264 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The advocates of the square frame 

 may think their side is poorly repre- 

 sented, but do not mention that, lest 

 the other side make that an excuse, 

 and keep mum._ If my proposition is 

 agreed to, I will Vrite out my article 

 as soon as I know it, and know who 

 the other advocate is to be. 



Mendon, Mich., May 10, 1883. 



ror tho American Bee JoumaL 



The Great Need of a Bee Boom. 



JOS. 31. HAMBAUGH. 



This section is sadly in need of a 

 bee boom. Old fogyism reigns su- 

 preme, and notwithstanding the sur- 

 roundings, will warrant the belief of 

 this being a superior point for har- 

 vesting the nectar, but few of my 

 neighbors use a movable frame hive, 

 preferring to indulge in the old-fash- 

 ioned box, constructed of rough 

 planks, with round sticks through the 

 ■centre, and, perhaps, slats at the top 

 and bottom. This seems, in their es- 

 timation, a broad stride over the old- 

 fashioned mode of hollow bee logs, 

 Bawed up iu about .3 feet blocks, with 

 a roof over one end ; not appearing to 

 see the gist of the new-fangled idea 

 of the movable frames ; and though 

 they keep abreast of the times in 

 other matters, the poor little honey- 

 bee is left to battle with the ignor- 

 ance of the past. 



The common German black bee is 

 the only kind within 20 miles of this 

 section, if I mistake not ; and yet 

 honey (though of au inferior quality) 

 has always been abundant. 



To the east and southeast of my 

 residence is spread a vast waste of low 

 lands, four miles in width, reaching 

 to the Illinois river, wtiich is subject 

 to overflow. This region is studded 

 With willow, button-brush, boneset, 

 pond-lily, Spanish needle, and myriads 

 t)f other blossoms, not known to the 

 vmcultured. To the north and west 

 are the bluffs.whose fertile hills, where 

 not disturbed with the woodman s 

 axe, is heavily wood, with linden or 

 basswood predominating. How^many 

 colonies can I have without exhaust- 

 ing the pasturage'? I have 17 colo- 

 nies with which to make a start ; all 

 natives, and I intend to Italianize as 

 soon as all are in movable frame 

 hives. I have 27 Langstroth hives 

 completed for the purpose, and I wish 

 to ask if the perforated zinc, for ex- 

 cluding drones and the queen from 

 the upper story, is a success ? If not, 

 what divice is used, if any V 



The writer has bad the pleasure of 

 visiting Charles Dadant & Son, of 

 Hamilton, 111., and though we came 

 as a stranger, we were treated as a 

 brother. A glimpse among their bees 

 and foundation manufaetory was 

 W'Orth many times the expense of my 

 trip, and opened my eyes to the on- 

 ward march of scientitic bee-culture. 

 Long may they live as shining lights 

 in scientific bee-culture. 



Versailles, 111., May 14, 1883. 



[Your pasturage resources are 

 good, but you will find the 17 quite 

 enough to begin with. As they in- 



crease, so will your knowledge of the 

 business increase, by the practical 

 knowledge you will obtain in manag- 

 ing them. The zinc excludes are 

 used by many, and are considered in- 

 dispensable by them. — Ed.] 



Wi\m\ ixntX Boiu, 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Sundry (Questions. 



1. How long sliould the brood-comb 

 remain in the hive before changing 

 for new ; as some claim that the cells 

 gradually become less • by frequent 

 breeding in them y 



2. How old ought a queen to be be- 

 fore she should be replaced with a 

 young one ? 



3. Does the old queen leave the old 

 hive with the fir.st swarm in the springy 



4. Why do bees lie out on the sides 

 of the hives, so long in spring, before 

 they swarm ; are they waiting for a 

 queen to batch, or is their old queen 

 to come with them, and she is too 

 old ; or what ? D. F. Marks. 



South Bosque, Texas, May 9, 1883. 



