Chapter II: Part 2

Mr. Alley, to whom Mr. Briggs refers, has furnished me with queens perfectly satisfactory, being as finely marked as any I ever saw, and their workers and daughters are “chips of the old block.” Certainly the introduction of such blood will not cause deterioration in all or any of those qualities that a progressive bee-keeper delights in. It is pleasant to have bees gentle and harmless; but when that quality is obtained at the expense of activity in breeding or working, it becomes an unprofitable luxury.

The question that is so often asked--“Are pure Italians superior to hybrids, as workers and breeders?” must be satisfactorily settled by breeders of pure Italians, before bee-keepers generally will accept fully the conclusions of Mr. Briggs.

My own experience has satisfied me that hybrids are far superior to the pure Italians, in every quality save that of gentleness. Possibly my queens may not have been absolutely pure, yet they conform to the best marks as described by Quinby and others. Those of my stocks that are unquestionably hybrid have given the best satisfaction in every respect. Others assure me of similar experience. Will some one explain this fact?

In view of it all, I can but regard a general crossing of Italians and blacks, as of immense advantage to bees and bee-keepers, and I hope and trust that friend Alley will continue to distribute, far and near, by scores and hundreds, those large, prolific and beautiful queens at $2.50 each.

GEO. C. SILSBY.

_Winterport, Me._, Aug. 4, 1870.

* * * * *

[For the American Bee Journal.]

Queen-Breeding.

MR. EDITOR:--Criticisms based on substantial facts, courteously worded, made in a spirit of kindness and a desire to benefit the world, are opportune and of great value. But when made merely for the purpose of “showing off,” or of filling up space in an article, thereby damaging the reputation of any person without just cause, based on no facts, and unsupported by even a shadow of proof, they tend to mislead, and are an injury to the author, the person criticised, and the public generally.

On page 38 of the August No. of the Journal in an article written by Mr. E. L. Briggs, is a direct attack on one of your correspondents, who for years has been engaged in the queen-breeding business, and who, by devoting his whole time thereto, is enabled to supply his customers at very low prices. And the only cause given for this attack is that he supplies the bee fraternity at $2.50 for a warranted queen, and has four hundred orders at that price.

Now if Mr. Alley can afford to rear queens and sell them at $2.50, and his customers do not find fault, whose business is it? And is it just the thing for any one to assume that his queens are not pure, without showing the proof thereof? I think not.

As to Mr. Alley and his reputation as a man and a dealer in queens, I will say, in order that the many readers of your Journal who do not know him, may get at the facts, that I have for a long time been personally acquainted with him, and have always found him just and honorable in his dealings. I also know that he takes great pains to obtain the best stock to breed from, by purchasing imported queens, and continually procuring from reputable dealers, such queens as are of known purity, in order to avoid too close breeding. These facts, in connection with the fact that he is in a locality where all the bees, for miles around his apiary, have been Italianized by him, show whether the assumed idea in Mr. Briggs’ article has a shadow of foundation. Now, shall any one of the queen-raising brotherhood assume that a man is a sharper who sells queens for $2.50, without proving that the purchasers thereof have been swindled? For one, I answer no! And if I can buy pure queens of Mr. Alley for $2.50, I shall not send to Mr. Briggs, and pay him from $8 to $10, even for his four or more banded mothers.

I have written this article in justice to Mr. Alley, and could if necessary bring any amount of proof to substantiate it; but thinking this enough, I remain always for the right.

J. E. POND, JR.

_Foxborough, Mass._, Aug. 8, 1870.

* * * * *

[For the American Bee Journal.]

About Italian Queens, &c.

Mr. E. L. Briggs seems to pitch into cheap queen raisers, and Alley in particular (at least so Alley understands it, although he mentions no names). I cannot let such remarks pass unnoticed. I would have Mr. Briggs understand that I spare no pains to procure the best breeding queens imported into this country. I have paid from $5 to $20 and upwards for Italian queens, and have never as yet found among my purchases when received any queens superior to those of my own raising. My only object in purchasing queens, is to avoid in-and-in breeding. I am very careful to select the largest, handsomest, and most prolific queens to breed from, both for young queens and drones. I do not doubt that I ship queens now and then that are not up to the standard, and so do all other breeders who do not test their queens before sending. But in every case, I will send other queens, or give satisfaction in some way. The stock I now have produce as large, prolific, and handsome queens as Mr. B. or any other man ever saw. Any queen that I send out is worth all I charge for her, even if she has perchance mated with a black drone. I pay the highest figure for my breeding queens, and now have queens of my own raising that I would not sell for fifty dollars. If Mr. B. would like to purchase some Italian queens, and thinks they would be any better by paying eight or ten dollars for them, instead of two dollars and a half, I can accommodate him in that line; and if he has any such queens as he describes, I will take the lot at the price he has stated, viz.: eight or ten dollars. Now here is a chance for a trade! I know that some bee-keepers think that my queens are not worth much, because I sell them so low: but if it will do them any good to know how it is that I can afford to sell at such low prices, I will make it known.

