Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-08-27
For the YorkvilIe Enquirer.
CHAPTER THIRD ON BEES.

Your correspondent TX" in his first COM
munication, without imparting any new ideas
on the subject of bees and bee.hives, made it
apparent that he had an "axe to grind" on
somebody's grindstone. The first sentence of
his second paper, asserting that the Lang
stroth hive is the only one worth purchasing,
plainly shows what he was after.
Now, Mr.. ENQUIRER, as you have been so
kind as to publish his advertisement free, l
know you will also extend the same liberality
to me- by publishinga a few words in reply.
AS he only deals in assertions, I am not
bound to answer in any thing more than
counter assertions though, if felt free to
trespass upon your generosity, I could easily
prove his main assertions to be falfacous. Of
course, all his general remarks about bee
keeping, viz that one must bestow some care
upon them, &C., are readily assented to. So,
also, is it true the movable comb.hives are
the only ones which can be made profitable.
But when he says that bees cannot, or do not,
store up two or three times as much honey in
one kind of hive as they do in another, then
dissent and he will find, if he tries the ex-
pertinent, that bees can be made to yield, with
proper treatment in a good season, even ten
times as much as can be got from common
box-hives The authors he mentions will tell
him better. He ought also to know that bees
gather honey the whole season, from early
spring to late autumn, but either will not, or
cannot, build comb equally at all times.
Hence, if you give them plenty of store-room,
and especially if you save them time and
trouble Of building comb, by using honey
extractor, you can encourage their industrious
habits, and make them gather an immense
amount of honey in favorable season.
Whereas, if, from misjudged benevolence, you
leave their store.house full, they will lie idly
about the mouth of their hives, and for want
of room for young brood, the colony will soon
dwindle to so small number as to be inca.
pable of defense; and so they perish, or are
driven out of their home, even before winter
sets in.
But I will not trespass upon your patience
by stating what can be learned, by any one
interested, from the numerous textbooks on
bee-keeping. A small manual by N. C.
Mitchell, called First Lessons in Bee Cul-
ture," will suit beginners. ks great propo.
sition, that which evidently prompted him to
write his two articles on Bees, namely that
the Langstroth hive is the only one worth
$500, or worth having, I will dispose of by
saying that the Buckeye Beehive" is as far
in advance of Langstroth's, as the latter is
superior to the common box-hive; having
these advantages clearly, that it is moth-proof,
and the bees are easier inspected and handled
than in any other. These and several other
minor points, have caused its introduction
among the practiced bee-keepers North and
West, to the almost total exclusion of all other
patent hives although the patents granted
on bee.hives are almost as numerous as those
upon churns. All this is sttested by the
thousands that have been sold, and by the
universal appreciation which an examination
of the buckeye" elicits. But finally I will
also venture little advice. to your readers,
and I think they will agree that my advice is
more reasonable than that of "X."
If any one wishes to invest in patent hives,
let him examine, without prejudice all that
come under observation, and then select the
BEST 1t is Improbable to work with bees in
the common box-hive. Ofthis, an experience
of more than twenty years has convinced me,
and no doubt every bee-keeper has had more
or less of the same "hlck." If you wish to
have plenty of honey at all times, get some
patent hive or other. Even if you can do no
better than to get the Langstroth, you will no
doubt get back the $500 that you may invest.
This is open and fair, and we are neither de.
ceived ourselves nor are we trying to deceive
Others ip making any fthe above statements.
Lastly, I join with *" in saying that
"there is money in bees" There is in fact,
mine of wealth yet unopened to our Southern
people in this business and as this is matter
of great interest to the readers of the ENqu1R,