_Bethlehem, Iowa_, Oct. 9, 1870.
* * * * *
It cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind of the bee-keeper, that a
small colony should be confined to a small space, if we wish the bees to
work with the greatest energy, and offer the stoutest resistance to
their numerous enemies. Bees do most unquestionably “abhor a vacuum,” if
it is one which they can neither fill, warm, nor defend. Let the prudent
bee-master keep his stocks strong, and they will do more to defend
themselves against all intruders, than he can possibly do for them, even
though he spend his whole time in watching and assisting
them.--_Langstroth._
[For the American Bee Journal.]
The Coming Convention.
Mr. EDITOR:--We would like to attend the prospective convention of
bee-keepers, which is to assemble the coming fall or winter, and to take
by the hand some of the many correspondents we have followed through the
columns of your Journal, and hear their opinions by the word of mouth,
but we must forego that pleasure at present. We are poor and have not
straightened up yet the ravages of war. We are rebuilding as fast as our
means will admit, and hope in a few years more to see our once desert
looking country “blossom as the rose.” We have lost our substance, the
toil of years, and in bee parlance, though driven out and robbed of comb
and honey, are allowed to return in a bad season, to recuperate.
When these bee conventions become yearly in our country, (and I hope
they will,) we will be sure to attend, if within the range of our
flight. We would be delighted to see the different specimens of honey
and bees which should be in attendance, and ahead of anything to see
except the phiz of Novice, Gallup, Grimm, and their ilk, side by side
the different hives in working order. A great majority of the hives with
movable frames are patented, many are not, and we would like to see them
on exhibition, opened, and the points of excellence each contains,
shown. We don’t mean the sub-venders of different patents, who are
travelling over the country, and attend at the different fall fairs, who
never kept or owned a hive of bees, know nothing of the nature and habit
of the insects, and who move up to you and talk as learnedly on the bee
as Langstroth or Dzierzon could; but men of experience and veracity, who
have tried and used for several seasons the hive on exhibition, through
poor as well as rich harvests; and hives of different forms and
capacity, which you could criticise, and the good qualities, or the real
or imaginary defects of which a man might point out, without danger of
being called a mutton-head and ignoramus. There are several different
patents in our country, and if they are not thrown over the fence the
first season, they are sure to go the way of all trash the second. Some
unfortunate purchasers try to get their money back by transforming the
hives into troughs to feed the cow in; others convert them into boxes
for hen-nests. In many of these cases, however, it is through the
ignorance of the keepers that they do not succeed.
One year ago, Esq. Boring, a Justice of the Peace from one of our rural
districts, thought to outstrip his neighbors in honey and bee-keeping,
and ordered a hive with which you could control swarming, catch the
drones, keep out moths, and the Lord only knows what its owner didn’t
claim for it. Draw out the chamber, take out honey enough for supper,
and replace the drawer, and all is right, nice, and snug! I believe they
call it the Buck-eye, patented by Mitchell. Esq. Boring was eager to
have bees in, and couldn’t wait for a natural swarm, but drove in a fine
stock. He was so well pleased with it and its workings, that he
Buck-eyed his whole apiary; and upon inquiry a few days since, he
informed me that he would lose nearly all his bees. The first time he
drew out the chamber everything worked fine. The second time it was
rather tight and glued up. A month after that he thought it would take a
small yoke of steers to pull out the chamber of frames, and during the
summer nearly the whole fell a prey to the moth-miller. However, he
should not condemn the hive after this slight trial. It has been an
unusually poor season, and none but the strongest stocks stored any
surplus.