I have all I can do in the summer to raise queens and reply to all the letters I receive; and I find it quite business enough to keep two hundred (200) nucleus hives in full operation. Talk about boasting of orders for four hundred queens! Why I have orders for more than seven hundred on my books, and they are still coming in by every mail. I was expecting to raise and ship one thousand queens this season, but cannot do it. My orders began to come in as early as last December, and one man ordered fifty as early as last March. Nearly all the orders I have received this season came from persons I supplied last season, and their friends who have seen my stock in the apiaries of former purchasers. I have plenty of letters speaking in the highest terms of my queens; and many of them, like Dr. Barnard, say they are much better than those they paid twenty dollars for. Let me say here that I sent Dr. B. his queens last fall, and the first I heard from him since, I saw in the American Bee Journal--it was of course no pre-arranged plan for him to blow Mr. Alley’s stock of Italians.

I paid a certain party in June last ten dollars for a queen. A few days ago I received her, and I may safely say I never shipped a queen as poor in appearance. Nor was there any excuse for the party sending me such a queen, as she was raised last season and was taken from a full stock when sent to me. I guarantee to send out just as good queens for two dollars and a half.

I do not want the reader to suppose that this article is intended as an advertisement. That is far from my design; but I feel obliged to make this statement in self defence.

Last winter I read an advertisement in a western paper, from the pen of a high-price queen dealer, in which he said that he did not believe that good queens could be raised and sold for $2.50. Now, the same person has advertised them at a figure even lower than that. I can afford to raise and sell good pure queens for the price I am charging, and mean to do so as long as I can find purchasers for them, which judging from the demand for them, will be some time yet.

I have, within a few weeks, bought seven queens from some of these high-priced queen breeders, none of which are any larger or handsomer than the stock I now have; nor do I believe that their progeny will prove to be any better. Only this morning I received three queens from such a breeder, two of which I returned by the next mail. I do not want any stock of that kind.

I do not know who Mr. Briggs is, nor whether he is “blowing” for himself or not; and I do not understand his object in sending such an article to the Journal as appeared last month over his name. If he intends to build up a trade at the expense of other people by underrating their stock, I, for one, would like to know it.

I have plenty of letters from purchasers, “blowing up” some of these high-price queen breeders; and I presume they have some of the same kind, giving Alley what he deserves and perhaps more than is due to him. But let that be as it may, all I have to say is this--if any man has a queen purchased from Alley, that he does not like, let him return her at once, or ever after hold his peace.

Mr. Langstroth has written to me several times that they never yet imported a queen that would invariably duplicate herself. Who is the best authority on this point--Mr. L. or Mr. B.? I have this information not only from Mr. L., but from other importers also. I know nothing about Morgan mares nor of certain breeds of pigs; but I have several years’ experience with Italian bees, and profess to know something about them. Those who breed Italian queens, and charge high prices for them too, will acknowledge that not more than one queen in fifty is as good as those which Mr. B. has pictured in the last number of the Journal; and he may bet a high figure that no worker bee in the country ever showed four bands. This article has grown pretty long, and I do wish Mr. B. would stir one up when the weather is cooler, and we have more leisure for rejoinder--say next winter.

H. ALLEY.

_Wenham, Mass._, Aug. 8, 1870.

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[For the American Bee Journal]

Bees in Central New Hampshire.

The limited number of bee-keepers that are found in this section of the country is sufficient evidence that the securing of honey is not here regarded as the royal road to wealth. Many a farmer may have some four or five hives, which are but a small taxation upon his time. From them he is furnished with a luxury which if not secured in this manner, probably no money would purchase.

Last year, (1869,) we secured five hundred pounds in boxes--beginning in the spring with twelve colonies. The harvest began on the 14th or 15th of June, and closed the 16th of July. The season was considered by bee-keepers generally in this section of the country, as being a very poor one. But few hives yielded any surplus honey, save those that received extra attention.

On the 12th of November we placed fifteen colonies in the cellar, where they remained till the 9th of April, 1870. In our opinion, proper ventilation is the necessary lesson to learn in order to secure success; and every man should be fully persuaded in his own mind what course is best for him to pursue. We have had some experience with corn-cobs, paper coverings, wire screens, straw mats, and old carpets. With us, the last of these articles proves to be the most satisfactory.

Thirteen colonies passed the five months incarceration and came out fresh and fair. The remaining two nearly failed us, as we attempted to have them live without much change of air. Those hives from which we removed the honey-boards and covered the frames with two thicknesses of good woolen carpets, all came out in the spring beautifully neat and clean. We shall anticipate the same favorable results for the coming winter.

