11.8 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



between the Italians and Germans, 

 and their combs were free from 

 " bulges," there was no indulgence 

 in " brace combs," and each and every 

 section was as square and true as a 

 brick. 



. In recapitulation allow me to say 

 that, to dispense with separators use 

 narrower sections, fill them with 

 Given foundation, keep the hives 

 level, do not give the bees more room 

 than they can occupy, and either keep 

 German bees or those having a dash 

 of German blood. 

 Eogersville, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How Far Bees will Fly. 



J. D. ENAS. 



I notice many remarks as to how far 

 bees will fly, and also on as to the 

 clipping the wings of the queen, and 

 its effects upon the wing-power of her 

 progeny. 



I live in the foot-hills where timber 

 is not plenty, and bee trees, conse- 

 quently, very scarce. Early in the 

 spring, before the sage gets regularly 

 in bloom, bees have to fly a good part 

 of the time' between the showers, es- 

 pecially until April. 



I have practiced clipping wings for 

 the last 7 years, and see no reason why 

 I should cease to do so. 



A few years ago, one of my neigh- 

 bors (about S miles away, or about 7 

 in a bee line), when no one had Ital- 

 ians but myself, in this vicinity, called 

 on me, and said that he got awfully 

 fooled on my bees. lie lives in the 

 Thermal belt, and had early bloom in 



E refusion. Xoticing bees at work on 

 loom, near his house, he saw that 

 they were pure, bright-banded Ital- 

 ians, and looked very much like what 

 he saw at my place. Knowing that I 

 lived (as he thought) too far away for 

 my bees to visit him, he tried to line 

 them, thinking to lind the bee tree or 

 their home in the rocks, and to secure 

 a swarm of pure Italians. My eleva- 

 tion is 700 feet, and his about 2,000, 

 above the sea level. From his place 

 to the nearest valley, in my direction, 

 is 3 miles. He lined them 3 miles to 

 the foot of his range of hills, when 

 they rose in the air and made a direct 

 line for my direction. I do not know 

 of any one in the county who had pure 

 Italians except myself, and I had lost 

 no swarms at that time. That was 

 several years after I had commenced 

 to clip the queen's wing. 



The same spring was very wet, with 

 sudden showers ; bees would get 

 caught in the showers ; but, it being 

 very warm, would soon dry and finish 

 their flight. 



I do not imagine a slight clipping of 

 the tip of one wing, so as to make 

 them fly uneven, aflects their muscu- 

 lar development of wing power. I 

 learn that there is not a blackberry 

 patch within 5 or miles of me, but 

 what my bees visit, as there is some 

 considerable difference in the time of 

 bloom, owing to their position and 

 surrounding influence. All wild bees 

 found here are blacks or hybrids ; none 

 pure as mine have been found by bee 



hunters, and there is hardly a wild 

 colony but what has been located. 



What effect has clippingon the ant? 

 Should it affect the progeny of the 

 queen bee any more ? The queen ant 

 has her wing severed where it joins 

 the body : am I right V 



Xapa, Cal. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Getting the Statistics. 



L. N. TONGUE. 



As Dr. C. C. ^Miller calls for sugges- 

 tions as to the best metliod to secure 

 full reports of bee-keepers, number of 

 colonies, amount of honey crop in 

 each state and county, I will venture 

 to make this suggestion. Furnish 

 each assessor in every town with 

 blanks to be filled out by him at the 

 time taxes are assessed ; and let him 

 report the same to the county clerks, 

 or to such person appointed to receive 

 such reports. I know of no better 

 way whereby as full and complete re- 

 ports can be obtained. Tliere are a 

 large number of bee-keepers who 

 know nothing of the wish of those 

 who are anxious for reports, from the 

 fact they take no bee periodicals, and 

 hence, they are not interested in mak- 

 ing reports. 



I know of some 35 bee-keepers with- 

 in a radius of some 20 miles of my 

 apiary, and I think I can safely say 

 that hot over 12 of the number take 

 bee periodicals. Some of them have as 

 high as 70 colonies ; one has 2.5 colo- 

 nies, and so on dowii to 5 colonies. I 

 have talked with several of them, 

 urging the benefit they would derive 

 by taking some periodical devoted ex- 

 clusively to apiculture, but I am 

 met with this reply : " I do not want 

 to subscribe now ; I read an article in 

 a paper that tells all about managing 

 bees." Such twaddle makes me feel 

 like letting such people enjoy their 

 ignorance ; the truth is, they are 

 afraid to pay a dollar for something 

 they cannot eat. If the above sugges- 

 tion will help mature a plan to bring 

 out the full report so much desired by 

 the honey-producers, I shall be glad. 

