APrtTT- 1, 1915 



277 



Tiisten lo this on bees moviiis: esg-s and 

 sijrus of queenlessness : 



During the spring months, in medium and small 

 families, where the bees can protect with animal 

 heat but a few combs, I have often found cells con- 

 taining a plurality of eggs — two, lliree, and occa- 

 sionally four, in a single cell. These supernumer- 

 aries must be removed, and frequently may be found 

 amongst the dust on the bottom-board. 



If you have a hive that you suspect has lost a 

 queen at this season, her presence can be ascertained 

 nine times in ten by this method. Sweep off the 

 board clean, and look the next day or two after for 

 these eggs. Take care that ants and mice have no 

 chance to get them. They might deceive you, being 

 as fond of eggs for breakfast as any one. When 

 one or more are found, or any immature bees, it is 

 sufficient; no further proof of the presence of a 

 queen is needed. 



The public of his day had many of the 

 same pre.iudices and animosities as that of 

 to-day. Among tlie notions was the belief 

 in loss to crops through the nectar taken 

 by the bees. He met it by the same answers 

 that we do. 



Of the sagacity of bees he writes : 



On this subject I have but little to say, as I have 

 failed to discover any thing uncommonly remarkable, 

 separate, and distinct in one swarm that another 

 would not exhibit. I have found one swarm, guided 

 alone by instinct, doing just what another would 

 under the same circumstances. 



Then he proceeds to cite many of their 

 wonderful acts, which, by the way, they do 

 in exactly the same way to-day, and con- 

 eludes by saying: 



I have mentioned these to show that a course of 

 action called forth by the peculiar situation of one 

 family would be copied by another in a similar emer- 

 gency, without being aware of its ever being done 

 before. Were I engaged in a work of fiction, I 

 might let fancy reign and endeavor to amuse, but 

 this is not the object. Let us endeavor then to be 

 content with truth, and not murmur with its reality. 

 ^Vhen we take a survey of the astonishing regularity 

 with which they construct their combs without a 

 teacher, and remember that the waxen material is 

 formed in the rings of their body — that for the first 

 time in life, without an experienced leader's direc- 



tion, they apply a claw to detach it, that they go 

 forth to the fields and gather stores unbidden by a 

 tyrant's mandate, and throughout the whole cycle of 

 their operations one law and power governs. Who- 

 ever would seek mind as the directing power must 

 look beyond the sensorium of the bee for the source 

 of all we behold in them. 



Here is his statement concerning Lang- 

 stroth's book and hive, written after he had 

 used the hive for a couple of years: 



Unexpectedly, I think I have found a hive supe- 

 rior, in many respects, to the simple box. It is not 

 pretended that a swarm of bees located in it will 

 store a greater amount of honey in a given time ; 

 but the advantages are in the control of their oper- 

 ations, and knowing their condition at all times. 



From this he soon went entirely into the 

 use of frame hives, modifying them in size 

 and shape to meet his own ideas, saying: 



It is not very likely we have got the best form of 

 the hive. I have one quite different from Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's, the patentee; but whether it is better is for 

 others to decide. I can only say that I am suited 

 with it better than with his. A few will like mine 

 because I do; others, his because he recommends it. 

 I have not the least objection to any one's improving 

 it or using it as either of us does. There is not the 

 least douljt in my mind that whoever realizes the 

 greatest possible benefits from his bees will have to 

 retain the movable combs in some form. The prin- 

 ciple (movable combs) can hardly be dispended with. 



The more we read Quinby's writings, the 

 more we admire and like him. Had his 

 work been given the same publicity as 

 Langstroth's, it is difficult to doubt that 

 commerieal beekeeping would now be far 

 ahead of what it is. Quinby was a great 

 pioneer, and to-day his book is as good and 

 as valuable as ever. It is one of the classics 

 of bee culture, and no beekeeper can rightly 

 feel well posted in the art until it has been 

 read. 



To Quinby the beekeepers owe a great 

 debt, and of him we can truly say the world 

 is better for his having lived. 



Providence, R. I. 



A DAY WITH M. QUINBY 



BY J. E. CRANE 



It was in the autumn of 1869 that I spent 

 a day with M. Quinby. A year or two 

 before I had bought several hives of Italian 

 bees of him. including a real imported 

 rjueen, paying $20 for her. More than this. 

 T had read and reread " Mysteries of Bee- 

 keeping Explained." In fact, I had studied 

 it until I almost knew it by heart. The 

 old book, as I look at it now. appears to be 

 pretty well worn out. I believe most ear- 

 nestly the words found in the preface of this 

 book, " The simplest directions of a reliable 

 practical beekeeper who studies the science 

 with an honest enthu.«iasm are invaluable to 

 the tyro in apiarian knowledge." I be- 



lieved the principles laid down in his book 

 were the sure foundations of success if 

 faithfully followed. More, I believed Mr. 

 Quinby the largest or most experienced and 

 successful beekeeper in the United States. 



The season had been a good one with me, 

 with a good crop of honey secured by fol- 

 lowing the directions given in " Beekeeping 

 Explained." How better could I spend 

 some of the money the bees had brought me 

 than by visiting this prince of beekeepers'? 



It was late September or early October 

 when I went to Troy, stopping over night 

 and completing the journey the next morn- 

 ing, that I might have a full day with him 