As the surplus honey harvest for 1870 has already passed, we can begin to count our actual gains. Comb-building began about the first of June, and ceased the first week in July. Since that date very little honey has been deposited in the boxes, even when the bees were furnished with nice frames of comb. The white clover blossomed very profusely, and ripened rapidly, and the bees were thus soon deprived of their largest and best harvest field.

Thus far we have secured somewhat over four hundred pounds of No. 1 honey, and shall probably realize enough more to make _five hundred_ pounds, when all the boxes are removed and the hives taken up that are not wanted for winter. Thus far we have not succeeded so well as we have wished in combining colonies. We would not destroy any with brimstone, because that is so very unkind; but when we add colony to colony many bees will kill each other. Tobacco smoke and fragrant waters have at times failed to produce harmony of feeling. Perhaps it would be better to sell the colonies we do not wish to keep.

We have, however, reason to be thankful for the sweet blessing we have already received, and are also thankful that our friends, west and south, are having such bountiful returns.

Dear Editor, we have just returned from a visit to the school. The scholars were engaged in reading their themes, it being Saturday afternoon. Among the many subjects, one little girl had selected the Honey Bee. It interested us so much that we have taken the liberty to send you a copy, that you may see what one of our little Shaker girls, nine years of age, has written

ABOUT BEES.

“I love bees, because they make honey; but I do not love them sometimes, because they sting me, and that I do not like, though I like their honey. I have felt a sting from a honey bee, and I never want to have one again, for I know how it feels. It smarts well, indeed it does. A bee is like a little girl, because it does good when it wants to, and when it does not it will sting you. Now, scholars, I will just tell you not to ’flict a bee, if you don’t want it to sting you. It is like a girl, for if you ’flict her, she will be unkind to you, and you must not ’flict her. This is all I have to write about the bee.”--C.

The Journal as a welcome visitor arrives while we are engaged writing this communication; and the pages tell of great and precious treasures. As time passes on we hope to be able to write of more bountiful harvests. We have in anticipation the simon pure Italian Bee, to take the place of our blacks and hybrids; and extended fields of Alsike clover, instead of the antiquated red. In that day of bounty and beauty, we shall hope to write temptingly to our worthy editor.

Respectfully,

H. C. BLINN.

_Shaker Village, N. H._, Aug. 1870.

* * * * *

[For the American Bee Journal.]

Natural, Prolific, Hardy Queens.

PART 2.

(_Continued from July Number, page 11._)

In early spring, or at any time desirable, proceed to stimulate a selected colony with liquid feed. “Warm syrup or strained honey, is the best for the purpose;” placing alternately empty combs or combs full of brood, from other hives, until your hive is full; or by the removal of one or more colonies, on each side of the selected one, the worker bees from one or more hives, can be thrown into the selected hive, and so stimulate the swarming fever or impulse. Proceed now as recommended in the July number, page 11, when the bees will commence building queen cells. The bee-keeper will thus secure from ten to sixty queen cells per week. During my experiments, each weekly robbing only stimulated the bees to greater exertions to secure a queen. Proceed thus until the desired number of queen cells are secured, or the bees swarm. If they should swarm before a sufficient number of queen cell’s are secured, and it is desirable to still breed from the same queen, secure her and introduce her to a colony that has not swarmed, and proceed as before. Or, better still, introduce her to a colony making preparations to swarm. Before introducing her, destroy all queen cells that have eggs or larva in them; then cell building will proceed as before. A swarm under the swarming impulse will communicate it to a strange queen introduced to them; or a queen under the swarming impulse, “and not satisfied,” will communicate it to any populous colony to which she may be introduced.

JOHN M. PRICE.

_Buffalo Grove, Iowa._

* * * * *

[For the American Bee Journal.]

Natural and prolific hardy Queens.

We are all more or less disposed to regard our own ideas as indisputable.

Mr. Quinby for example, praises his new hive, and his queen yard. I have experimented with both, and both are now in my barn, waiting to be split up for kindling wood.

Mr. John M. Price, in the July number of the Bee Journal, condemns all artificially raised queens. But _rassurez vous_, friend queen-breeders, I come to prove to friend Price, that he has misconceived the reason of his bad luck in raising artificial queens.

When I commenced to introduce Italian bees in my apiary, six years ago, I received from one of our best queen-breeders a very nice looking queen. She was very yellow from the waist to the tip of the abdomen. Well, I raised a number of queens to get drones, and next season I raised some more, from the same queen, to replace the misallied queens. But lo, one-fourth of my young queens were either crippled, or drone laying, or laying non-hatching eggs. Yet these queens were as yellow as their mother, and it seemed as if the brighter they looked, the poorer they were.

