154 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



holding on to the best, and only the 

 best to be had, and not In a tliins^ be- 

 cause our natural father's, or father's 

 in bee culture, have used it. I say, 

 therefore, if you can, make something 

 good, use it and show it to your 

 neiglibors ; but do not rush into the 

 patent and monopoly business. 



I hear a call for a '"'standard hive," 

 which might be a good one, and it 

 might be otherwise. It would, no 

 doubt, be very convenient, but strikes 

 the death blow to inventive genius, 

 and malies bee-keeping a machinery 

 business. 



I am one of those who look for 

 greater advancement in the future 

 than in the past. A standard hive, 

 fifty years ago!! Just think of it! 

 A log gum manipulated by the brim- 

 stone match. We cannot afford to 

 stop here ; but let us rather " go on 

 toward perfection.'" Wlien I read 

 the proposition for a vote on hives, I 

 thought, why not change that a little 

 and call for the solid scientific princi- 

 ples of a really good hive, and make 

 all kinds conform to tliem, and thus 

 get our standard hive. The number 

 of hives is legion, but not so the good 

 ones, much less the sound principles 

 of hive construction. 



I want to say to " Subscriber " of 

 Milan. N. Y., that if he will take his 

 -Vmerican frames and put them in a 

 hive, on Mr. Doolittle's plan, he will 

 have no reason to regret it. I do not 

 use the American frame, but would 

 use it so, if at all. In my judgment 

 the American frame would be much 

 improved by cutting, say, a 8-16 slot 

 out of each side of the frame nearly 

 to each end, letting the comb attach 

 in the centre of frame, and using no 

 honey-board. No trouble will be e.x- 

 perieuced if the bee spaces are not 

 large enough tn allow them to start 

 comb up throutrh them. 



Custer. 111., Feb. 3, 18S3. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Upward Ventilation in Winter. 



H. L. JEFFERY. 



In the Bsa .JouRXAL for Jan. 2-1 

 page 52, Mr. G. M, Doolittle tells us 

 about trying the Hill plan of shutting 

 off all, or nearly all, of upward venti- 

 lation. I have, for 2 or 3 years, been 

 watching to see if Mr. D". would not 

 say something about hermetically 

 sealing the top of the brood chamber, 

 but not one word, or even a hint, at 

 it. In 1S76, I had a very small swarm 

 given to me, late in the fall, with not 

 more than comb enough to lill two 

 Langstroth frames, if it had been 

 transferred, but I left them in the box- 

 hive and fed them some syrup; then 

 corked the hive tight ; I put the hive 

 in a large dry goods box, in a very 

 sheltered situation, and, in lS77,it was 

 one of my best colonies. The same 

 fall I took two hives that held 13 

 American frames each, and put the 

 bees in the centre on .5 combs each, 

 set up a tight-fitting division-board 

 each side, laid some sticks across the 

 tops, then covered with a cloth and 

 put 4or5 thicknesses of heavy manilla 

 paper over the top, and packed the 



sides full, letting the paper extend 

 front and rear, laid another sheet over 

 the top of the hive and pressed the 

 cap down carefully; this completely 

 sealed them up, and they had more 

 brood than any other 4 colonies put 

 together, on May 1. 



I have, since then, continued to 

 practice the sealing method, more or 

 less, every season, with perfect suc- 

 cess. I have written to and talked 

 with a number of bee-keepers about 

 it, but it did not accord with the ven- 

 tilation theory. 



Mr. A. F. Moon once wrote to nie 

 " that what I know is worth as much 

 to me as what others know is worth 

 to them, if they do not agree with 

 me." Kow, that Mr. D. has started 

 to use a sealing method, I feel confi- 

 dent, as he infers, that by this method 

 one of the steps to successful winter- 

 ing may be gained. 



Mr. D. also infers that we shall hear 

 of fearful mortality, this winter, 

 among the bees. Jan. 30 I examined 

 about 40 box and frame hives, and I 

 noticed that the dysenterv is begin- 

 ning to show itself in alt the frame 

 hives, where there was any amount of 

 bee bread ; those having sugar syrup 

 were clear, clean and bright; and 

 those wintered on candy of honey and 

 sugar, were as bright, clean and ac- 

 tive as in summer. As Jan. 30 was 

 the first day for bees to fly to any ex- 

 tent, since the middle of November, 

 they had been shut in for 10 weeks or 

 more, but their flying showed which 

 were wintering best, l^efore examina- 

 tion. 



