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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hives (if I could winter the bees in those 

 hives — so far I have failed in wintering 

 to any degree of satisfaction in them), I 

 would not change and adopt any other 

 hive, and had I the same number in the 

 Langstroth hive, the Gallup or the 

 Quinby, I should stick to them; for any 

 one who can make a success of bee- 

 keeping at all, can make a success with 

 either, for all are good hives. Because 

 a hive has frames in it, it does not neces- 

 sitate handling them all the time; 

 neither does it follow that it is necessary 

 to handle the frames to know the condi- 

 tion of the inside of the hive, for it can 

 all be done in the manner pictured out 

 by Mr. G. and in the leader. The ques- 

 tion lies right here, is it any easier, or is 

 it any shorter cut in cutting out drone- 

 comb, to turn the hive over, rig a tool 

 that will go in between the bottom-bars 

 of the frames, and work away, largely 

 by guess, a la Gravenhorst, and finally 

 have to handle " one or two frames " to 

 secure perfect combs, than it would be 

 to commence and handle the combs 

 (where needed) on the start ? Is it any 

 less work to shake away on a hive until 

 the queen is shaken out, and a lot of 

 bees hunted over to find her, and the 

 hive put back in place again, than it is 

 to quietly sit on a stool and lift out the 

 frame she is on, see her and know what 

 she is doing, and place the frame back 

 in the hive again ? And so on to the 

 end of the chapter with all the necessary 

 operations in the apiary. If so, then I 

 have handled the divisible brood-cham- 

 ber hive for the last three years in vain. 



It is easy enough to write up a reform 

 on paper, but what we want is reform 

 in practice. My bees, with the use of 

 the hands and brains of one man, have 

 paid me $20,000 during the past 20 

 years, as I have hired no help to produce 

 this result. Has any one, single handed, 

 done better with their bees ? If so, I 

 am glad of it ; and if any one will tell 

 me how I may make $1,500 a year, 

 with these same hands and brains, out 

 of bees, with no more exertion than 

 formerly, I shall be glad and thankful 

 to hear how ; but if I am to put out 

 $500 or $600 into something which 

 will only give the same results attained 

 in former years, then I say no, I thank 

 you, gentlemen ; I will put the $500 

 into something where it will bring me 

 interest to show for it. 



I presume in the past I have allowed 

 it to appear that I handled frames more 

 than I really do. Three times a year, at 

 the outside, is all that is necessary to 

 handle the frames in a hive having a 

 colony in normal condition, and yet I 



often do more than this. I am still an 

 enthusiast, my wife often saying I had 

 rather work with my bees (I call it play) 

 than to eat my dinner, and this undoubt- 

 edly has had something to do with my 

 manner of writing. 



Now, do not anybody go and report 

 that Doolittle is worth $20,000. I only 

 said the bees had given me a salary of 

 $1,000 a year for the past 20 years. — 

 Revieiv. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Correct Apiarian Noieiiclatiire. 



JOHN HEWITT. 



Mr. Editor : — Replying to your letter 

 of July 28, in which you refer me to 

 page 72 of the Bee Journal for July 

 16, because I had objected to your 

 altering my words "stock" and 

 " swarm " into " colony," I submit that 

 your authority quoted on page 72 does 

 not apply, according to which "a num- 

 ber of animals or plants living or grow- 

 ing together," applied to bees, can only 

 mean a queenless and broodless lot. 

 "Colony," strictly speaking, means a 

 company of people transplanted from 

 their mother country, and remaining 

 subject to and depending on the mother 

 country for a governor or viceroy. If 

 this is applied to bees, it clearly means 

 a lot without a queen, depending on the 

 mother or some other stock for one.* 



You do not like the word " family," 

 see Bee Journal for June 25, 1884, 

 page 404 ; nor "nation," see July 16, 

 1884, page 460; yet "colony" is 

 clearly not so applicable. 



When language is used, it is to convey 

 ideas .from one person to another, 

 although one cynic has said it was to 

 conceal our thoughts, and when any 

 particular language is used, we must 

 conform to the authority of the country 

 whence it originates'; hence, French is 

 that which is fixed at Paris, not Mon- 

 treal ; Italian, at Florence ; and English 

 at Oxford and Cambridge. 



The best American writers have made 

 a point of first studying the English 

 language, and the result is, there are 

 somewhat more writers of pure English 

 in America than here, and we naturally 

 give them their just credit, but having 

 done this the rank and file think we 

 admit that everything written and said 

 in America is correct English, and they 

 do not forget to impress this notion on 

 us when they pay us a visit, by talking 

 through their noses, instead of their 

 mouths, t 



