better success. I noticed last year the fer- 

 tilization of 3 queens ; in each instance 

 they came out, rose about 15 feet high and 

 then seemed to sail around in a circle 

 until they met the drone, which I saw in 

 each case; at the moment they met the 

 drone I lost sight of the first two. 1 saw 

 her all the time she was out ; she met the 

 drone as the others did, at the instant of 

 meeting they 'fell within 4 feet of the 

 ground, when they separated, the queen 

 entering the hive, showing that copulation 

 had taken place. With these observations 

 I believe I know the requisite space tor 

 fertilization. I met a bee-keeper of many 

 years experience who stated that he had 

 observed the fertilization of more than 40 

 (lueens, and stated that it was in each 

 instance as above stated. The expense in 

 the North for a house would be heavy, but 

 in this climate but light. If health permits, 

 1 intend to give it a thorough trial ; as 

 learning just the time a queen will meet the 

 drone is an uncertain thing. One could sit 

 and watch a nuclei for the young queen to 

 appear, and as soon as she comes out put 

 her and a drone in a cage and see what you 

 will get. That I have tried and failed en- 

 tirely more than once. 



Another one asks for some plan to raise 

 queens with less bees. Enough has been 

 tried to show that in nuclei is not tiie proper 

 place to start queens, and until the cells is 

 10 days old, it has not a safe place in the 

 nuclei. So much raising queens in weak 

 colonies has already been done, raised cells 

 in very strong colonies, and when 10 or 12 

 days old put them into nuclei and in the 

 confinement. I hope Dr. Parmly will suc- 

 ceed in creating a'ii interest and get out all 

 the wisdom possible, for when we get this 

 Cyprian, Javan, and Smyrnan, how are 

 we to keep them pure unless we succeed 

 with the confinement? Will Dr. Parmly 

 please give us a brief name for this 

 process ? 



CONVENTIONS. 



It seems that the National Convention 

 has wandered far East. It is a good road to 

 travel, and even to look in tiiat direction 

 and see one " with his hat on " is still bet- 

 ter, but in the matter of bee conventions 

 you have gone too far to do us any more 

 service in the way of holding u]) the inter- 

 ests of the South-west. 1 will make a sug- 

 gestion for the consideration of the South 

 and West : Let us have a convention in St. 

 Louis next autumn. Let us have opinions 

 pro and con tluough the American Bee 

 Journal. 



BOX vs. extracted honey. 



We are glad of the interest taken through 

 the North in favor of box honey ; it gives 

 better opportunities for our extracted here, 

 as it does not seem practicable to raise box 

 honey. In giving accounts ot those large 

 yields of box honey, there seems something 

 always left out ; and when those who raise 

 large crops of box honey, and give their 

 mode of the same, there is always some- 

 thing not brought out— one important item 

 left out — not mentioned, perhaps it is best. 

 wintering. 



Wintering seems to be still a vexing 

 question. Well, I am done on that topic. — 



If I was in the North I would send my bees 

 South ; not south just to middle Tennessee, 

 but to New Orleans. The 1st of September 

 my bees were weak, and had but about 13 

 lbs. of honey ; November 10, I prepai'ed 

 them for winter. The blacks had but little 

 honey, Italians an abundance. I equalized 

 and gave, as near as 1 could, 20 lbs. to each 

 one. During my absence, 2 deserted their 

 hives, (perhaps were robbed). I have been 

 examining this week, and find an average 

 of 5 full frames of brood, gathering fully 

 from willow and fruit bloom. Hives con- 

 tain about 8 lbs. of new honey, (willow), 

 and some old. I hope we may have a good 

 season this year, as our last was one of the 

 poorest ever known. W. B. Rush. 



Carrollton, La. 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



Foul Brood, &o. 



In reading the proceedings of a Bee Con- 

 vention not long since, I noticed that Prof. 

 Cook make the remark that he did not 

 think the extractor was the cause of foul 

 brood. He is perfectly correct in making 

 this statement. My object in writing this 

 article is to let all know that the modern 

 management of bees cannot be the cause of 

 foul brood. My bees have had the foul 

 brood for the last 3 years, and I have never 

 used the extractor. I have never seen but 

 one in the State. I have never fed my bees 

 anything ; have never seen foundation. 



When the receipt for foul brood came to 

 hand, I commenced doctoring, and every 

 colony I so operated upon has since died. 

 Salicylic acid and borax will stop it for the 

 time being, but the next brood is affected; 

 and why should it not be, if the disease is 

 in the honey in the hive, as the late Mr. 

 Quinby said it was ? I have lost during the 

 lasts years about 40 colonies of bees, but I 

 hope that it is the last I shall lose from foul 

 brood. I cannot now discover any signs of 

 it in the colonies I have left. I nave sent 

 for an extractor, and if I find any more col- 

 onies affected, I think I'll take out every 

 frame and extract all the honey. 



The bees in my box hives commenced to 

 die first. I have been using the new 

 Quinby hive for the last 3 years, and I have 

 not had a natural swarm from it, yet I keep 

 the hives shaded, and give them plenty of 

 box room, and occasionally put an empty 

 frame in the middle of the brood nest. In 

 the swarming season I do not keep more 

 than 6 brood frames in the hives during the 

 honey season. 



The most honey 1 ever got from one col- 

 ony was last season, 173 lbs., in boxes and 

 sections ; they were black bees. Two years 

 ago this spring, I sent •'So East to ])ay for an 

 Italian queen, and in the course of time she 

 arrived by express dead ; the same parties, 

 in order to make the loss good, sent me two 

 more queens through the mails ; they were 

 also dead when they arrived. The same 

 day that the first queen came, I sent $5 to 

 Lower California, to pay for an Italian 

 queen, and in 19 days I received by express 

 a beautiful looking queen, and the first one 

 I ever saw ; she was put up properly.— 

 Well, things went on smoothly until the 



