AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 625 



filled with comb and considerable honey of the last year. I moved the old hive away 

 and put the new swarm on the old stand, with one tier of sections from the old hive, 

 partly filled. In just seven days a swarm came out, and I hived them in a box till 

 I could look over the combs they came from. On looking I found queen-cells, and 

 as many as two were sealed cells ; the eggs from which they came could not have 

 been laid more than seven days, for the combs were old combs, remember. After 

 cutting out all the queen-cells I returned the swarm, and gave them another tier of 

 sections, and in two or three days gave another tier. The result was, I took over 

 180 pounds of section honey from that hive. 



Now a few words about the Langstroth frames: In 1858 I bought of Rev. L. 

 L. Langstroth the right to use his hive, for which I paid him $5. At the same time 

 I bought two hives, both of which I still have, and have just taken the trouble to 

 measure them. The inside measurement of the hive is 18^^ inches one way, and 

 155i the other, and 10% deep. The frames are, inside measurement, 12}4 and 

 103i inches. This is the common hive, the other is his observing hive, of two or 

 more stories, the frames are of the same length, but the depth is only 8}-i inches. 

 These frames are the very ones I bought of Father Langstroth 36 years ago, and 

 of course are the correct size of the Langstroth frames. 



I have never been an extensive bee-keeper, but in connection with farming have 

 always kept a few bees. I am now using a hive called, around here, the " Man- 

 ning " hive. North Clarendon, Vt. 



BLACK COATS VS. STRIPBO AND I.EAXHER. COI^OR. 



BY KOBT. PESTELL. 



" Fine feathers make fine birds," is an old adage. Is the opinion current 

 amongst bee-keepers of the present time that fine jackets make fine bees ? The 

 black bees to-day are looked down upon as being an almost worthless race, if one is 

 to be guided by the general tone of the bee-literature of the time, as great distinc- 

 tion being made between the races of blacks and Italians as between civilized beings 

 and savages. Would this distinction be made were it not for the difference in color? 

 I think not. The color of insects and animals is the one infallible nature clothes 

 them with to meet the exigencies of their lives concomitant to their surroundings. 



The honey-bee is not a native of this continent. We must, however, concede to 

 the black the right of claiming fitness to surroundings by priority. I am a staunch 

 friend to the blacks, appreciating thair many good qualities. Foremost amongst 

 them are their provident habits, they rarely breed up to their full income In early 

 spring as do the Italians, consequently their lesser liability to spring dwindling ; 

 their superiority as masons compared to their more splendidly attired relatives ; 

 their lesser propensity to swarm, and their greater hardihood. Surely, they are a 

 bee more fitted to survive in this climate when left solely to Nature's care than are 

 other races which have been introduced recently. If admitting them to be so, why 

 are they not as well, or better, adapted to be made a source of profit to the bee- 

 keeper, as are the fashionables of to-day ? 



In a country like this — Mr. Vanderbilt's broad lands where many thousands of 

 acres of forest abound — I am decidedly in favor of the blacks for the reasons above 

 stated, added to which is the almost impossibility of keeping other races pure from 

 crossing with the wild blacks which are quite numerously domiciled in the forests. 



Writing " wild bees " unfolds the book of my memory at the page of a bee-con- 

 versation of a recent date with a gentleman acquaintance. I then stated as an 

 opinion of mine that the blacks— or wild bees, as he termed them — were better 



