516 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July L 



part of April I divided one black colony, taking 

 all eggs and unsealed brood; also all drone 

 brood and larvae, with the queen, on a new 

 stand; then I went to the hive containing a 

 tested queen to see if I could find a comb with 

 only eggs and young larva\ Every comb had 

 some larvye which was too old, except a frame 

 of drawn foundation on which the queen was 

 laying, having filled about two- fifths of the 

 frame in the center. The next day I went to 

 the black and queenless colony, and looked 

 over the combs to see if ihey had started queen- 

 cells on larvae I might have overlooked. Then 

 I went to my tested queen and got that new 

 comb which was now pretty well filled with 

 eggs, and gave it to the queenless colony. 

 About five days later I wanted to see how my 

 queen-cells were getting along, when, to my 

 surprise, they had gnawed three holes in it 

 about the size of a fifty-cent piece. Along the 

 edge of each they had several queen-cells, and 

 around these a circle, about one inch wide, of 

 drone-cells with larva? in them, which hatched 

 in due time into perfect pure Italian drones, 

 the same as in their mother hive. There must 

 be a certain time up to which the bees can re- 

 move the spermatozoon from worker eggs ; and 

 it is my opinion that this is not over 24 hours 

 after the egg is laid. 



I do not want to get in a quarrel with Dr. M.; 

 but if he does not believe me, let him try the 

 experiment for himself. I have given every 

 detail, to let those who are interested in it test 

 it. fSo far as lam concerned, I am just as sure 

 about it as I know that day follows night and 

 night follows day. I have waited to see whether 

 Doolittle or some of our headlights would give 

 Dr. M. a gentle hauling over the coals for his 

 bold assertions; but so far no one has done so. 



Sabinal, Tex. J. A. Schuddemagen. 



THOSE OLD BEE-BOOKS. 



ANOTHER PEEP AT THE "GOOD OLD TIMES." 



The book noticed in our last review was But- 

 ler's Feminine Monarchie, published in 1609. Of 

 this work we have two copies, the second one 

 being printed in London in 1673, in the Latin 

 language — the common vehicle for scientific in- 

 struction in those days. This rendered the 

 book intelligible to all civilized nations. This 

 need of a universal language is shown in the 

 invention of what is now called Volapiik, or 

 universal language — a mode of speech with no 

 irregularities or exceptions. The book in ques- 

 tion is 4 X 6 inches, and over 3 inches thick, be- 

 ing very " chunky," and more than four times 

 as thick as the English copy. It is divided into 

 four parts. The first part, devoted to bees, 

 contains 200 pages. The rest of the book is 

 English, and is devoted to gardening. The 

 first division of it is called the "Garden of 

 Eden," containing 300 pages; then follows the 

 " Planter's Manual," 140 pages, winding up 

 with a disquisition on soils, 170 pages. Count- 

 ing indexes and all, the book has about 850 

 pages, printed on thick paper. This makes the 

 volume so stout that it reminds one of some 

 folks of whom we say they would " get there 

 sooner by rolling," as their equatorial diameter 

 exceeds the polar. 



Whatever may be said of their knowledge of 

 bees. I can't help feeling that "Mr. Hugh Prat, 

 Kt," the author of the " Garden of Eden," could 

 give the gardeners of to-day a good many 

 points in their chosen line, and have some left. 

 His plan of arranging trees, flowers, etc., shows 

 that the' English have long been in the front 

 rank in their efforts to make this world beauti- 

 ful and productive. The "Planter's Manual" 



was written by Charles Cotton, Esq., and seems 

 to be all one could ask for in that line; in fact, 

 I believe I shall adopt It as a text- book. True, 

 there are some allusions in it to planting 

 things when the moon is right, which seems to 

 be all "moonshine;" but the wisdom of watch- 

 ing the moon seems to be about this: Suppose 

 you plant a tree on the 30th of April, and the 

 moon gets "full" that night. Well, by refer- 

 ring to your almanac it will furnish you an easy 

 means of remembering when the tree was set 

 out. It is a chronological arrangement. 



The treatise on soils was written by J. Eve- 

 lyn, Esq., by order of the Council of the Royal 

 Society, June 24th, 167G. Like the multiplica- 

 tion-table of those days, I can't see but it is just 

 as good as the one we use. Really, I am firmly 

 convinced that the people of to-day would be 

 greatly benefited if they would inquire wisely 

 concerning the things that have been. Gun- 

 powder is spoken of as an ingredient in making 

 good soils. Enough of it will doubtless make 

 things come along fast enough. Our clay lumps 

 here in Medina County certainly need some- 

 thing of the kind to crack them open. 



But we are here to examine Butler on bees, 

 and not gardening; but the subjects are so in- 

 termingled that it is difficult to separate them. 

 One strange thing we learn from Butler is, that 

 music was written in his day on four lines in- 

 stead of five as now. How came notes of music 

 in a bee-book? In describing the swarming- 

 note, Butler uses music-notes to represent the 

 sound. The hum of the workers is represented 

 by striking G once and A (first key above) eight 

 times in rapid succession. Jusr, try it once. It 

 doesn't take much practice. Probably the or- 

 gan would be better than the piano, and the 

 violin still better. If the latter instrument is 

 used, a green hand will produce a more curdling 

 effect. Strike F (above middle C) rapidly some 

 twelvi^ times, and that gives the pitch of the 

 queen. Let me quote a few words: 



"She continues the same some four or five 

 semi breves, sounding the end of every note in 

 C, sol, fa, do; so that, when they sing together, 

 they sometimes agree in a perfect third; and if 

 you repeat the termination of the bass, some- 

 times in a diapason (octave). With these tunes 

 answering one another, they go solemnly about 

 the hive to give warning to all the company." 



Perhaps Dr. Miller can explain this at the 

 next convention. 



One of the most remarkable things I ever read 

 in a book written by a man of Mr. Butler's at- 

 tainments is the following. It is too good to be 

 lost. I will reduce it to modern spelling: 



" A certain simple woman having some stalls 

 of bees which yielded not unto her her desired 

 profit, but did consume and die of the murrain, 

 made her moan to another woman more simple 

 [unskilled] than herself; who gave her counsel 

 to get a consecrated host and put it among 

 them; according to whose advice she went to 

 the priest to receive the host, which, when she 

 had done, she kept it in her mouth; and being 

 coming home again she took it out and put it 

 into one of the hives. Whereupon the murrain 

 ceased, and the honey abounded. The woman, 

 therefore, lifting up the hive at the due time to 

 take out the honey, saw there, most strange to 

 be seen, a chapel built by the bees, with an al- 

 tar in it. the walls adorned by marvelous skill 

 of architecture, with windows conveniently set 

 in their places; also a door, and a steeple with 

 bells; and the host, being laid upon the altar, 

 the bees, making a sweet noise, flew round 

 about if." 



No doubt a bee might have been seen on a 

 little wax stool, leaning back and playing some 

 of Bach's fugues in the key of bee-flat, on a lit- 

 tle wax organ, while the wax bells rang a merry 