Then my first imported queens came. They were not yellow, but dark. The first rings of the abdomen were leather-colored, the last were entirely black or nearly so. I wrote to Dr. Blumhof, reproaching him for having sent me so dark queens. He replied that all the healthier queens in Italy are dark, and that it was well ascertained there, that the light-colored queens were not so good as the dark. The light-colored queens, added the Doctor, seem to have the chlorosis. Prof. Mona told the same thing to Mr. A. Grimm, when he was in Italy. See _American Bee Journal_, vol. III. From this we can guess that the selecting of the brightest yellow queens for breeders, is one of the causes of the failure of the queens raised. But in-and-in breeding is another, and according to my experience, a main cause of weakness.

As soon as my first imported queens were on hand, I commenced raising queens from them, and from that time forward I raised artificial queens every year from newly imported queens. Those queens mate with drones from queens of the preceding year’s importation, and so on. I do not care for the color of these queens, but not one of them is crippled or proves to be a poor layer.

My five best stocks this year, all have artificial queens. Three of these queens are with swarms of last year. I hived them in one of friend Price’s hives. These swarms are better than the three original stocks they came from, though these latter have raised natural queens in the height of the swarming season, as friend Price prefers they should. The five stocks referred to gave me from seventy to one hundred pounds each, of box honey. I suppose I should be thought very _exigeant_ if I were not content with such results, in so dry a season as this.

Why does friend Price imagine that artificially raised queens are not so good as natural ones? Probably, because the bees, in order to obtain queens sooner, chose grubs already several days old, instead of selecting newly laid eggs, from which to raise queens. I have watched that very closely, and could see no appreciable difference. A stock rendered queenless will raise queens maturing at different periods, some hatching in from nine to twelve or fourteen days, and sometimes not till sixteen days after. If the above theory were correct, the earlier hatching queens should be the poorer, for they come from grubs three or four days old. Yet such is not the case--those queens are as good as any.

If that theory proved to be true, it would still be an easy matter to prevent the evil results apprehended. We could destroy the two or three first-capped queen cells; or force the bees to raise queens from the egg, by a method far more easy than friend Price’s. Insert in your chosen stock a frame, containing empty worker comb, placing it between two frames containing brood. In three days, if the bees find honey in the fields, the cells of the worker comb will be supplied with eggs. Then remove the queen and all the brood combs, except the one containing the eggs. The bees will thus have eggs only from which to raise queens, and _all_ your young queens will necessarily be started _ab ovo_. I guess this method is as good as, and more simple than, that of friend Price.

I am not a queen-breeder. That business does not suit me, for it is a source of too much vexation. I have repeatedly imported queens, but I lost money and suffered so much in that business, that I think my sufferings will pay for all my sins in the other world. I am thus altogether disinterested in this matter of breeding queens.

On this topic, my advice to apiarians is--

1st. Do not look for yellow queens, for they are not as good as dark ones.

2d. Take care to avoid too close in-and-in breeding.

Let us also remark, that many bee-keepers find that the half-blood Italian bees, are better than the pure ones. Why? Simply because the in-and-in breeding the race of their queens was subject to for some generations, was broken by the alliance with black drones. But the alliance of the Italian queens with Italian drones remotely bred, would doubtless give as good progeny, while preserving the purity of the stock.

Let us remark also, that Nature in ordering for the queens the wedding flight, obviously had in view the avoidance of in-and-in breeding.

3d. Choose the colony having the purest queen, and the most fertile, from which to provide the queens cells, and distribute in small nuclei when sealed. No matter if the queen is dark. In good seasons the queens raised in small nuclei are as good as those raised in full stocks.

CH. DADANT.

_Hamilton, Ills._, July 24, 1870.

* * * * *

[For the American Bee Journal.]

Artificial Queens.

In the July No. of the Journal. Mr. John M. Price contributed an article on “Natural, Hardy and Prolific Queens,” which was no doubt his conviction of the truth of the matter at the time; but as it does not agree with my experience, I will give the other side of the question.

If I understand his theory, it is that queens reared in stocks deprived of their queen when not under the “swarming impulse,” are smaller, less prolific and shorter lived than what are termed _natural queens_. I am fully aware that Mr. Price does not stand alone on said theory, and yet I believe it to be an error.

For the sake of distinguishing, we will state that queens bred in full stocks from which the mother queen led forth a swarm, or queens which were _started_ while the old queen remained in the hive, are _natural_ queens, and all others _artificial_. I have both kinds in my apiary, and have had for several years, and can see no difference in their size, beauty, fertility or longevity. I have repeatedly kept artificial queens until they were three years old, and had one very prolific queen which died in March last, being then three years and nine months old. I left her as an experiment, to see what age she would attain; but my practice is to remove queens in their second or third year. Of course a few die before they are two years old, for they are not exempt from the ills that bee “flesh is heir to.” But that four or five in succession should pass off the stage of action in a single stock in one season, is something before unheard of. I do not know what effect brother P.’s revolvable, reversible, double-cased hive _might_ have upon the tender life of a young queen; but it seems to have been most disastrous, for we have no such work here in the old Keystone State.

