Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-04-12
Bees-Hives.

EDITOR FREEMAN Your correspondent,
Mr.. Sanborn, has politely invited discussion
and thrown out some very useful hints in re-
gard to keeping bees and while l take the
liberty to dissent from some of the views
taken by him, am free to admit that his
ideas are quite interesting and mainly cor
rect Your correspondent seems to think
there is nothing in " luck" 10 one sense he
is correct, and in an other, he is not, Some
men are lucky while some seem to be unlucky
in almost everything they undertake. 1t is
so in money matters, it is so in keeping cat
tie and horses, it is so in almost everything
But there IS undoubtedly cause for this. I
do not believe that every one is capable Of
being successful apiarian any more than
believe that every one would make a good
lawyer, a.gOOd doctor, or an ingenious me-
chanc.
Experience is of much Importance. have
been interested in bees over twenty-five gears,
and find there is something to be learned
every year, and expect it always will be SO.
In regard to buying or selling BEES or wheth-
er you pay money or other property for them,
regard it as all within. have bought
and sold bees several times. | sold in one
lot few years ago, one hundred dollars
worth, and believe have prospored equally
as well since, as before.
Mr.. Sanborn proposes in Il future commu-
nication, - to show what kind of hives should
be used" That is very proper, and in order
to arrive at correct conclusions it is highly
important to exchange views. propose
therefore to give description of the hive
that use, setting forth its advantages over
all others that have come to my knowledge /;
and in doing SO, can do no better than to
copy the following from the Neao York Tri-
bx1e:
II. L. Scribner, of Montpelier, VT, a
successful producer of honey, so much so that
he carries off all prizes at the County Fair,
gives us description of hive that is not
patented but is good one and costs but a
trife. 1t is made Of frame ofsquare sticks,
say one-inch diameter, in capacity IL by 1S
inches, and Is inches in hight, with fat
board roof projecting two inches each way.
The frame is nailed together; the lower girts
are placed l IL inches above the bottom Of
the posts. The frame is covered with straw
sewed together just as it is in straw hives,
with hoop at the bottom, made of strips of
boards, l inch thick and 2 inches wide,
nailed together. In this hoop a notch is
cut 2 1.2 inches long, 1-3 inch deep, for the
bees. Plane all the wood, and use none but
clean rye straw. On the roof, over suitable
holes, the boxes for storing honey are placed.
"Mr. Scribner says: The advantages Of
this hive over all others that have used are
very material in my view. 1t is generally
conceded thatstraw hives are the best to win-
ter bees in; not altogether because they are
so much warmer, but because they will keep
drg. and the frost does not accumulate as in
board hives.
Every experienced aparian knows that in
wooden hives there is continual dampness,
arising in part from the breath and effiuvia
of the BEES. Not SO in straw hives. Straw
being of q dry and absorbing nature, the
moisture is taken up. Now, have learned
that straw bives are as much better in sum-
mer as in winter, especially in the season of
breeding, when we are subject to freqrent
and sunden changes of the weather, such as
damp, chilly nights and hot days.
The temperature of straw hive is more
even it does not heat excessively in hot
weather, nor cool sunddeny, as do board
hives. The natural warmth of the bees is
retained, which is particularly conducive to