790 



THE AMERICA!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



of thanks for his labor and for his 

 patent, yet it is plain that a few 

 patents were spread over the country 

 which were a hindrance to progressive 

 bee-culture. But liappilj? nearly all 

 of these have gone out or use. How 

 absurd to think of success with a hive 

 without division-boards ; with the 

 whole upper story and cover solid ; 

 with closed top-Viars nearly tlieir 

 whole length, and frames fitting close 

 to stays at their sides, to be ever 

 fastened by the bees, proving, wlien 

 removed, to be regular bee and queen 

 killers! But says one, "I use such 

 hives and obtainhoney." So you may, 

 my friend, and you can get itby using 

 a box-hive or a barrel, or almost any- 

 thing ; and so we can cut our grass 

 with a hand scythe, but how mucli 

 easier and faster is hay obtained with 

 the mower ! Often I have heard the 

 let-alone-plan advised, but after see- 

 ing what can be done with correct 

 management, some will venture to 

 try their hands at this. 



I call to mind one particular case. 

 1 was transferring a colony from a 

 box-hive when a neighbor called and 

 stated that he had a wonderful colony 

 of bees which he had just bought for 

 the small sum of ten dollars, in the 

 old Kidder hive. I asked how many 

 frames there were ; he did not know, 

 but guessed it was full, at any rate, 

 it was a big hive, and the party of 

 whom he bought stated that the col- 

 ony did wonders during the previous 

 season. He thought it was all folly 

 to go to the expense of my arrange- 

 ment, but the sequel showed him his 

 mistake. While the transferred bees 

 made a splendid return in surplus 

 honey and swarms, his did nothhig. 

 I had occasion to visit a party with 

 the improved arrangement, and while 

 there this old neighbor came, too, and 

 looking rather " down in the mouth." 

 asked me to go and see if I could dis- 

 cover the cause of his bees acting as 

 they did. He had just removed them 

 from the cellar, and they appeared to 

 be weak ; he also said that they acted 

 strangely during all the previous sum- 

 mer. They would dart around and 

 act as if dissatislied with their home. 

 I suggested that they might be 

 troubled with moths. "Can you not 

 go and see them ?" said he. Have 

 you not opened them V I asked. " Oh 

 no, they would sting me to death." I 

 was in a hurry ; however, I went over, 

 and after digging and prying a long 

 time I succeeded in removing the old 

 honey-board, when about as many 

 worms as bees appeared to view. The 

 queen tried hard to locate and start 

 brood in several places in that very 

 large hive, but the moths had driven 

 them every time, and they were re- 

 duced to about a pint of bees. I 

 knew, of course, that he could do 

 nothing for them, and the shortest 

 cut seemed to be to tit the hive so as 

 to take the Langstroth frame, which 

 was done, and single division-boards 

 were put in. With care I got comb 

 enough from the old hive to till two 

 of these frames. They were packed 

 with chaff and cloth, paper and chalf 

 being put over them. 1 directed him 

 how to manage them, and to his sur- 

 prise that little nucleus gave him two 



swarms and a good amount of surplus 

 honey. He now handles tiis bees and 

 knows just their condition at all times, 

 and says that " guess work '" cannot be 

 depended upon. 1 give ttiis one case 

 to illustrate the condition of tliou- 

 sands. 



It is a positive fact that no occupa- 

 tion will be successful unless properly 

 attended to in all its minor points, 

 and bee-keeping is no exception. 

 Unless one loves the bees and intends 

 to study them and devote some time 

 and expense on them., he may as well 

 give them a severe letting alone; but 

 on the other hand, if he will only 

 make his bees a study, as he does all 

 his other work, he will find much 

 amusement and some profit in it. 



At the present time there is great 

 diversity of opinion as to what stranis 

 of bees are preferable. One says : "H 

 we want bees to sell, we need the pure 

 Italians ; but if for business, the 

 hybrids are just as good ; while 

 another says that he wants the long, 

 leather-colored Italians. I thought 

 that an Italian was yellow at any 

 rate, if pure : because we are told that 

 the three yellow bands are a test of 

 purity. Still, the best imported 

 Queens are sometimes dark ; in fact, 

 I do not believe that all queens from 

 good colonies are perfect any more 

 than tliat the progeny of other colo- 

 nies of any kind will be blessed with 

 perfect qualities, every time. I do 

 not believe that we can produce 

 queens whose offspring will be smart 

 workers, etc., if we breed and mate 

 queens from the same colony. And 

 this is my reason for favoring hybrids, 

 or at least one reason. It is a fact 

 that we can do double the amount of 

 extracting from hybrids (or black 

 bees) that we can from Italians, and 

 they are not quite so fond of their 

 younger brothers and sisters, so they 

 will leave the brood-nests and take to 

 the sections a little freer than the 

 Italians. But when we come to the 

 manipulation of the hives, the Ital- 

 ians are far preferable. One will 

 notice this very readily if he has occa- 

 sion to extract from a variety. He 

 will see also how much more work it 

 is to get the Italians off the combs; 

