84 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



test ? Suppose, friend Nesbit, you should raise 

 a hundred Italian queens, and all should pro- 

 duce Avorkers thus marked, how many of those 

 queens would yoii, be willing to use for queen- 

 hreeding purposes ? Would ten, yea say five, of 

 those Iniiidreil queens be satisfactory to your- 

 self? Querist desires to call special attention to 

 this matter, as he observes that several parties 

 are oSL-rmg pui'e (?) Italian queens by the quan- 

 tify at knock-down prices. The uninitiated 

 will begin to think that Slmom Pure Italian 

 queens can soon be bought by the bushel, same 

 as potatoes, beans, pumpkins, &c. More anon. 



Querist. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Removing Queen Cells no Preventive of 

 Swarming. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Observations and Experience. 



Mr. Editor : — Having been a bee-keeper 

 upwards of twenty years, thougli not vcy ex- 

 tensivel}'- in the business, I have been using the 

 common box hive or linn gum, uutil witliia 

 the last three years, when I introduced the 

 L lugstroth hive. I like that hive about as well 

 as any I ever bandied, except the National 

 Hive, patented by Owen Davis, July 7, 1868. 

 I have handled different i)atenl hives, and find 

 they all could bear a little improvement. 



From my experience, I shall not say much at 

 present about pr:iclical bee-keeping ; though I 

 will say a liitle in regard to the two races of 

 bees. I have handled a great many bees ihis 

 summer; and through the month of June I 

 found the black bees almost entirely destitute 

 of honey, and with scarcely any unhatched 

 brood. In fact most of the black queens had 

 quit depositing eggs, and I knew several co!- 

 onins to die of starvation about the last days of 

 June. Mine being all Italian bees, thirty hives 

 in number, and being from iiome myself at this 

 time, I became anxious to know their condition. 

 As soon as I returned I examined my hives, 

 and was surprised to find them all well stored 

 with honey and in fine condition, plent}^ of eggs 

 and hatched larvae, and thousands of sealed 

 brood. When the honey harvest set in now, 

 my bees were ready for the rush of honey, and 

 they made good use of it. I had several colon- 

 ies tliat gathered ten pounds, ])er day, for ten 

 days in succession. Right ia tlie height of that 

 harvest, we had a powerful rain. It rained for 

 a week every daj^, which Avas a great drawback 

 to the bees. 



My bees filled the lower part of their hives, 

 and a number of top boxes, while those of my 

 neighbors did nothing in the boxes ; and yet I 

 have raised quite a number of queens this sea- 

 sou, and had to draw on all my hives, to keep 

 my nuclei strong. Still they kept up finely ; 

 and while the black bees killed off their drones, 

 the Italians did not. 



I have been reading the Bee Journal several 

 years, and watching other men's movements, 

 and will give my experience in practical bee- 

 keeping more fully ia a future article. 



James W. Seat. 



Monroe, Iowa. 



Dear Journal: — I thought it was a fixed 

 fact that if we examined our colonies of bees 

 every eight days, and cut out all queen cells, 

 that it M'ould prevent swarming. Such, how- 

 ever, does not seem to be the case, as I tried it 

 this season and failed. 



I had a nice colony of Italians, which I got 

 from Mr. Thomas, of Brooklin, Ontario, and I 

 wished to see how many ]3ouuds of surplus 

 honey I would get from them by preventing 

 them from swarming. Myself and Mr. Georee 

 Charles examined this cohmy every week, and 

 cut out all the queen cells. Last Friday (23d) 

 we cut out all therein, (seven in number), and, 

 to our suprise, yesterday a large swarm issued. 

 After hiving the s^varm Ave examined the old 

 colony, and found five queen cells just started, 

 with an egg in each — queen gone. Can you 

 account for this, or is it a common occur- 

 rence ? 



A. Malone. 



Garden Island, Kingston, Canada, July 

 26, 1869. • . 



Remarkable Accident— i)isa.s/!ro?«.< Effects. 

 A letter received at Louisville, from Princeton, 

 Kentucky, speaks of a fearful accident which 

 occurred on tlie 20th. A man named Boot 

 Crow was hauling upon a wagon two immense 

 millstones, one which weighed 2,850 pounds. 

 While passing along the side of a high hill the 

 heaviest stone rolled from the wagon and down 

 the declivity with a fearful velocity, crushiog 

 small trees and shrubbery in its course. The 

 house of a faimer, named Darwell, was situated 

 at the foot of the hill. The millstone Avent 

 crushing tiirough a fence and into tlie yard at 

 the farmer's house, where were a number of bee 

 hives. In the yard Avere playing a bevy of chil- 

 dren. The bee hives were upset,and in the confu- 

 sion tiie bees lighted upon the children, stinging 

 every one of them in a frightful manner. The 

 progress of the great stoue Avas not impeded in 

 the leaf^t by its collision with the hives, and 

 went bounding into a stock pasture beyond the 

 house. It dashed into a herd of calves and 

 horses, killing tAVO of the former and one of the 

 latter almost instantly. The children ia the 

 yard had been comjiletely covered Avith the 

 bees, and each one Avas stung by them until, 

 their persons were entirely covered with Avhite 

 swellings. One of them died a fcAv hours after 

 the terrible occurrence, and two others are en- 

 tirely speechless and blind. They can hardly 

 recover. 



Those who suppose that, Avhen a swarm is- 

 sues, the ncAV colony consists Avholly of young 

 bees, forced to emigrate by the older ones, if 

 they closely examine the neAV swarm, will find 

 that Avhile some have the ragged Avings of age, 

 others are so youn'g as to be hardly able to fly. 

 — Langstroth. 



