74 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the following letter, which, at last, I venture 

 to give, even if it does praise the Review, as 

 it shows what can be accomplished by well 

 directed and 'continued advertising in the 

 right medium : 



PiTTSFiELD, Mass., Jan. 28, 1891. 

 Friend Hutchinson, — 



The Dec. Review has been received, and 

 for me it comes just at the ivrong time, for it 

 looks so neat and handsome, and takes hold 

 so kinder firm like, that it makes me feel 

 bad to think of leaving it : but, owing to a 

 steady press of real estate business. I am un- 

 able to give my growing supply trade the 

 care and push needed, so I have decided to 

 dispose of the latter. You can readily 

 imagine that I dislike to do this, as I have 

 S|)ent time, money and work in building up 

 a good business, and I know that at least 

 one- half of my success has been due the 

 clean, clear-cut p'ages of your Review 1 I 

 should have advertised more extensively had 

 I been able to have properly filled the orders, 

 hi.t the Review has kept me busy with a 

 select custom. 



I know I can sell to the right party and 

 make it a profitable investment to the pur- 

 chaser, and whoever buys will, and must, 

 continue with the Review as a part of the 

 necessary expenses. 



Yours truly, 



C. H. Smith. 



light, single-wall hives ; cellar wintek- 



ing, and spking pboteotton. 



The old, heavy, cumbersome, two-story, 

 double-wall, chaff- packed hive is rapidly 

 losing friends. The advanced methods of 

 bee- keeping demand a light, readily-mov- 

 able hive ; a hive with thin walls and fixed 

 frames : one that can be handled almost as 

 readily as we can handle a frame. The old 

 style of ■ li.iff hive is to modern bee-culture 

 what the box hive was to bee-keeping of 

 olden times. Single story chaff hives, with 

 thinner walls and less packing are better 

 than the old style of chaff hive, but they are 

 better only in a decree. Give me the naked 

 hive during the harvest. I don't want any 

 {)aoking cases standing over the hives in 

 the summer time to reach over into or to lift 

 off out of the way. Yes, I know they shade 

 the hive, but they also prevent the circula- 

 tion of air around the hive. How many of 

 you remember about Mr. Doolittle killing 

 the hen by putting her under a box out in 

 the sun ? A colony of bpes is a living, heat- 

 creating body, and would probably meet the 

 same fate as the Doolittle hen, were it not 

 that its mouth (the entrance of the hive) 

 reaches open air. The way to keep the V)ees 



from suffering from heat In summer is to 

 have them shaded, and in hives having thin 

 white walls. Shade them with a shade- 

 board laid over the top of the hive, a space 

 intervening between the board and the top 

 of the hive. Then the cool breezes can 

 reach every part of the hive. Yes, it is some 

 trouble to take off the shade board every 

 time a hive is opened, but no more so than 

 to remove the cover to an outside case. If 

 the case is used without a cover, then the top 

 of the hive, that part that receives the 

 most direct rays of the sun in the hottest 

 part of the day, is left unprotected. I don't 

 put a weight on shade boards any more ; it 

 is so seldom they are blown oft' that it is not 

 worth while. 



After reading all that has been written on 

 the subject, I am still in favor of thin-wall 

 hives ; and, in this locality, I would winter 

 the bees in the cellar, and protect them upon 

 their summer stands in the spring. I am 

 also of the opinion that wood is the material 

 from which to make the outside case, and, 

 where it can be readily obtained, sawdust 

 the material to use for packing. 



Don't think I am '' stubborn " over this 

 matter. Didn't I "modify" my views re- 

 garding the hiving of swarms on founda- 

 tion, and that, too, after I had written a 

 book upon the subject V When a man can 

 do this, it seems to me that he might be con- 

 sidered open to conviction upon any sub- 

 ject. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



To introduce a queen to a colony of bees, 

 two things must be well considered — the 

 condition of the bees and the condition of 

 the queen. The condition and behavior of 

 the queen is very important. If the queen 

 will only walk about upon the combs in a 

 quiet and (/Heenlu manner, and go on with 

 her egg laying, she is almost certain to be 

 accepted if the other conditions are favor- 

 able. Let her run and " squeal " (utter that 

 sharp '• zeep, zeep, zeep,"') and the bees im- 

 mediately start in pursuit. Soon the queen 

 is in a ball of tightly clinging bees, and the 

 only course is to smoke the bees severely 

 until they release the queen from their em- 

 brace, when she must be re-caged for 

 another trial. Dropping the ball of bees in 

 a cu[) of water has been recommended to 

 induce them to release the queen. To th§ 