 besides, he will see liundreds of Ital- 

 ians scattered all about the hive, 

 while with the others, nearly all will 

 be inside. I do not speak of this to 

 condemn the Italians, for I like their 

 gentleness very much, but I intend to 

 keep on the right side of my bees, or 

 in other words, I intend to be master 

 at the start, the same as I would with 

 a horse or any creature which pos- 

 sesses a cross disposition. I do earn- 

 estly say, do not drop the Italians, 

 but keep the best, and guard against 

 in-and-in breeding as far as is within 

 your power, and I believe perfection 

 will be reached in time. 



I think that the hive which we use 

 has much to do with the disposition 

 of bees. Let us begin on a hive where 

 we cannot pry the case from the 

 frames, and see how the bees will be- 

 come aroused by the time we lift up a 

 few frames which are adhering to the 

 case which we are lifting. Robbers 

 "smell the rat," and not a few are 

 calling to seek what they may devour, 



and perhaps a queen is killed, or a 

 valuable comb or two smashed. By 

 that time the bee-keeper says : " I 

 do not want any more chaff-hives." 

 Xow, my idea is, a chaff-hive every 

 time. I believe it is of much account 

 to pack the cover with some coarse 

 material, as hay or chaff, as a shade, 

 and also to keep it warmer in winter ; 

 and again, to press down the enam- 

 eled cloth or quilt which may be over 

 the upper story. 



Let the hive be what it may, I pre- 

 fer one whose frames are level with 

 the top of the hive, so that in remov- 

 ing cases we can press a knife or 

 chisel directly between them and the 

 frames. I want the hive so con- 

 structed that when the division-boards 

 are in place, there will be no possible 

 exit for the bees, aside from the en- 

 trance, of course 



For the American Bee Journal. 



' The Apicultural Outlook." 



R. J. KENDALL. 



On page 7.56 Mr. Heddon gives us 

 some good thoughts under the above 

 heading, but there is one point in 

 which 1 differ from him, and that is, 

 the organization idea ; which of us is 

 right,! am glad to say, is in a fair way 

 of being tested. For some reasons I 

 would like Mr. Heddon to be right, 

 and on the other hand I would like to 

 be right myself, for other reasons. 

 But let us see. JMr. Heddon, like nie, 

 deplores the unsatisfactory condition 

 of the honey market, but adds (prob- 

 ably alluding to my idea that organi- 

 zation would kill the adulteration and 

 better the state of things), " Allow 

 me to predict that organization will 

 not stop this condition of things." 

 That is Mr. Heddon's opinion. Now, 

 when Mr. Heddon speaks on matters 

 relative to the management of bees, I 

 stand silent and do not presume to 

 reply, yet on this subject the opinion 

 of a beginner may be equally as sound 

 as Mr. Heddon's. This, I" presume. 

 Mr. Heddon will admit — with slight 

 reservation any way. 



Mr. Heddon probably is aware by 



this time, from his perusal of the 



! British Bee Journal, that that paper 



has been almost continually slapping, 



directly or indirectly, at American 



honey, and giving currency to the 



idea that American honey, as a class 



of honey, is usually adulterated ; in 



other words, they have the glucose 



problem over there, more or less ; the 



idea is out that American honey is 



adulterated with glucose. Whether 



this is true or not. matters not for the 



I purpose of ray argument. 



I How have the Britishers met the 



I problem ? They have organized. A 



honey company called " The British 



I Honey Company " is just formed, the 



1 advertisement, brand or label (The 



I British Isles) are published in the last 



! issues of the above-named bee-paper. 



The label is a very taking one, and I 



predict that it will be very popular, 



and more, in my opinion it is the 



1 hardest hit at and will do more to 



I keep American honey out of the mar- 



' ket than any thing that the Britishers 