 I have 30 colonies in the cellar, appar- 

 ently doing well ; and 10 others owned 

 by Mr. Jameson. We have 40 in all, 

 from 10, spring count. 



HiUsborough, AVis. 



For tlic American Bee Journal. 



The Hives I Like!and Use. 



HOWARD W. .\CKER5IAN. 



I can easily say what hive I like the 

 best, although my saying so does not 

 add to the value of it in the least. It 

 is the one known as the Simplicity, 

 first made by A. I. Root. It is simply 

 a Langstroth hive without portico or 

 permanent bottom-board, and takes 

 10 standard Langstroth frames. It is 

 2034 inches long, and 16 inches wide 

 outside, with body mitered together 

 at the corners. The top is beveled, as 

 is also the bottom of the cover, fitting 

 over, telescope fashion, and making a 

 a perfect joint. To make a two-story 



hive another body is used. The bot- 

 tom of every body being beveled so as 

 to fit the top of any other hive or 

 body perfectly. You" can thus have a 

 one, two or three story hive by simply 

 placing one body on top of another, 

 tiering up as high as you wish. The 

 cover and bottom board are the same, 

 being interchangable. But even this 

 hive I regard as far from being per- 

 fect, as we shall see. 



Mr. Heddon, in an able article in a 

 late number of the Bee Journal, de- 

 scribes the hive he uses, also some of 

 his methods of manipulating, and, al- 

 though I indorse much that he says, 

 there are a few points on which I beg 

 to differ. 



In summing up the necessary prin- 

 ciples in the construction of a hive, he 

 says : 



1. "All hives should be easily and 

 readily movable." I most assuredly 

 Indorse that. 



2. " The stories should move off and 

 on each other without the necessity 

 of the least upward or downwarn mo- 

 tion ; that is, no telescoping princi- 

 ple." Why not, I ask y Thetele.scop- 

 ing principle more effectually protects 

 tlie hive and bees from the inclemency 

 of the weather than any other device, 

 and if the hives are " easily and 

 readily movable " (as they certainly 

 should be), the •■ upward and down- 

 ward motion " necessary to move the 

 supers on and off tlie hive should not 

 be very fatiguing, especially if they 

 have a capacity of only 25 pounds of 

 honey, as Mr. Heddon recommends. 



3. " There should be no dead-air 

 space or double covering over the sur- 

 plus room." I differ here, and unless 

 I misunderstand the latter part of the 

 article (in which he quotes from the 

 specifications of the Langstroth pat- 

 ent), Mr. Langstroth did also. 



4. " The sections should never rest 

 on each other or the brood frames." I 

 most heartily indorse that. That is 

 an objection I have to the Simplicity 

 hive as now made. The full height of 

 the upper story is all right if extract- 

 ing only is to be done, but where we 

 run for comb honey in 4,yx4i4 sec- 

 tions, I should much prefer a story of 

 one-half the height to take 7 wide 

 frames of 414x17 inches, inside meas- 

 urement, to hold 4 sections instead of 

 8 ; the number used in the present ar- 

 rangement. A super of this style 

 would hold 28 one-pound sections, and 

 with a tin separator permanently 

 fastened to each wide frame would be 

 a very desirable arrangement indeed. 

 Another super of the same size could 

 be added whenever needed, tiering up 

 three and four high in the same man- 

 ner that Mr. Heddon does with his 

 cases. The brood-chamber cover 

 covering them all. 



Two of these shallow supers could 

 be readily tacked together, and by 

 substituting 10 regular Langstroth 

 brood frames, for the 14 wide frames, 

 we would have a single upper story for 

 extracting. A super could also be 

 made of a suitable height to take 7 

 wide frames, each holding 3 prize 

 boxes, or 21 two-pound sections in all. 

 These could, of course, be tiered up 

 in the same manner as the smaller 

 ones, or a super of each could be 



