134 



THE AxMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



combs, and put it into another stock, from which [For the American Bee JonrnaU] 



^ "SZSi ^f^Snk the combs and tbund ! ^^oduet of Honey, Location, and Size of 

 live royal cells sealed (11th day.) i Hives. 



October 22, examined the combs about three { 



o'clock, and found one of the queens just ready 



to leave its cradle (15tli day.) j When I read friend Hazen's articles about his 



October 23, found fom- young queens thrown | beehive, I came to the conclusion that he writes 

 out on the ahghting board. I under the impression that it is only necessary to 



October 26, examined the combs and saw the 

 splendid virgin Ligm-ian queen. 



j^ovember 14, again examined all the combs 

 and could not find a single egg laid. I saw the 

 splendid virgin Ligurian queen, now tw 

 three days old. 



February 24, I found a drone pupa on the 

 alighting board. 



Febrirary 27, examined all the combs and 

 found drones hatched and brood in all stages of 

 development in two combs, containing only 

 worker cells. 1 sa\\' drones emerge from these 

 oells. Removed these combs as specimens, also 

 a few of the small drones that were hatched. I 

 put into the hive bar frames containing drone 

 combs. I sa^^' the beautiful wgin queen. 



March 6, exahiined the combs and found eggs 

 and brood in two combs. 



March 31, a number of ch'ones flj'ing out. 



April 7, examined all the combs and found 

 about one quarter of the bees Mere clrones. I 

 supplied the stock with several worker brood 

 combs, taken out of other stocks, and I saw this 

 virgin queen frecj,uently from April to June, and 

 she continued to lay eggs that produced only 

 drones, not in the order that a fertile queen lays 

 eggs, but here and tliere one, so that the combs 

 with the sealed di'one brood, with its conical 

 covers, had a very singular appearance. She 

 also sometimes laid two eggs in one cell, which, 



gi\-e the honeybee a roomy habitation and ample 

 space for storing honey, to obtain in any loca- 

 tion from 100 to 300 pounds of sm-plus honey 

 from a single colony of bees. If this were so, 

 enty- ; why do we not get up a beehive as large as a 

 ' gooti-sized barn Y We might then get honey by 

 the thousand and the hundred thousand pounds, 

 without being compelled to oversee and manage 

 a large number of stocks. Other beekeepers, 

 too, seem to write under the conviction that no 

 other hive than one of their own invention, can 

 give us a large amount of honey. 



iSTow, I am a beekeeper of no inconsiderable 

 experience. I am forty-five years old, and, "v\ith 

 the exception of one year, when I came to tliis 

 country, I have kept bees from my seventeenth 

 year, in numbers varjang from a single colony 

 to eight hundred. I have kept bees in tall hives 

 and in low ones ; in wide ones and in narrow 

 ones ; in wooden liives and in straw hives ; and 

 in hives with inside measmement var}ing from 

 700 to 4,800 cubic inches in the main apartment. 

 I have used hives with only one cap-box for sm- 

 plus honey, and others with boxes varying in 

 number up to twelve . I experienced what I con- 

 sidered extra good honey seasons, and also some 

 so poor that my stocks had on an average not 

 more than five pounds of honey on tlie first of 

 November. And I must say that I never ob- 

 tained so large an amount of surplus honey from 



in some cases, came to maturity; the bees en- i one or from many hives, as I notice reported in 

 larging the entrance to the cell to the size of i the Journax, by some beekeepers. I often ask 



two cells, and thus covering the two larvae with 

 one large conical cover. 



In June I removed this virgin di-one-breeding 

 queen, and placed her in my entomoligical col- 

 lection, and gave the stock a beautiful yoimg 

 liigurian queen. 



There never was a clearer confirmation of this 

 wonderful doctrine of true Parthenogenesis, as 

 I nevei' i-ead or heard of a queen being hatched 

 so late in the season as the 22d of October, and 

 afterwards kept until the June foUomng, pro- 

 ducing only drones. 



Altogether tlie experiment was very success- 

 ful and most interesting, as it was the fii'st time 

 I had ever seen or heard of two bees coming to 

 maturity and being hatched out in the' same ceD, 

 perfect "drones. 



William Care, 

 Clayton Bridge, Newton Heath, near 



Manchester, England. 



myself why is this so ? It cannot be on account 

 of tlie hives I used, as I have used and tried an 

 immense number, of diftei-ent shapes and sizes. 

 And I conceive it cannot be owing to tlie man- 

 agement, as I have tried natural swarming and 

 artificial ; I have fed the bees with rye flour and 

 honey in early spring up to the time when thej^ 

 could gather supplies, for themselves. I had 

 them populous enough to tm"n oft' strong swarms 

 in May. I have placed swarms in empty hives, 

 and in hives filled vvith combs ; in tall luves, as 

 well as in shallow ones. I put on smplus honey 

 boxes before swarming and after s\\'arming. I 

 put boxes on large prime swarms immediately 

 after hiving them, or soon afterwards ; but, Avith 

 the exception of about a dozen cases, I obtained 

 no greater yield of surplus honey than twenty- 

 five^'pomids from any single hive, or an average 

 of about fifteen povmds each, from the whole 

 number; and this yield was secured in a few 

 seasons only, and since I keep the Italian bees. 

 Is it not a shame for me to acknowledge such 

 results as these ? Would it not better advance 

 my interest, as a dealer in bees, to get up a 

 I statement of an immense yield of honey secured 

 I by Italian bees, native-bred or imported ? Some 

 The very essence of all profitable beekeeping 1 of my beekeeping friends will be ready to ex- 

 mav be condensed into Oettel's Golden Enle : — | claim — "I " 



The Italians call the lioney-emptying machine 

 a, '■'■ smelatore^' How will that name siut the 

 fastidious who desire brevity? 



Keep your Stocks Strong. 



know where the trouble is with you. 

 You keep too many stocks in one place." And 



