THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



99 



next comb a yonng queen, certainly fertile and 

 apparen'ly laying. In tiie serond case, we 

 found two young queens, both fertile, not yet 

 laying, liut apparently on ihe point of begin- 

 ning to lay. These were iu a hive that liad 

 been used for raisins queen cells, and from 

 which it was supposed all but one had been re- 

 moved. 



1 iiave just received from the bookbinder the 

 first four volumes of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, bound in two nice volumes. I value them 

 ver}' highly, and would not part with them for 

 several limes their cost. Can you, Mr. Editor, 

 furnish nnother full set of the back numbers for 

 a friend of mine, who has been a subscriber for 

 a few months only ? 



Please accept the enclosed photograph of the 

 subscriber, and the stereoscope view of his little 

 apiary in which lie finds so much pleasure. 

 Yours truly, 



R. BiCKFORD. 



Seneca Falls, N. Y., Sept. 21, 1869. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Rectangular Movable Frame hung 

 anglicg. 



Mr. Editor:— I invented and made hives, 

 nine j^ears ago, similar to Mr. J. M. Price's 

 hive, as desciibed iu the Bee Journal, vol. 4, 

 page 87. I made the rectangular frames, and 

 hung them iu the hives, precisely as Mr. A. V. 

 ConUlin describes the making and hanging the 

 Diamr)nd Movalde Frame, in his patented hive, 

 as slated in the Bee Journal, vol. 4, page 186 

 I made tbcshive and frames, and hung the 

 frames as he describes, with the intention of 

 getting it patented. After u^ing them five 

 years, tinkering and altering the frames iu vari- 

 ous ways, to force or induce the bees to make 

 their combs straight in them, I abandoned the 

 use of them, and the idea of getting the hive 

 and frames or the mode of hanging patented ; 

 for the reason that that mode of hanging the 

 frames is tlie best to get crooked combs of any 

 that I ever tried or ever saw tried. I s^Id out 

 the hives and bees to beekeepers of the old 

 school, in the township of Hudson, Summit 

 county, Ohio, where they can be seen by any 

 cue who chooses, with ihe combs m;tde in the 

 frames so crooked that it is impossible to remove 

 them, without cutting them literally to pieces. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I will try to explain to you 

 and the readers of the Journal, the rule that 

 my bees followed in making combs iu rectan- 

 gular frames hung angling to the plane of the 

 horizon. My frames were made of triangular 

 bars, as represented by Mr. Conklin. The bees 

 would, as a rule, start two combs in each frame; 

 one on the sharp under angle of each of the 

 two upper inclined top bars of the same frame. 

 These combs would be made by two sets of 

 workers, and when worked near to each other 

 one set would be curved to the right and the 

 other to the left, and be fastened to the next 

 frame adjoining. If perchance they started the 

 comb on only one upper bar of the same frame, 



they would as often curve the comb and fasten 

 it to the opposite upper bar of the adjoining 

 frame, as to the opposiie upper bar of the same 

 frame. 



After learning tliis to be their rule for making 

 combs in these frames, I tried to stop it by 

 making a saw-cut down into the apex angle of 

 the frame, and slip a piece of veneering into 

 the cut, so as to have the lower edge of the 

 veneer straight for two or three inches long and 

 parallel to the plane of the liorizon. I thought 

 that by this device I. could induce them to com- 

 mence only one comb in each frame, and that 

 one on the ^-Wfr edge of (he veneer ; and frc m 

 thence to follow down the two inclined upper 

 bars of the sime frame. Occasionally they 

 would do so ; but it was the exception, and not 

 the rule. 



Mr. Conklin says, on the same page of the 

 Journal, that the bees, in building comb, will 

 follow down the angle of the frames, commenc- 

 ing at the upper part or angle, and the combs 

 will be built straight in the frames every time : 

 no exceptions. I say to Mr. Conklin (not 

 doubting your statement) that if you have bees 

 that know their duty to their owner and will do 

 it so well, or if it is by some peculiar training 

 of yours, that you are enabled to get such 

 straight combs built in the frame every time, I 

 would like to purchase some of your kind of 

 bees, or yet the secret of training them, so as to 

 obtain the same results. I would pay bounti- 

 lully for it, but nothing for your patent ; for I 

 claim that I invented, made, and uned movable 

 frames hung as you described yours, long before 

 the date of your patent. M. Miller. 



Peninsula, Ohio. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Five Questions. 



Mr. Editor : — Will some one please answer 

 the following questions through the Bee Jour- 

 nal ? 



In counting the "three yellow bands" on the 

 full-blooded Italian bees, is the narrow strip 

 next to the thorax included, or should they 

 have three besides that ? 



What should be done with a good colony con- 

 taining fertile workers ? Could an unimpreg- 

 nated queen, or a fertilized one, be introduced 

 successfully ? 



Will bees with fertile workers build drone or 

 worker comb ? 



What is the greatest age at which a queen 

 can be or is likely to be fertilized ? 



Aud what is the average number of times a 

 good bee-keeper will "go into" (open the hives 

 and examine) his bees, in the course of the sea- 

 s u? 



J. W. G. 



Chillicothe, Mo., July 25, 1869, 



Careful experiments have shown that pure 

 air is necessary not only for the respiration of 

 mature l)ees, but for hatching the eggs, and de- 

 veloping the lar.vse. 



