1*74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



83 



I cannot understand what yon mean by "doorstep," 

 ''common sense entrance." It is not described in 

 «.,i.kani\os satisfactorily, i'ou presume we have all 

 read the A- B. ,/., a number of as wish we bad. I see 

 you or some writer in i.i.kani.\<;s refers to your de- 

 scription of Ii as given there. Name lost. 



We presumed the explanation in our circu- 

 lar tor 187;J was sufficiently explicit, if not, we 

 Mill try again. 



Let A, represent the front, and B, the back 

 ■of a one story Simplicity hive, and C D, the 

 bottom board made just like the cover, as we 

 have so often explained, and let the dotted line 

 represent the ground. By letting the hive pro- 

 ject as represented, we have the entrance just 

 below A, but without the slanting board E, 

 for a door-step, the bees would have to climb 

 the perpendicular front of the bottom board, 

 which is very difficult when loaded. Now 

 with one edge of E, on the ground, and the 

 other, whieh is beveled sharp, resting against 

 the bottom board, nearly level with its upper 

 surface, they have every facility for access. 

 Now E, would soon slip down out of place, so 

 we fasten it by driving a staple of galvanized 

 Mire, F, one leg into the end of E, and the oth- 

 er into C D, with another similar one at the 

 opposite end of E. 



We have given this illustration for the ben- 

 efit of those having the Simplicity hives al- 

 ready in use, for the Standard hive having a 

 .permanent bottom board, has also a permanent 

 door-step. We are perfectly satisfied now that 

 the Standard has every advantage of the two 

 story hives and as it is much less labor to ex- 

 tract the honey from it, we would earnestly 

 advise all who can, to adopt it in preference, 

 whenever an opportunity will permit, without 

 too great an expense. 



The following is taken from a letter just ree'd 

 from Mr. Nunn, the friend we mentioned who 

 brought our imported Queen from Italy. 



l>o not represent ih«m as bright, for they are dark, 

 and I do not wish any one disappointed. Their work- 

 < rs are not as bright as mam we ha\ e 01 home reared 

 Queens, but their disposition seems remarkably kind, 

 some of theQueens have almost tilled their hive with 

 their own progeny. 



The Queens came from Milan (Sartori's apiary} and 

 he said were picked up in several different parts with- 

 in about fifty mites oi tin re. None of them from the 

 ■south, where Dadant got most oi his, i prefer bees 

 from the North tor my own use. even if they are dark. 

 I couldn't see much difference between the bees of 

 Milan and those on the I al e~. North, i hey claim at 

 Milan their bees r<j be larger, brighter, ami more pro- 

 line than those of the higher country North. 



The inclosed card is of a celebrity of Milan, who 

 knows you well through the A. B. ./. and has transla- 

 ted some of your writings. He said perhaps I would 

 have an opportunity to hand it to you. F. T. Ncnn. 



Oberlin, O. June 19th, ls~4. 



We would refer such of our friends as care to 

 invest so much, to Mr. N's advertisement. We 

 can assure them that whatever he states can 

 be implicitly relied on, and we have been very 

 agreeably surprised at finding our own Queen, 

 fully equal in every respect to any Queen we 

 ever owned, notwithstanding we have been so 

 frequently told, imported Queens were inferior 

 to home bred ones. Tis true she is dark, but 

 her workers are all we could desire, and so 

 diligent is she in her duties that she is al- 

 most invariably found depositing eggs, and 



unlike our other Queens she nhmijx continues 

 to do so, even when the comb containing her 

 is held up for the inspection of visitors. On 

 one occasiou when we had omitted to give her 

 the requisite ''elbow room," she went over her 

 ground the second time putting two eggs 

 regularly in a cell. 



Messrs NOVICE & Co. :— I desire to consult the 

 u Wind-miH" upon a few points, which I should \K 

 thankful to have removed outside of the mist which 

 surrounds them. 



1. In hybrid stocks, we have workers some with 

 three, some wiih two. some with one yellow band, and 

 others again with long slim black bodies without am 

 yellow band, would there be any difference in the 

 Value of Queens reared from these eggs, which if 

 suffered to produce workers would hatch outthe/otM" 

 differently marked bees as above? 



In a word, would not a Queen reared from an egg 

 which would have produced a three banded worker, 

 be nearer pure, ana every way better than a Queen 

 reared from an egg that would have produced a single 

 banded, or a full dark colored worker ? 



■1. In the new style of hive. I have the broadside of 

 one sheet of comb exposed to view through the glass 

 in rear. 1 notice some of the bees rapidly running 

 over the comb, frequently turning around and shaking 

 their bodies most violently and a few bees following 

 them around in their wild movements. The books 

 tell us that these are young bees, (wax producers) and 

 that they thus give notice to others, that they have a 

 crop of wax scales ready for use. This may be so; 

 but 1 notice that there are others just in from the 

 fields, legs loaded with pollen that go through the 

 same wild Quaker actions. Hooks further inform us 

 that the wax producers eat largely of honey and 

 remain in a quiescent state while* secretion "is go- 

 ing on. Let this suffice for the present, will consult 

 the Wind-mill on other points some other time. 



Respectfully yours, J. 11. Wilson, Sen. 



Lexington. Texas. May 30th, 1S74. 



We hardly see how one can answer the first, 

 because we cannot tell whether an egg that we 

 use to rear a Queen be one that would produce 

 a Black or an Italian worker; we do know- 

 however that Queens reared from a hybrid 

 mother, vary greatly in color, and we have had 

 an impression that yellow Queens gave us 

 workers with the most yellow bands. Import- 

 ed Queens however, may be quite dark and yet 

 produce beautiful workers; perhaps not so 

 light colored, but we do think selecting Queens 

 that produce very light colored bees has in- 

 jured the value of the Italians as honey produ- 

 cers, and possibly may have (we can only con- 

 jecture) something to do with our spring 

 losses; these bright yellow workers being 

 shorter lived, and failing before brood is reared 

 to replace them in the spring. 



In regard to the second matter, 'tis our opin- 

 ion that the movements you saw were only 

 their expressions of rejoicing at something that 

 pleased, such as a sudden yield of honey, an 

 accession to their stores by robbing, feeding 

 them, tine weather after a storm, a lot of young 

 l>ees just hatched etc., etc. We have seen a 

 whole colony set wildly rejoicing just by giv- 

 ing them a few clean white empty combs when 

 they had the rest all full. We have no faith 

 that the wax producers have any thing to do 

 with it although we have seen such statements. 

 When a young bee makes his lirst foraging 

 trip and returns with a load of pollen, beseems 

 anxious that all shall notice his great achieve- 

 ment, goes in the hive and out several times, 

 shakes his body, runs against his fellows as if 

 they were "no account" and often seems to in- 

 duce his fellow juveniles to go forth in hot 

 haste to see if they cannot do as well. In truth 

 bees are as jolly, playful and hap] y as kittens 

 when you once know 'em. 