It is a matter of very great importance in the success of an apiary, that our stocks are supplied with the _right kind_ of queens, and in order to effect this desirable result, something more is necessary to a full understanding of the subject, than simply to know that bees, when deprived of their queen, will attempt to supply her place. I find little difficulty in rearing _fine_ queens, with the following conditions: 1st. a suitable queen mother; 2d. fair weather and good pasturage; 3d. a full stock, in which honey and pollen are abundant (not a nucleus where starvation stares them in the face). It is a settled point with me, that the production of queens is a matter wholly under the control of the worker bees; and we lack evidence that a queen _ever_ lays an egg in a royal cell. If the bee is guided by instinct _alone_, and the production of a queen depended on the depositing of a _peculiar_ egg by the queen in a royal cell (an egg, differing from the worker or drone eggs), it would follow that, on the loss or removal of the queen when no such eggs existed in the hive, no young queens could be produced.

Small queens may be produced in nuclei where the requisite food is limited, and where from want of bees the larva is exposed to repeated changes of temperature, which is detrimental. When reared in full stocks in times of great scarcity, nearly the same results follow.

There is another important point, namely the _proper age_ for the mother bee. In breeding all our domestic animals, regard is always had (and wisely we think) to the age of the parents. It may be thought that the life of the bee is so short that it would allow but little latitude in this direction; but it should not be forgotten that the queen usually lives three and sometimes four years, during which time there is doubtless a period of fertility and hardiness, or power of endurance, not common to the whole of her life. Just what that period is, I am not prepared to say; but the rapid advancement of apiarian science will doubtless solve the problem. I am satisfied, however, that queens bred from _young_ queens are not equal, in several desirable points, to those bred from mothers a year old. In experimenting with black bees, I became satisfied on this point several years ago. I have never known a _young_ black queen, after becoming fertile, to lead out a swarm, no matter how populous the stock might be; and indeed apiarians have considered it the best method of preventing swarming, in order to secure surplus honey, to remove the old queen and install one of the current year. (It is ahead of Quinby’s queen yard). We reason from this, that their instinct teaches them that they are _unfit_ for queen mothers. This would not, perhaps, hold good in the high temperature of southern latitudes, which tends to the earlier maturity of all animal life. With the Italian bees it is somewhat different, for young queens produce drone eggs, and they do sometimes lead out swarms, yet they are not so liable to do so as older queens.

Mr. Aaron Benedict tells us he produced six generations of queens in a single season, but does not give us the result, further than that he thought he improved his bees in color.

I am not surprised that the men who raise queens from March to October, have cheap queens and sell them by the hundred. But I am one to say that no genuine lover of our pets who duly considers consequences, would proceed thus. And now, Mr. Editor, I wish to say in conclusion, that of my 125 queens about one-fourth are _natural_ and the balance artificial queens, and if Mr. Price, or “any other man” will, upon examination, decide correctly, by size or fertility (amount of brood), which are of the former and which of the latter class, he may pick out ten as large and yellow queens as he _ever saw_, and I will make him a present of the same, and will warrant that, if artificial, they shall be as productive as he wishes them.

NB.--I have no cheap queens for sale.

WILLARD J. DAVIS.

_Youngsville, Pa._, Aug. 8, 1870.

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[For the American Bee Journal.]

Novice.

DEAR BEE JOURNAL:--That flood of honey that was driving us so, when we last wrote you, has ceased, and we are having a resting spell.

About the 18th of July the basswood failed, and we were obliged to desist, mostly on account of the neighbors’ black bees desperately attempting to rob our hives when we opened them. In fact, the upper stories of our Langstroth hives are all full now, but before we can empty two hives the black bees are so thick as to threaten demoralization to our whole apiary. Though the Italians will sometimes sting a pint of them to death around a single hive, not an Italian can be found among the slain.

In spite of all this, to which we have repeatedly called the attention of others, many are busy in accusing the Italians of driving the innocent common bees out of the land. One neighbor in particular, who cannot afford to take the Bee Journal, has been very busy in telling how our Italians have taken all his surplus honey, and had he not used _great_ care, they would have carried off all his honey, hives, bees and all.

It was in this way. He came to us one day, quite excited, saying that our Italians were robbing his bees at a great rate--even some new swarms in movable frame hives that we had let him have, (not to mention several hours’ verbal instruction and the attempt to answer all questions pertaining to bee-culture at once).

“But that is impossible,” said we.

“Can’t you believe me when I tell you so?” inquired he, angrily.

“We will go with you and see.”

On the way the conversation was resumed, thus:

“You are sure you left no hives open, nor anything sweet around?”

“Nothing of the kind.”

“When did the robbing commence?”

“In the morning.”

