544 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



food in the cage, as I luulerstood it 

 from him, ami l)oth qiu'ens ami bees 

 were found in tlie vei-y best eomlition 

 when leaching the " end of their 

 journeys. 



I. at first, used a tin tube in the 

 form of a miniature barrel, which 

 was filled with the soft candy and in- 

 serted in the transverse hole in the 

 cage, and the " bimg hole "" in the tin 

 barrel was brought in line with the 

 opening between the queen's apart- 

 ment and the transverse food apart- 

 ment. My idea for using the tin bar- 

 rel was to prevent the soft wood block 

 friim aliscirbing tlie moisture of the 

 candy, and tn exclude the air as much 

 as possible from the same. 



After testing this method of pro- 

 visioning the cage to my own satis- 

 faction, iinding it far superior to the 

 old plan of boring one or two sliallow 

 holes in the top of the block, leaving 

 the fciod exposed to the air, I conceived 

 the idea of waxing the transverse hole 

 and thus secure all the advantages of 

 the tin tulie without its extra expense 

 and troid^le. 



I wax the food apartment of the 

 cages by means of a " swab," which 

 nearly tills the hole. This is dipped 

 in hot wax and inserted into the hole 

 and passed closely to every part, thus 

 filling completely the pores of the 

 wood. After tlie candy is passed 

 into the hole, the latter is corked 

 tightly with a common bottle cork, 

 which is cut off, smooth with the 

 block. 



A few words about soft candy for 

 provisioning queen cages will riot be 

 considered improper here. Doubtless 

 some will remendier that several 

 years ago I experimented considerably 

 with a candy made by mixing pow- 

 dered sugar "with a thiii paste made of 

 hot water and flour ; my idea was that 

 the paste would give adhesiveness to 

 the mixture, and the " rawness " of 

 the sugar would give the moisture. 

 This candy proving to be seriously 

 defective, though lietter than boiled 

 candy. I commenced experimenting 

 with candying honey. A good article 

 of white clover, as i:horoug;hly granu- 

 lated as I could get it. was enclosed in 

 a thin cloth bag and washed in cold 

 water until most of the glucose sub- 

 stance was separated from the mass, 

 after which the residue was tempered 

 with granulated sugar until it was 

 quite firm and stiff. I found this a 

 success in every respect. I used this 

 mixture liefore I ever heard of Mr. 

 Giiod"s mixture of unprepared honey 

 and pow<lered sugar, and for long con- 

 finement, I believe it has no equal as 

 a ca^e food to this day. 



AVTiy did I not give "it to the public ? 

 Well, because I have " went off half 

 cocked "' so often in the past, that I 

 liave learned " great prudence," eh ! 

 But to return to the cage subject. I 

 believe it an injury to a queen to 

 startle her liy povmding on the cage 

 with the hammer, in the process of 

 finishing it, after the queen is put into 

 it. Bees are quite susceptil)le of 

 being alarmed, and a " big scare " is 

 doubtless very detrimental to them. 

 On several "occasions I have seen 

 symptoms of dysentery in bees, that 

 could be traced to no other cause than 

 from the effects of a '• big scare."' 



Therefore, I handle the cages which 

 contain queens gently at the start, till 

 the queen and her escort get over the 

 first excitement consequent on their 

 captivity. The cage should be en- 

 tirely completed, ready for the mail 

 bag, excepting the paper and twine, 

 bef<ire the queen is hurried into it. 



This is easily done by having a little 

 side door to the cage" through which 

 the (jueen and bees will crawl very 

 readily if the cage is held in such a 

 position as to bring the entrance or 

 door at the lowest part of the cage, 

 and show the light aliove. The door 

 can l)e closed by means of any simple 

 device. But as 1 use this cage in 

 preference to any other as an intro- 

 ducing cage, I employ for a shutter to 

 the entrance, a little tin slide, which, 

 when in an erect position, projects a 

 half inch or more above the bottom of 

 the cage when the wire cloth side is 

 down : this tin slide is kept bent down 

 flat with the bottom, so as to be out 

 of the way excepting when the cage 

 is employed to introduce the queen, in 

 which case the tin projection is made 

 to stand erect as first described. 



To introduce a queen by means of 

 this cage, the cage is placed, wire 

 cloth down, on the frames in the usual 

 way, so as to be between the quilt 

 and tops of the frames ; a small in- 

 cision in the (piilt permits the tin 

 slide to " stick up "' through the quilt, 

 thus arranged the hive is closed. 



The following day I open the hive, 

 using care not to jar it, turn back the 

 quilt until I can see what the bees are 

 doing about the cage, if they are 

 " bailing " the cage. I close up the 

 hive and let them vent their spleen on 

 wood and wire until in a better mood. 