From what I have seen, for the 

 past six winters, I am sure that the 

 Langstroth frame, properly prepared, 

 is just as safe as any. I "have tried 

 the American, Gallup, both Quinbys, 

 a frame the size of the Eclectic, and 

 the Langstroth: the advantages of 

 the latter for surplus more than com- 

 pensates for its disadvantage for win- 

 tering. With a hive having chaff, 

 front and rear, with 3 inches of chaff 

 under the bottom board, and room 

 on the sides for chaff cushions, a good 

 tight-fitting enamel cloth over the 

 frames, with a passage ^g to fg over 

 the top bars, and then some chaff on 

 top of the cloth, I will risk the best or 

 poorest colony on the Langstroth 

 frame as quickly as any other. 



I have noticed, so far this winter, 

 that the box hives are taking a clean- 

 ing out that will make them beauti- 

 fully scarcer than they were one year 

 ago, and those in frame hives, prop- 

 erly cared for, are laying. My bees 

 are not suffering much this winter; 

 about 19 per cent, of the bees in box 

 hives are playing out, so far, from all 

 that I hear of. 



Woodbury, Ct., Feb. 2, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Central Kansas Convention. 



In pursuance to a call, the bee- 

 keepers of Central Kansas held their 

 first meeting at Manhattan, Kansas, 

 on Saturday, March 10, 1883. During 

 miscellaneous business, a resolution 

 was adopted asking the authorities of 

 the State Agricultural College to 



teach apiculture in connection with 

 entomology. The treasurer reports 

 finances in good condition. The sec- 

 retary gave encouraging reports from 

 this section of country. The associa- 

 tion listened to a paper by Mr. Robert 

 Corbett, entitled, '■ Hints to Begin- 

 ners," which was just what we needed. 

 Association adjcjurned to meet on 

 June 30, 1883. Seven members signed 

 the Constitution. We hope to meet 

 bee-keepers from all parts of the 

 State at our next meeting, so as to 

 put us on ;i firm footing. 



Thos. Bassler, Sec. 

 Box 436, Manhattan, Kansas. 



For the American Bee Journal- 

 Can we afford Half-Pound Sections ? 



W. E. CLARK. 



The half-pound section has been 

 receiving considerable attention. Of 

 all the articles I have seen on that 

 subject, the one by G. M. Doolittle.in 

 Gkaninqs, for February, is the best ; 

 in fact, he hits the nail on the head 

 every time. It will be well for us to 

 read it carefully and proht by the ad- 

 vice he gives. He discusses the subject 

 in a straightforward and unbiased 

 manner ; does not gush over, as some 

 do, but gives the facts in a plain, busi- 

 ness-like way, and I would say that it 

 will be well if apiarists heed the advice 

 given. It has become a fact, well 

 established, that the smaller the sec- 

 tions the less honey you get. The 

 great bulk of apiarists keep bees for 

 the profit, and that comes from the 

 surplus honey we get. Now, if cut- 

 ting down the sections would raise 

 tlie price of honey, so that we would 

 realize as much for it as in larger 

 ones.adding the shrinkage in quantity, 

 extra expense, and labor, it would do ; 

 but past experience has taught us that 

 it cannot be done. Let the half-pound 

 box become the standard, and you and 

 I will get no more for our honey than 

 we do now for that in one and two- 

 pound boxes. Is this our past experi- 

 ence y We think so. 



Mr. Doolittle tells us, by testimony 

 unimpeachable, that it cannot be sold 

 in half-pound sections, for less than 

 46c. per lb., to warrant us in using 

 them Do you think Mr. Doolittle's 

 views are a little strong ? He does 

 not give his individual views only, but 

 they are backed up by figures and past 

 experience that challenges successful 

 contradiction. 



The editor of Gleanings talks about 

 catering to the wants of the consumer. 

 Now, candidly, is it not the supply 

 dealer that wants the half-pound sec- 

 tion V There is a certain class of men, 

 and we have some of them who are 

 producers, but, as Mr. Doolittle says, 

 have a restless spirit, always trying to 

 have something different from anyone 

 else, and this class have tried almost 

 all kinds of occupation and failed. 

 The buncombe reports published by 

 some visionary bee-men have called 

 them into our ranks. 



The general opinion of producers is 

 that we must get double the price for 

 honey in half-pound sections that we 

 do for that in the one and two-pound' 



