, etc. Well, I must admit I 

 have not yet gone so far as to claim, 

 with Mr. "ileddon, "that all intelli- 

 gent and unprejudiced men admit 

 evolution to be a fact;" but I do like 

 the best of everything I can get, Dun- 

 ham foundation included. I liave had 

 at least one customer who tried the 

 Given foundation, and did not want 

 any more. I have never tried it my- 

 self, as, so far, the Dunham has an- 

 swered all iturposes in the brood 

 chamber, and this is all I use it for 

 making, and using as I do the thin 

 Vandervort in the sections. Mr. Iled- 

 don infers when I say I have my 

 combs drawn out in a " perfect '' man- 



ner that I must have compared them 

 with one that had dropped from the 

 frame, which is something that does 

 not happen in my apiary. The Given 

 foundation has not always given satis- 

 faction, as Mr. Ileddon well knows. 

 The editor of the Bee Journal tried 

 them together, and was .satisfied the 

 Dunham was superior. The Dunham 

 machine is considered a good one by 

 bee-keepers all over the country (ex- 

 cepting, of course, those who do not 

 know iiow to use it properly). I have 

 no doubt the (iiven foundation is a 

 good article. Any foundation would 

 be when backed up with a wire fac- 

 tory. What we need is a good founda- 

 tion vrithout the necessity and extra 

 expense of hardware to make it ac- 

 cei)table to the bees. I claim; First, 

 that the Dunliam machine is the best 

 made ; and, second, tliat I can print 

 more good sheets of foundation on it 

 tlian can be made on any press ma- 

 chine yet made, and I stand ready to 

 make the claim good in any fair and 

 honorable manner. 

 Cambridge, 111., Aug. 29, 1882. 



[At the time we tested the two 

 makes of foundation together, we 

 found the Dunham much superior, or, 

 rather, much preferred by the bees, 

 and soonest worked; but since that 

 time, as we are informed, there have 

 been great improvements made in the 

 Given dies, and we presume it may 

 now be equal, in every respect, to the 

 Dunham ; and should it be this, surely 

 it is good enough for all practical pur- 

 poses, in the brood chamber. The 

 wash used on the Given foundation 

 when our experiments were con- 

 ducted, undoubtedly had much to do 

 with its failure.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Common Sense Hive. 



WM. CAMM. 



In a late numberof the Journal, Mr. 

 Demaree, of Ky., condemns the Com- 

 mon Sense bee hive as a swindle. I 

 think he is too severe. .About one 

 year ago an elderly gentleman, by the 

 name of B iriifs, called and stayed all 

 night with nie. lie was a thoroughly 

 posted and practical apiarist and be- 

 lieved in his hive. Upon leaving, he 

 insisted upon my taking a hive for 

 trial, and left one, which I did not fill 

 till this summer. It is a good hive, 

 but would not suit me. It is very con- 

 venient, as you can slide the cover 

 either way to examine brood frames 

 or brood nest without disturbing the 

 other. The bottom is hinged to the 

 body and has a hook in front, so as to 

 make it fast or loose as you wish. 

 The frames are deeper than wide, so 

 that it is a good winter hive. My ob- 

 jections are, that it is too small ; that 

 it h.as no cap ami hence the space im- 

 mediately over the brood nest Is lost; 

 then, I prefer a frame that is wider 

 than it is deep— the reverse of this. 

 It is, however, exceedingly simple 



