240 



THE ILLINOIS FAliMEK 



August 



We have the old pattern of the Langstroth, the 

 Phelps, w! ich is nearly the same thing, and various 

 box hives, some of them gotten up in a hurry by 

 unskillful carpenters. They stand about the laion 

 singly, some with the bottom board resting on the 

 ground, and some on blocks four to six inches 

 high ; some are well sheltered by evergreen and 

 other trees, and some of them stand out nearly ful- 

 ly exposed, generally just where they were hived. 



We decided to become a little more attentive 

 and to get up the apiary on a more expensive if 

 not a better plan, and bogan by ordering half a 

 dozen Langstroth's hives, of the new pattern, of 

 S. C. Otis, Kenosha, Wisconsin. These came in 

 due time and we are much pleased with them ; so 

 much so that we have ordered another half dozen. 

 We will not stop to describe them now, but will do 

 30 at a future time. 



In the next place we concluded to put the new 

 swarm? in a bee house, so as to give them good 

 shelter, and to this end adopted the plan ?o long 

 and so successfully pursued by Dr. L. S. Tenning- 

 ton, of Sterling, with a slight modification ; that 

 is, we would put only eight or nine hives in one 

 house. The house is sixteen feet long, four high 

 in front, five in the rear and four deep, the roof 

 being the lowest in front. The roof boards are cut 

 five feet and four inches long, making three 

 lengths from a sixteen feet board. The hives rest 

 on a two-inch playk floor, the width of the house 

 and one foot from the ground. Into this we put 

 four new swarms, placed close together, but soon 

 found that some of them were disposed to be 

 knavish, and on our return yesterday, July Vth, 

 found one of the swarms had^been robbed and the 

 bees incorporated into other hives. This morning 

 the same game was beginning to be played on an- 

 other hive, where the drug out system was in full 

 operation ; but the entrance was at once closed to 

 the width of one bee at a time, which will enable 

 the attacked hive to hold out against the intruders- 



For some weeks we have had a supply of the 

 best of honey, whereas our neighbors, who have 

 the bee gums and large box hives, have not 

 thought of such a luxury. From the abundance 

 of young bees we shall expect a number of swarms 

 within a few days ; and, though late in the season, 

 yet with the aid of half a dozen acres of buckwheat 

 sown for honey and griddle cakes, we shall hope 

 to get up a respectable stock of bees and an abun- 

 dant supply of honey. 



«■■ 



23^ The postal regulation allowing "book man- 

 uscripts and proof sheets" to be forwarded at the 

 rate of two cents for four ounces does not include 

 less, for periodicals nor communications for news- 

 papers, as some contend. 



The Franking Privilege. 



Department op Agriccltuee ) 

 Washington, D. C, June 20, '64.J" 



Editor niinois Fat~iner — Dear Sir : 



The following is a copy of the law recently pass- 

 ed by Congress, restoring to this with other De- 

 partments the full franking privilege, by which it 

 will be seen that no prepayment of postage is re- 

 quired in addressing small parcels, seeds, cuttings, 

 &c., to this Department: 



1. Public— No. 82. 

 AN ACT in relation to Franked Matter. 



Beit enacted by the Senate and House of Represent- 

 atives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled. That all communications relating to the 

 ofiBcial business of the Department to which they 

 are addressed, of whatever origin, addressed to the 

 Chiefs of the several Executive Departments of the 

 Governments, or to such pi incipal oflScers of each 

 Executive Department, being heads of bureaus or 

 chief clerks, or one duly authorized by the Post- 

 master General to frank official matter, shall be re- 

 ceived and conveyed by mail free of postage with- 

 out being endorsed "Official Bnsines?," or with the 

 name of the writer. 



Approved June 1, 1864. 



I will thank you to make this as public as possi- 

 ble. Very respectfully, yours, &c., 



Isaac Newton, 

 Commissioner. 



Swarming Bees. — Mr. Langstroth mentionB that 

 he finds that bees when a warming, can be deter- 

 mined to some "selected" spot. He speaks of 

 stringing bees on a thread, making a ball the size 

 of a hen's egg, and carrying it among the flying 

 bees — that the Rev. T. P. Hunt says, by this device 

 he can always prevent bees leaving the premises. 

 Mr. L. says "'A black woollen stocking or piece of 

 cloth, fastened to a shady limb in plain sight of 

 hives would probably answer a good purpose." — 

 That swarms are attracted to such places not only 

 by the color but by the ease of attaching them- 

 selves to such objects. It is well known that pla- 

 ces se lected by first swarms, are very apt to be 

 chosen by those that come after. That when one 

 swarm is followed in quick succession by others, 

 that they are very liable to cluster all in one lo- 

 cation. Analogy would then lead us to suppose 

 that the bee-keeper who furnishes imitation clus- 

 tering devices, at convenient points of the apiary, 

 would be rewarded by having his swarms settle 

 where they can be easily secured or hived. 



Mr. Solomon Sawyer, of Rolling Prairie, Wis., 

 informs me that he has had good success with a 

 decoy made of black felt hat, shaped like a cluster 

 of bees, about the capacity of a pint, stuffed and 

 hung in the limb or a tree or small shrub, in plain 

 sight of his hive& That most of the swarms set- 

 tled on these devices. They should be made so as 

 to be readily detached from their location, so that 

 they can be carried and shaken, or laid at the en- 

 trance of the hive. If such or similar devices, 

 succeed, the securing and hiving of natural swarms 

 will be much simplified. — Oor. Ooun, Gent, 



