152 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



enter the question at all, we can have 

 no discussion upon that point. 



As I before said, I am not so certain 

 about the feasibility, but I am quite 

 anxious to believe in it, and, lawyer 

 though Mr. O. is, there is a certain 

 tone of candor about his article that 

 makes me hope that he will listen 

 with good-natured patience to one 

 who differs from his views, even if he 

 is entirely ignorant of Coke and Little 

 — is it -ton or -john ? 



Mr. Osborne thinks that it would 

 not do to use the license plan, and I 

 think I agree with him ; at any rate I 

 think it is not the best plan. How 

 would it do to take the plan I have 

 already hinted at, and let government 

 sell out the territory just as it sold 

 out the soil for cultivation ? The first 

 thought may be that the territory has 

 already been sold and cannot be sold 

 over again, but a lawyer will hardly 

 make that objection, for, so far as 

 nectar is concerned, the territory has 

 never been sold, and no land owner, I 

 think, pretends to control it. Besides, 

 the farmer, although in a general 

 sense he owns his place arid can do 

 what he pleases with it and on it, 

 really owns it only for certain pur- 

 poses or uses. He can by no means 

 do exactly as he pleases. For in- 

 stance, some years ago I bought some 

 hives with movable frames and put 

 them in use. Mr. R. C. Otis called on 

 me and told me they infringed on a 

 a patent-right owned by him, and I 

 cheerfully paid him $10 that I might 

 own the 37 acres that I already had 

 paid for and owned for some other 

 purposes, but for the purpose of using 

 Larigstroth hives, the territory up to 

 this time had not belonged to me. 



With this plan of buying territory I 

 think Mr. O. will not hold his objec- 

 tion that monopolies would be fos- 

 tered, for there would be no more 

 monopoly in bee-keeping than in 

 farming, but the same competition. 



By the plan I suggest, Mr. O's last 

 objection, you see, will disappear, for 

 Mr. Smith would not pasture his bees 

 on lands of Mr. Jones, but on liis own. 

 If the objection is made that Jones 

 owns the nectar that is on his farm, it 

 may be taken from him if it is for the 

 general good just as my land may 

 be taken from me, to be used as a 

 road, and if he is damaged thereby let 

 the damage be paid. But I think it 

 will easily appear that instead of 

 being damaged he is benefited by the 

 visits of the bees. 



I think I agree with Mr. Osborne in 

 his closing sentiment, that the well- 

 posted bee-keeper can defy competi- 

 tion (under favorable circumstances), 

 but the fact still remains that under 

 existing laws he mav be so encroached 

 upon like Messrs. Heddon and Doo 

 little, that he may suffer loss there 

 from. 



And now, if Mr. O. thinks there is 

 nothing unfair about it, I would like 

 to come over on his side for awhile, 

 to say that an objection occurs to me 

 that he has not mentioned. Suppose 

 we consider three miles as far as bees 

 travel, and I own three miles in every 

 direction from my home, putting 

 thereon at my home enough bees to 

 stock the ground. Whoever owns the 



territory adjoining mine may put 

 apiaries all around me close up to my 

 territory line, and thus take the 

 greater part of the nectar that I 

 thought was mine. Is there any way 

 out of this difficulty V 



Since writing the above, Mr. C. G. 

 Beitel, on page 807 of the American 

 Bee Journal for 1886, gives us 

 another legal opinion, and thinks that 

 in Pennsylvania class legislation 

 would not do. ^ow, in the part of 

 Pennsylvania where I was born and 

 where I spent many happy days, class 

 legislation was and still is very popu- 

 lar, if you call it class legislation for 

 a farmer to purchase and own his own 

 farm. And just that same kind of 

 legislation I think is needed for the 

 bee-keeper. Why does Mr. Beitel, 

 too, assume that priority of location 

 has anything to do with legislation i* 



And now, on page 9, Mr. J. R. Roe- 

 buck desires legislation against cider- 

 mills. I have had full benefit of 

 cider-mills and sorghum mills, and 

 wish they were away, but I do not 

 think it would be a good plan to ask 

 for any legislation concerning them. 



Marengo, 6 Ills. 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



Tlie Use of Comli Fonnilatioii, etc. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



It is evident that those who oppose 

 the non-use of full sheets of founda- 

 tion in the brood-nest when hiving 

 swarms do not fully understand my 

 position. 



