THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



231 



\ng. But to those who are unacquainted 

 with the business and think tliat from §100 

 to $1,000 can be secured with no trouble, to 

 such we will add a word from Burns' ad- 

 dress to a young friend : 



"For care and trouble set your thought. 

 E'en when your end's attainetl ; 



And a' your views may come to nought, 

 When ev'ry nerve is strained." 



W. P. Henderson. 

 Murfreesboro, Tenn., June 4, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Building Straight Comb. 



I will give you my plan. When you part 

 a swarm, place the frames the proper dis- 

 tances apart and put the hive where you 

 desire it to stay; raise the back of the hive 

 about 4 inches higher than the front, and 

 they will follow the comb guide, building 

 straight. W. T. Seaks. 



Warren Co., Ky. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Dollar Queens. 



I am not the only bee-keeper who thinks 

 that the raising of dollar queens does not 

 pay. I have received letters from several 

 bee-keepers, who indorse my views. The 

 last of these letters came from a well 

 known queen breeder of Tennessee— just 

 the State of one of my opponenis, Mr. Hen- 

 derson. 



Out of the first twenty sellers of dollar 

 queens, how many continue the business 

 to-day? Only 2 or 3. Have the 17 or 18 

 others become sick of the business or found 

 that there was too little profit ? 



The late Adam (irimm thought that 

 queen raising was unprofitable {Gleanings, 

 Dec, 1876, p. 303); yet he used to sell his 

 warranted queens at $3 each, and he was in 

 good condition to raise pure queens, l)aving 

 introduced 40 imported queens into his 

 apiary. 



In answer to my article, Mr. Henderson 

 says: "We purchase 50 colonies of Mrs. 

 Grimm, who advertises them at $!6..50 each." 

 Of course, for his figures, Mr. H. chooses 

 the smallest price advertised. But he for- 

 gets that the colonies of Mrs. G. are not sold 

 with safe arrival guaranteed, and that the 

 railroad smashers will kill at least 3 or 4 ot 

 these colonies. Now the express com- 

 panies do not trans])ort bees for notliing. 

 Tiie price of transportation from Jefferson 

 to Murfreesboro, Tenn., will be more than 

 $3 per colony; for they run through two 

 express lines. They cannot be safely sent 

 by freiglit — none would arrive alive. 



It seems also that in Tennessee, farmers 

 are nnlike those in Illinois, for here we 

 cannot buy box hives in spring, with 2.5 or 

 SO lbs. of "honey and strong colony for $2 

 each. Such hives cannot be bought here 

 for less than Sfo or .156. If we figure these 

 differences we find: 3 or 4 colonies killed 

 by the express company, .$10; transporta- 

 tion, $150; difference on the price of 12 box 

 hives. $36; interest on our outlay (forgotton 

 by Mr. H.), $50; total $246. 



Now the hives of Mrs. G. contain only 8 

 frames instead of 10, as figured liy Mr. H., 

 and I have experienced that you cannot find 

 6 Langstroth combs in the largest box hive. 



So you have to deduct about one-fifth of the 

 number of 200 nuclei indicated byMr. H.; 

 his production of (lueens being reduced to 

 160, instead of 200, on every batch of 

 queens; or 3 times 40, 120 queens to be de- 

 ducted from the whole number produced. 

 If we add the price of tliese 120 queens to 

 the amount of surplus expenses, we find 

 $366 to deduct, and the net profit instead of 

 amounting to $531, is reduced to .$216. 



No doubt, althougli curtailerl, this profit 

 would be handsome for 2 month's work; 

 but there are several other items which are 

 not taken in account and which will greatly 

 lessen the net profit. For instance: can, in 

 Tennessee, this raising of qiieens succeed 

 in April ? I think not, for I liave several 

 letters showing that honey was scarce in 

 Tennessee, during April and May,this year. 

 In the same number of the Journal, page 

 200, Mr. T. F. Bingham writes from Edge- 

 field Junction, May 7th: "Bees have hot 

 gathered enough to support their brood." 

 Now lack of honey in the fields means need 

 of feeding the nuclei, and of course rob- 

 bing. 



In the middle States we cannot begin 

 sending queens before June 1st. It is not 

 safe to send queens early; they are killed 

 by frost, as Mr. Andrews experienced last 

 year. 



Generally, nuclei cannot gather a living; 

 but Mr. H. forgets to put in account the ex- 

 pense of feeding them. Now we cannot 

 send our queens as soon as they are ready. 

 We have to wait for the demand, and our 

 nuclei are left with their queens till we find 

 purchasers. Then our queen business lasts 

 from June to Oct., till it is too late to re- 

 build our ruined colonies. 



No dollar-queen breeders raise them " by 

 steam power," as Mr. H. proposes to do. 

 Instead of using 50 tip-top tested queens, 

 they use only 1 or 2 imported or selected 

 queens. But in the opinion of Mr. II., these 

 tip-top queens are as good, if not better, 

 than imported ones. I know of about half- 

 a-dozen bee-breeders who are of the same 

 opinion, while most bee-keepers prefer im- 

 ported queens, and are willing to pay for 

 them. 



Comparing l>ees with sheep or chickens 

 will.not do. We can choose the mahi for 

 all these animals, but we cannot control the 

 mating of our queens. Hence the necessity 

 of recurring to new pure blood; and this 

 necessity is so much felt by bee-keepers 

 that 16 out of 20 of those who advertise 

 queens use imported ones or queens nearly 

 related to imported. Now what has shock- 

 ed Mr. H.. and especially another opponent 

 who signs his article " A lieader and Deal- 

 er," is ihy assertion that some of the dollar 

 queens are poor. 



1 do not wish to be offensive to my 

 brother bee-breeders by the following ques- 

 tions: 



1. Let us suppose a young bee-keeper 

 living in a township where there are none 

 but black bees, beginning to sell dollar 

 queens. How many of these queens will 

 be purely mated, if the dealer has only a 

 few colonies? 



2. Let us suppose that instead of raising 

 his queens in whole colonies, for the first 

 part at least of their raising, he starts them 

 in nuclei hives. How many of his queens 

 will lie worth their small price ? 



3. Let us suppose a dishonest man in this 

 dollar queen Tbusiness. I know that there 