 In this way I take a peep at them once 

 or twice a day until I find the bees 

 moving calmly about the cage just as 

 others may be seen moving "about the 

 tops of the frames. When this condi- 

 tion of things is present, I close up 

 the hive, feeling perfectly satisfied 

 that all will go well. 



Any time, after giving the bees a 

 little time to become quiet, I open the 

 hive with all the care possible, place 

 my thumb on the cage to hold it firmly, 

 arid with the other liand draw out the 

 slide and close up the hive. 



After trying every feasible method 

 which has been suggested by writers 

 on the subject of introducing queens, 

 I am glad to go back to the method 

 above" described, wliich I have tested 

 thoroughly for tiiree or four years past. 

 It would l)e interesting reading were 

 I to point out the serious defe'cts in 

 nine-tenths of the methods employed 

 to introduce queens, but I have "not 

 the space to do it here. 



Notwithstanding the severe drought 

 which cut off nearly all our fall llnw- 

 ers, my bees got some honey from 

 goldenrod, an unusual occurrence in 

 my location, and liut little from hydro- 

 piper, from whence our main" fall 

 supply generally comes. My bees are 

 in surprisingly good condition for win- 

 ter. Up to this writing, Oct. HO. we 

 ha\'e had no frost to injure the tender- 

 est plants, and bountiful rains during 

 the last four weeks, has given us grass 

 enough to winter all our farm animals 

 if the winter should be an open one. 



Christiansburg. Ky. ' 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Eight Frame Hive for Comb Honey. 



GEORGE GRIMM. 



I am slightly exercised at the idea 

 that this controversy will eventually 

 " impovish " me. and prove that which 

 I have long accepted as a fact, to be 

 but a " myth." Now, James, please 

 don't ! Remember how, two years 

 ago, I listened so attentively to your 

 eulogies on natiu'e, etc, and how earn- 

 estly I helped you to destroy the last 

 \estige of that chicken-pie we had for 

 dinnei' ! But if you must, W'ell, then — 

 but hold ! I have got something to 

 tell first : There is nothing in the 

 whole American Bee Journal that 

 interests me mt>re than discussions on 

 the wintering problem ; and though I 

 would not for the world come between 

 the cross-fire of two such sharp- 

 shooters as ^Ir. Ileddon and Dr. 

 Tinker, yet I like to stand beliind the 

 fence and see the fun. 



Yesterday I got out my old volumes 

 of bee journals to see how much pro- 

 gress we have made in the last few 

 years, and this is what I found in the 

 American Bee Oazette under date of 

 April 15, 1866 : " How to winter bees 

 l)est in a cold climate, is one of the 

 questions that has never Ijeen decided 

 and probably never will be, as differ- 

 ent apiarians have different methods 

 of wintering them ; but a few princi- 

 ples can be laid down that all will ad- 

 mit to be correct, as follows : 



1. To keep them in an even temper- 

 ature, cool, but not cold enough to 

 cause the dampness of hives to congeal 

 to frost. 



2. To keep them as quiet as possi- 

 ble, and if placed in a room or winter 

 bee house, to be in complete darkness. 



3. To afford them a free ventilation 

 of pure air under all circumstances." 



Will some one please answer how 

 much more we have learned since 

 then ! 



In searching through those old vol- 

 umes, I found on a piece of old yellow 

 paper, an article from my father's 

 pen. which apparently has never been 

 published, and as it bears somewhat 

 upon this wintering question, and on 

 the y and 10-frame Langstroth hive, I 

 will copy it verbatim : 



Jefferson, Wis., April, 1870. 



" Langstroth vs. Square Hives. 

 —I use three kinds of movable comb 

 hives in my apiary. One is the com- 

 mon one-story Laiigstrotli hive, 10x14- 

 xl8 with 10 frames ; the second is lOx- 

 12x18 with 8 frames ; the third is llj^- 

 xl3}^xl6 with 9 frames. I have used 

 these hives for the last four years, but 

 got up only hives of the second and 

 third kind the last three seasons. I 

 put my surplus honey boxes mostly 

 directly on top of the frames, and let 

 most of my hives swarm naturally. 

 Now, for the result ; From No. "l, 

 swarms came averaging not as often 

 as from No. 2 and No. 8. and I got, so 

 far. but little surplus honey. The col- 

 onies in those hives, however, are 

 usually very strong and heavy in the 

 fall. From No. 2 (the 8-frame hive) I 

 get more swarms than from No. 1, 

 and nearly all my surplus honey. 

 From No. 3 I get uiore swarms than 