“Have you taken off your surplus honey yet?”

“Took it off this morning.”

“Where is it,” stopping in our walk.

“_In the orchard, on a table._”

“Covered up?”

“No, I left it open to let the bees go out. The boxes were full of them, and I could not get them out.”

“Are they there now?”

“Yes.”

“Now, C----, why in th---- did you not do as we were very careful to tell you, and put the honey in a large box with a white cloth spread over it, to be turned over every hour or two?”

“Well, it was too much trouble, and I did not suppose it would make much difference.”

Of course we found boxes that had held about forty pounds, empty, and oh, such music! There _were_ Italians there too, but we estimated nine-tenths black bees to one-tenth yellow-banded ones. Without giving the particulars, we may say that we have since heard that our bees had robbed him of sixty, and then eighty pounds, and we don’t know what it will amount to in the end.

The whole quantity of honey taken out by us this season, is now six thousand one hundred and sixty-two (6,162) pounds. Of this we sold over two thousand (2,000) pounds, in June and July, for thirty cents per pound, jars and all. The jars do not cost us as much, in the end, as boxes.

How does that figure, in comparison with box honey?

Besides this, our forty-six (46) colonies have been increased to sixty-four (64); and as the upper frames are all full, and we have more bees than the hives will hold, we propose to raise queens this fall and make swarms of the upper stories, perhaps eighteen (18) more.

How many of our co-workers in the melextractor field have had trouble with heavy new combs breaking down in hot weather? Well, listen to our plan of putting them back. Throw away your splints, wires, strings, &c., and simply lay all the pieces of comb, full of honey or not, on a board the size of your frame; put the frame over it in place, and then set the whole in the upper part of some hive over night where the bees have access. In the morning turn the whole up in proper position, and slide your board away, and as soon as the bees have repaired that side too, it is ready for the melextractor.

Mr. Price says Novice’s feeder will not answer for thin syrup. We are afraid he has not tried one. Use new strong cloth, and there is no trouble at all in feeding maple sap or even pure water.

Why is it that we can never have any success in trying to build up a stock by feeding? For instance--We commenced putting the cappings, after being drained, strainer utensils, &c., in the top of a hive to be “licked off.” As the hive was handy, we kept them busy, and one other, most of the time. Do you suppose it built them up? Not at all! While other stocks were bringing home from six to eight pounds a day, and building comb rapidly, these two could not “lick up” half that; and, further, would build no comb at all until we stopped their “rations” and saved our “trash” until the honey season was over.

NOVICE.

August 9, 1870.

* * * * *

Colonies that are overstocked with honey in August, should have some of it removed, either by the honey extractor or by sliding off the caps and laying the combs on a dish, to allow the honey to drain out of the cells of the sides alternately. When thus partially emptied, the comb should be returned to the hive.

* * * * *

[For the American Bee Journal.]

Bee-culture--East and West.

MR. EDITOR:--I think the time has fully come when your correspondent “NOVICE”--that notable personage of whom we have so often read, and whose plans and acts have so often fired our brain with new resolutions and determinations to at least _try_ to “go and do likewise”--should, hereafter and evermore, drop that simple title, and sign himself ADEPT, EXPERT, or some other name a little more suggestive of the manner in which he seems to “swing things” of late.

FIVE THOUSAND (5,000) pounds of clover honey, in about one month, from forty-six (46) colonies of bees! That will do! Let’s all go west. No use in trying to raise honey here any longer![2]

Why, Mr. Editor, in our locality this is simply impossible. That amount of honey is not to be had within the flight of our bees. Still, we seem to have flowers enough. Is the country overstocked? There are probably not more than 150 swarms, our own included, within a circle of one mile from our place. All of our pastures seem covered with white clover in its season; and it lasted, in many places, this season, until buckwheat came into bloom. The old raspberry is said to be an excellent honey producing plant, and its cultivation for bee pasturage is often recommended. There are hundreds of acres of it, within the flight of our bees, already covered with this plant. Basswood grows wild here, to some extent; and probably there are one hundred trees near enough to be visited by our bees. Buckwheat is also grown considerably--say fifty acres, this season, within easy reach. Aside from this, there are many scattering flowers in bloom at different times, from which honey can be extracted. And yet, of late, it is not one year in five that surplus honey is obtained from any other source than buckwheat.

I have this season increased our number of colonies from thirteen to twenty-nine, wholly by artificial swarming; but shall expect no surplus of any consequence.

While walking through a pasture field one day this season, where bees seemed to be working freely upon white clover, I undertook the job of watching a bee, in order to ascertain how many clover heads were visited by her while collecting one load of honey. Selecting a bee that looked quite empty and had no pollen on her legs, I commenced the count. How long she had already been there, I, of course, did not know, but I kept my eye upon her until she left the _five hundred and eighty-second_ clover head. Then she flew over some weeds, and I lost sight of her. Whether she then left for home, or not, I do not know. The time occupied by her in making this number of visits, was just one hour. Now, I do not think that this shows a very bountiful yield of honey, even though plenty of flowers exist. This bee visited the same clover head several times, while I was watching her.

