THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



143 



For the American Bee Journa.l. 



I thus passes out for feitilization, can be caught in 

 the "(lueen catcher'" and confined witli choice 

 di-Qiies, as described in tlie American Bee 

 Journal, vol. 5, No. 1, page 19. 



To operate the niu'sery, cut from the combs as 

 many sealed queen cells as required to suspend 

 in one cage, (with the sealed end downward, as 

 found in the combs) ; place also the honey for 

 feed between the tins in the cages ; close the 

 doors; remove a central comb from a strong 

 colony of bees, and put the nursery into its 

 place — letting it remain there till all the queens 

 are hatched and matured for fertilization. Then 

 they can be liberated as above directed. See 

 figure, for further explanation. 



Jewell Davis. 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



The Queen Nursery 



is a new invention for raising queen bees at less 

 than one-fourth of the former expense of raising 

 them, besides securing then* perfect safety up to 

 the period when they should pass out to meet 

 the drones. 



It is secm-ed to tlie inventor by letters patent, 

 dated November 23, 1S69. It is composed of a 

 frame m de of tlie size of a frame in any mova- 

 ble comb hive, divided into compartments con- 

 sisting of one or a series of c ges, covered and 

 open ways. 



The cages (permanent, or movable at will from 

 the frame), are made in a square form, with a 

 right-angled triangular piece of tin on each side 

 of them — making a place between the tins to 

 secure the feed for the young queens while in 

 confinement. This feed consists of honej^in the 

 comb, or a sponge saturated with it. One side 

 of each compartment is covered with fine wove 

 wire cloth tacked fast. The other side of the 

 luu-sery over part of the ways, is covered in the 

 same manner ; but the cages on this side of the 

 nursery are covered with the wire cloth cut into 

 pieces 2J inches square, rimmed with tin, 

 hinged, and hung as doors. The open Avays are 

 for tlie purpose of letting the woi-ker bees pass 

 from comb to comb, on each side of tlie nursery, 

 when it is placed in the centre of a strong colony 

 of bees, hi jthifi' of one of the centre combs re- 

 moved for the p'.irpose. 



The cages and ways are covered with wire 

 cloth to protect the queen cells, incipient young 

 queens, and their food, as long as they are re- 

 quired to be kept in confinement. Also, to se- 

 cure the equal dissemination of the heat required 

 to hatch and matm-e the new queens. The 

 apertures from the cages into the covered ways 

 are for the purpose of liberating tlie queens at 

 the proper time. This is done by remoAdng the 

 tin slides which close the apertures. But one 

 queen should be liberated at a time. They may 

 also be liberated by opening tlie doors of the 

 cages, or if the cages are removable from the 

 nursery, they can (whenever desired) be re- 

 moved to any hive where a queen is wanted, and 

 there liberated. 



The covered ways are thus arranged so that 

 the young queen can pass clear to the entrance 

 of the hive without danger of being destroyed as 

 she soes out to meet the di'ones. And as she 



For the Americau Bee Journa). 



Italians, &q. 



In the December number of the JOURNAL we 

 notice an article from S. Way, in which he makes 

 the point-blank assertion the " black bees will 

 make as much honey as the Italians, if they re- 

 ceive the same attention;" and tlie only reason 

 we can find for the statement is a little fm-ther 

 on, that he has " no axe to grind in the matter." 



]VIi'. Editor, do you not 'think tliat it would 

 have sounded much more respectful to tlie hun- 

 dreds, nay thousands, who are keeping the Ital- 

 ians, had he qualified his remark by saying '-such 

 was liis opinion," or that "from his own experi- 

 ence he judged so?" 



Is the opinion of one man in one locality to 

 decide the matter? Are the nianj^ noble hearts 

 (for we are sure there are such) who write for 

 the Journal', and who have spoken entliusiasti- 

 cally of their success with the Italians, all to be 

 considered as liaAdng "axes to grind:''" or as not 

 having tested black bees side by side with the 

 Italians ? 



We presume Mi-. Way to be an honest, upright 

 man ; but we really fear he thinks himself the 

 only one engaged in the bee business, as, with 

 one exception, he is tlie only person we ever 

 knew to declare the Italians no better than the 

 common bees. The rxception was Mr. Jasper 

 Hazen, wiio from a careful experiment given in 

 the Rural New Yorker^ with less than a half 

 dozen hives, declared to the world that black 

 bees, vdth some care, can make a little the most 

 honey. We cannot remember positively, but 

 think the black bees, in his hive, made over 200 

 pounds per colony, and the Italians some less — 

 which latter we tliink is so. 



Why does Mr. Hazen fuss with half a dozen 

 stocks? Had he such an apiary as Mr. Quinby 

 and some others, two hundred pounds per swarm 

 would be a large business with his hive — but per- 

 haps patent iii'ves pay still better. 



Novice. 



FouLBROOD is a disease exclusively of the 

 larvae, and not of the mature bees, nor of brood 

 sufficiently advanced to be nearly ready to 

 emerge. 