On page 120, Mr. Gates says : " If 

 it should be a good season they (the 

 bees of a swarm hived upon empty 

 frames) will just about fill the brood- 

 chamber of a Langstroth hive. When 

 hived upon combs or foundation each 

 colony would store from 10 to 60 

 pounds of fine honey, and leave plenty 

 in the brood-chamber for winter." 



If a very large brood apartment is 

 used, a good share of it is virtually 

 devoted to the storing of surplus, and 

 I have always advocated the furnish- 

 ing of the surplus apartment with 

 foundation or drawn combs. When 

 I hive a swarm upon empty frames, 

 or rather upon frames furnished with 

 starters only, the brood-nest is con- 

 tracted so that some of the bees must 

 work in the sections, which are taken 

 from the old lilve and contain combs 

 in all stages of growth. Bt this 

 method I have always secured more 

 honey than when full sheets of foun- 

 dation or combs were used in the 

 brood-nest. 



Doubtless all would be glad to save 

 the expense of foundation, and secure 

 more honey besides ; but it se«ms 

 difficult to fullfj explain, in a few 

 short articles scattered through the 

 different bee-papers, so that every 

 one will comprehend all the points 

 that have a bearing upon this prob- 

 lem ; and. at the suggestion of Mr. A. 

 I. Root, I have written a book upon 

 the subject, in which I have also 

 touched brielly upon some other im- 

 portant points connected with the 

 profitable production of comb honey. 



The book is now in press, and as soon 

 as it is published, the price and other 

 particulars will be stated. 



CAPPENGS OVBB HONEY. 



I would say to Mr.' C. P. Dadant, 

 that the probable reason why honey 

 in sealed cells does not candy, and 

 does candy in unsealed cells, is be- 

 cause the- latter has no protection, 

 while the former has, although the 

 protection may not be absolutely im- 

 pervious. There is also another point: 

 Unsealed honey may not be so thor- 

 oughly ripened as sealed honey, and 

 the more completely that honey l8 

 ripened the slower it is to candy. 



If the cappings over honey are ab- , 

 solutely impervious. I do not under- 

 stand how the honey can so increase 

 in bulk as to ooze from the cells, as it 

 does when we say that it " sweats." 



Rogersville,d Mich. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



How to Preient Swarming. 



B. F. WOODCOCK. 



I have now read three reports of 

 enormous crops of honey without any ; 

 increase ; others say, " I allow no in- 

 crease." One man with over 150 colo- 

 nies, spring count, reports the best 

 flow of honey he ever saw, and then 

 closes with great complacency, say- 

 ing, "I allowed no increase." Will 

 some of the brethren please tell us 

 just how to do this thing during a 

 a copious flow of honey ? 



I started last spring with 69 colonies, 

 and secured 8,4.50 pounds of honey, 

 about three-fifths being comb. I 

 wanted but little increase, but I got 

 over 50 swarms, all the same. Yes, 

 in spite of tiering up, ventilating, 

 cutting out queen-cells, hiving back 

 and driving back, out they came pell- 

 mell.helter-skelter! My increase was 50 

 colonies, but how many swarms issued 

 I do not pretend to say. I put two and 

 three swarms together, or they put 

 themselves together, more properly 

 speaking. One day I had 11 swarms 

 in about 60 minutes ; while three were 

 in the air, my assistant (a little boy 12 

 years old) cried out: "Here comes 

 another one !" " Yes, and by the way, 

 look at No.26 kicking each other out." 



When I hived a swarm back, and 

 cut out queen-cells, they often took 

 the sulks and would not work even 

 when I gave them more surplus room 

 than they could occupy. I killed the 

 queen in several instances, and cut 

 out queen-cells after 8 days, and yet 

 they would not work. 



I can control swarming to a very 

 great extent by tiering rapidly and 

 giving room a little before they need 

 it, but imperfectly filled sections has 

 been the result with me every time. 

 How to prevent swarming, and at the 

 same time sacrifice neither the quan- 

 tity nor the quality, or rather the per- 

 fect finish of our honey, is with me a 

 vital question at this time, and I will 

 ever hold in grateful remembrance 

 the one who shall tell me how to do it. 



Pleasantville,9 Iowa. 