If it was not for our fall pasturage of buckwheat, as slim as it is, bee-keeping would, in this section, be “played out,” as more honey is usually obtained from this, than from _all other sources combined_. It may be different in the western and southern parts of the State; but, so far as I am acquainted, I certainly think Pennsylvania is not the best place in the world for producing honey.

I. F. TILLINGHAST.

_Factoryville, Pa._, Aug. 10, 1870.

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[For the American Bee Journal.]

Form of Hive, and Feeding Bees.

I object to a low and flat shape of hive, for reasons which I shall assign. I will first state, however, that a hive of bees without provision for the retention of animal heat, is as helpless as a new born babe without raiment. Take, as an example, a hive twelve inches square, containing an oblong square perpendicular, and the frames to suit in size and shape. Your combs say eighteen inches in depth perpendicular, and twelve inches wide. The bees, in order to hatch brood, as the weather becomes warm in the spring, will cluster at the larva end of said combs, and keep up the temperature from bottom to top, because of two combined reasons, the combs being the long way perpendicular, and the natural tendency of heat being to rise, it ascends throughout the entire length of the combs, and thus the proper temperature is attained throughout the hive. It is a settled principle too, that a given quantity or number of bees can produce animal heat only sufficient in amount to rarify the air in a given space to a given temperature. Take, for example, a low flat hive, with combs say eighteen inches long horizontal, and nine inches deep, the hive being twelve inches wide, the same as the other. Now remember the principle just before stated. The bees will collect at the front end of the comb, and the animal heat, as generated, will ascend the same as along the combs in the other hive, which are eighteen inches deep; whereas these are only twelve inches deep. Is it not obvious that here one-third of every comb towards its rear end is entirely lost to the bees, so far as the early production of brood is concerned, because of the shape of the combs and the natural tendency of the heat generated to ascend? If the bees (being the same in number in both hives,) were spread out at the bottom of the combs in the last mentioned hive, the full size of the hive, the cluster would be twelve inches wide and eighteen inches horizontal. Then, on the principle that a given number of bees can generate only a certain degree of heat in a given space, they would fail to bring about the proper temperature in any part of the hive; and the result would be that they could not produce any brood. But allow them (as they will) to contract the size of their cluster, and you find that there is nearly one-third of each comb not used by them in the production of brood. Hence we find in the communications of bee-keepers such remarks as these--“My bees swarmed out of my common box and log gums earlier than they did out of my patent hives.” But universally we find in such cases that their patent hives are low and flat in shape. We have used such hives, and know by experience the truth whereof we speak; and, fearless of successful contradiction, we proclaim that the time is not far distant when the practical bee-keepers will adopt the shape of from a square to an oblong perpendicular, the oblong being preferable. We once were of those who thought there could be no difference in the mere shape of a hive, but justice to the true principles of bee-keeping compelled a change of opinion.

There is still another reason why bees should have a hive long up and down. In cases of long continued extreme cold weather, the bees cannot move in a lateral direction to obtain food. But the warmth of the bees will aid them in obtaining it from above, from the fact that their warmth will ascend and keep the frost melted at a greater distance from the bees above them, than on the sides. And, further, when spring came, or in the month of April, my bees almost always became nearly extinct in the low flat form of hive.

Now, in conclusion, let me add some remarks on _feeding_. There is a principle in the feeding of bees that is truly astonishing in its effects. They may be fed in sufficient quantity to cause them to fill all the empty cells and thereby work a complete destruction of the colony, if the owner fails to remove some of the honey out of their way. Or they may be fed in such proportions that the prosperity and increase of the hive will be somewhat like the rolling of a snow-ball--the longer and further it rolls, the greater its magnitude becomes. The queen has the ability to deposit from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs every day in the height of the breeding season; and if bees are then excited by finding liberal supplies of honey in the flowers, yet not in such abundance as to cause them to fill the hive to overflowing, brooding and rearing young bees will proceed most rapidly. But if there is little honey or none yielded by the flowers, and the bees remain idle for some length of time, the queen will cease depositing eggs; while on the other hand, if the bees rapidly fill nearly all the cells with honey, the queen must necessarily cease laying, for want of room to deposit eggs.

Bees seem to have three periods of probation. The first twenty-one days of their existence are passed in the cell; the next eighteen or twenty one days they spend in the hive mainly, nursing brood exclusively, except when engaged at times in building or repairing comb; the next period is devoted to assiduous outdoor labor, and varies from forty to fifty days, in the busy season of the year.

