236 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Queer Notion, and Bronze Bees. 



Mr. Editor : — It is not to be expected that we 

 shall all see or think alike. Although I am forty- 

 five years of age, and have made bee-keeping a 

 specialty for over thirty-five years, I seldom dis- 

 pute with any person about it. But just look at 

 this notion, coming from a man older than my- 

 self. In a conversation with several bee-men, 

 one inquired of me whether I had ever seen a bee 

 unload or remove the pollen from its legs. I told 

 him I had, and that it was done thus : the bee 

 passes over the comb or a portion of it, till she 

 finds a cell that seems to suit-; she then thrusts 

 in both legs containing these little pellets, taking 

 them off in a very short time, with the next pair 

 of legs. " No such thing," says the man, "it is 

 thus — the bee coming into the hive, commences 

 to run, and runs until she gets up sufiicient heat 

 by friction to melt the pollen; then the other 

 bees take it off for her!" I considered that he 

 had told me all he knew about bees, and walked 

 quietly away, as he was too wondrous wise for 

 me. 



I will mention what to me is a curiosity. I 

 have a colony of black bees— that is the queen is 

 a native or black ; yet about one-fifth of her bees 

 are entirely bronze-colored, wings, legs, all entire, 

 and about one-third of her drones are of the same 

 color. The other bees and the drones are alto- 

 gether like common bees, not one showing any 

 mark of Italian blood. I intended last summer 

 to send some workers and drones to the Bee 

 Journal, but forgot it. If the entire colony 

 was of the bronze order, it would be a prize in 

 my estimation. 



111. my next I propose giving my experience in 

 wintering and feeding bees, as I have wintered 

 some on their summer stands, some in the cellar, 

 some in a chamber in a building built for the 

 purpose, and some buried in the ground. 



Fulton, N. Y. W. C. Newton. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Preserving removed Queen, when 

 Italianizing Stocks. 



On several occasions last season, while Italian- 

 izing stocks, I preserved some of my removed 

 queens in the following manner : I would select 

 a stock of bees so strong in numbers that the 

 temporary confinement of its queen would be no 

 material loss ; cage the queen, and suspend the 

 cage containing her between two combs. After 

 leaving her thus for twenty-four hours, I would 

 suspend by her side, two or three more cages, 

 each containing a removed queen— leaving three 

 or four inches of space between the several cages. 

 The bees would now feed all the queens without 

 exception. After the queen belonging to the 

 hive had been caged seven days, I released her, 

 first destroying all the queen cells, if any had 

 been started. The released queen would imme- 

 diately resume her duties, while the bees would 

 continue to feed the other queens two or three 

 weeks longer ; but in neither case over thirty 

 days from first to last. 



In case of any emergency, I found these pre- 

 served queens very convenient to use. As my 

 first experiment proved entirely satisfactory, I 

 made all the rest in like manner, with the same 

 results. I cannot say therefore what variations, 

 or whether any, can be successfully made ; and 

 although successful in every trial, I would as yet 

 hesitate to risk the life of a valuable queen on so 

 slender a thread.* Henry Crist. 



Lake P. 0., Stark co., Ohio, 

 March 9, 1870. 



* We have occasionally preserved common queens in this 

 manner after removal, till tneir successors were accepted and 

 had bejun to lay eLjgs ; in no case longer, however, than 

 eighteen or twenty days. — Ed. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Correction. 



In my inquiries on page 167, Vol. V., No. 8, I 

 should not have said that my bees died and 

 (afterwards) that I removed them to the house 

 cellar. But that, having almost a passion for 

 bees and honey ; and believing that one may 

 learn so to manage bees that it will be as profitable 

 as other emijloyments, I purchased several colo- 

 nies, old and new, in box hives, at four dollars 

 each, and transferred them ; also a flour barrel 

 containing seven (7) fresh swarms, most of them 

 very large, being from box hives holding two 

 bushels and over. For these latter I paid eight 

 dollars (not $30), and made five colonies of 

 them, after losing about a bushel by flight. 



I put in sixteen colonies, as before. Fearing 

 the old difficulty might have been caused or ag- 

 gravated by damp air, I removed them to the 

 house cellar, &c. 



I am troubled, as friend Grimm says he is 

 (though I cannot see it in his case), with what I 

 call a "Yankee propensity" to occupy too much 

 time with details and circumstances. In guard- 

 ing against this " besetting sin," I cut my subject 

 too close, like the negro who having leave to cut 

 off his master's dog's tail as close as he chose, 

 cut off his head, and after a moment's reflection, 

 said — "I bleve I've spiled bofe pieces. That's 

 cut cidedly too close to his ears." 



My bees were weighed, and the first swarm 

 died the second of February and not September, 

 as the printer would have me say. 



The last numbers of the Bee Journal are 

 unusually full of interesting and instructive mat- 

 ter, and must commend themselves to every 

 bee-keeper who has enterprise enough to stand 

 the remotest chance of success. 



West Georgia, Vt. O. C. Wait. 



[For the American Bee Journal. 



Inquiry. 



Do the same rules apply to introducing queens 

 in a nucleus hive as in a full stock ? Would it not 

 be best, on receiving a queen, to put her in a nu- 

 cleus hive until the combs, are filled with brood, 

 and then transfer her to a full stock— that is, if 

 more queens are wanted ? Will some of my bee- 

 keeping friends answer ? 



H. L. 



Lewisiown, Me.. March 25, 1870. 