Answer.— 1. I never destroy a 

 comb on account of its age alone. I 

 saw comb that I was assured came 

 from a hive over 40 years old, and the 

 owner pronounced the colony as vig- 

 orous and prosperous as ever. 



2. She ought not to be replaced as 

 long as she proves worthy, by her 

 works. 



3. Yes. 



4. There are two reasons for such 

 laying out ; first, the neglect to give 

 them full opportunity to work, and 

 sometimes intense heat, and when 

 the master does not do his duty they 

 swallow large drafts of honey and 

 hang outside of the hives in clusters, 

 transforming that honey into scales 

 of wax. 



Is it Square-Dealing' J 



In looking over a bee paper (not the 

 Bee Journal), I saw the following : 

 " Square dealing men." We, whose 

 names appear below, do not know 

 that we have a single dissatisfied per- 

 son with whom we nave had dealings ; 

 but if we have, such will confer favor 

 by writing us kindly, and we will do 

 our best to render satisfaction," — 

 Among those names, is one with 

 whom I have had a little " deal," and 

 I fear that little was, at the best, " a 

 deal too much." I will put the case 

 by asking some questions which I 

 wish answered through the Bee 

 Journal, as I have twice written the 

 party and can get no reply from him. 



1. Is it square-dealing to advertise 

 a Langstroth frame, and send a Sim- 

 plicity V 



2. Is it square-dealing to sell colo- 

 nies of bees that have had or been ex- 

 posed to foul brood 'i 



3 Would bees that were healthy 

 and free from the disease in May, be 

 likely to die of it in tlie fall V 



4. If you should take frames of 

 brood and bees from a hive and form 

 a nucleus in June, and the old colony 

 dies in the fall, and next fall you find 

 that colony (the nucleus) has the foul 

 brood, would yoti not think it came 

 from the frames forming that nuclei, 

 especially if those frames contained 

 most of the foul brood ? 



5. If there were no bees within 4^ 

 or 5 miles, domestic or wild, would 

 there be any probability of their be- 

 coming infected from outside, or wild 

 bees, and dying the same season ? 



6. Is there any redress for one who 

 is thus imposed upon, unless through 

 exposure, which most or all dislike to 

 do, but right should supplant right 

 and wrong. O. B, Scofield. 



Y'ork, Maine. 



Answers.— When I first saw that 

 " square " department, I thought that 

 it would only serve as a hiding place 

 for some dishonest dealers to lurk in, 

 where they could deceive many be- 

 ginners of our pursuit. In it I found 

 the names of men of whom I had 

 heard grave complaints, and failed to 

 find the names of some of our well- 

 known reliable dealers. It reminded 

 me of the French bastile, prior to the 

 Revolution, where "most that were in, 

 ought to be out, and many that were 

 out, ought to be in." Right here I 

 want to express a long harbored opin- 

 ion, and that is, that he who succeeds 

 in giving perfect satisfaction to all he 

 deals with, will do great injustice to 

 some of his customers or to himself. 

 It is not right, and is an immoral 

 method of seeking patronage to in- 

 dulge the selfish in their unjust de- 

 mands. Some just person must foot 

 this indulgence bill. Besides this, 

 it develops to a higher degree this 

 wrong propensity in the indulged. 

 Each dealer should draw his own line 

 of justice, and in drawing that line, 

 use his imagination with which to 

 place himself in the outside party's 

 place, and then live up to this, his 

 highest conception of justice, and let 

 the people decide by their acts whether 

 or not he has drawn the line well. 

 No man who does this duty, can 

 honestly get into that "square-list" 

 upon the terms it proposes. No man 

 can deal with one hundred customes 

 exactly on the square, and nothing 

 more, and not have one dissatisfied. 

 My advice is, do not try it. " Dare 

 to do right ; dare to be true," and you 

 have nothing to fear. 



I have dealt in supplies on quite an 

 extensive scale for three or four years, 