Early and continued stimulation to activity, by feeding the bees, causes the colony to become strong in numbers. If therefore we wish for handsome profits from the labors of the bees, we must have them in great numbers, at all times in the hive. If we expect great quantities of honey from weak colonies, we are doomed to disappointment. In almost every locality there is a time, during the spring or summer, when bees cannot gather nectar from the flowers. Such spells are sometimes prolonged for months; and in some years, in Iowa, in the month of June, the writer has known colonies to starve to death. In such times of scarcity, the bee-keeper should always be on the alert, and begin feeding only in sufficient quantity to produce activity in the hive. It frequently occurs that bees use up all the unsealed honey in the hive, and almost stop brooding. They appear to be reluctant to open their sealed honey. It seems that there is a principle at this point which we have not been able to grasp yet. I think that as a rule, if bees run out of unsealed honey in the spring months, the keeper should, from time to time, shave off the capping of some of the full cells. This, I think, would answer the same purpose as feeding, by exciting the bees to activity. It should be practiced in all cases where there is plenty of sealed honey in the hive, in the forepart of the season; and feeding only to a limited and small extent, when the bees have used up their unsealed supply. In fact, feeding should never be resorted to, while the hive contains plenty of sealed honey. Better uncap some of it.

It is not by any means desirable to have a hive in the height of the breeding season, with the cells so stored with honey that the queen is unable to deposit eggs to the full extent of her powers. Better extract some honey, even if you have to return it again by feeding as the season advances, thus keeping up the activity of the colony.

There are many attempts to systematize bee-keeping. Some ideas communicated through the Journal prove highly serviceable. Others drop without effect, perhaps, except that they set bee-keepers to thinking, and sometimes to experimenting, which is useful, too, if it be not indulged in at too great cost.

J. W. SEAY

_Monroe, Iowa._

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Practical gardeners may find the management of bees, for their employers, quite a lucrative part of their profession.

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When a colony of bees has become hopelessly queenless, then, moth or no moth, its destruction is certain.--_Langstroth._

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“Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise
Their master’s flower, but leave it, having done,
As fair as ever and as fit for use.”--_Herbert._

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[For the American Bee Journal.]

Bee Letter from Middle Tennessee.

Some weeks since, in company with a friend, armed with a pint of strained honey and a bee-box, we started for the edge of the cedars, distant from my apiary, in a direct line, not less than 2½ miles, where we found bees foraging. We boxed and coursed many, but found none that did not belong to my apiary. It was a very warm day, and being wearied, without pushing out a mile or two further, we returned home, to renew our hunt in the fall.

All the trees I ever saw, having bees in them (and I have seen many) had the entrance hole or crack on the south or southeast side.

Native queens of colonies five miles distant from Italian stocks, in two instances that I know of, mated with Italian drones. And in this connection, speaking of distances, I will mention the reception through the mail of two Italian queens, accompanied by about one dozen workers each, from Wenham, Massachusetts. Look on the map, and you will see it is a long distance from here.

Very little surplus honey has been stored here this season, on account of continuous rains during the spring and summer. Late swarms, not fed, have _gone up_. I have endeavored to keep my bees breeding, giving them repeated small quantities of honey, and have succeeded in doing so; and buckwheat being now in bloom, I hope to obtain a dividend for my outlay and trouble, leaving enough for the worthy laborers when nature shrouds herself in snow.

This is a great country to raise bees in, and I would think more of them if they would swarm less and store more honey. But swarm they will, and they cannot be kept from it. Breaking up an old hen from sitting when she has fairly made up her mind to sit, is an easy job compared to keeping bees from swarming in this section. Swarming commences in Middle Tennessee about the 20th of April, and becomes general about the 5th of May. These new swarms often cast a swarm in thirty days. Swarming is also frequent in August if the season be a good one. Our honey harvest is divided in two seasons--the spring, embracing April and May; and the fall, embracing August and September. Very little honey is stored outside those two dates, except perhaps in the month of March, if the spring is forward and fruit trees come in bloom; and in the month of October, if we have a favorable fall and frost is delayed. There has been no fall of honey dew this year.

Friend Novice’s allusion to air castles in his communication in the Bee Journal for August, _struck our flint_. We read his communication to our better half. “Don’t believe a word of it! Do you think that’s so?” Exclaimed she. “I do. I have been following that Novice in print some time, and always found him truthful.” Here’s what’s the matter. A spruce old aunt was at our house a few days since, and something was said about new dresses and the fall styles, when our better half broke loose with--“Don’t expect to have anything new this year. Everything we’ve made this year has been spent for bee-gums and paints; and now the upstairs is stored so full, there’s no place for old carpets and lumber. There’s never been any money in that here, yet, and I don’t believe there ever will be,” &c., &c.

H.

_Murfreesboro, Tenn._, Aug. 8, 1870.

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[For the American Bee Journal.]

That Shallow Form of Hive.