2U 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



a good average swarm of bees, in cold spring 

 weather, occupies (together with their comb) a 

 circular space equal to twelve inches in diameter, 

 when in the right form of hive to allow them to 

 cluster naturally. Now, if we ta^e it for granted 

 that my conclusions are correct so far, we can 

 easily see that any great departure from this form 

 is wrong, for a cold climate like Minnesota. A 

 correspondent who stated, in the Bee Journal 

 (about the time that Gallup was having his awful 

 muss about hives), that he used the shallow hive, 

 and that he wanted no other, finally concluded to 

 try a different form, and still call it a Langstroth 

 hive. He wrote to me last spring, and acknowl- 

 edged that all his swarms in his new style hive 

 we're at least twenty days ahead of those in his 

 old stjie of Langstroth hive. While his new 

 style was full of brood, his old style was just 

 commencing to breed ; consequently his new style 

 hives, in the same yard and with the same care, 

 were ready to divide or swarm twenty days ear- 

 lier than his old style hives. In my experience 

 (and understand my experience has always been 

 in the North) the difference has ever been from 

 twenty to thirty days in favor of a hive of the 

 right form. In Minnesota, your springs are al- 

 ways cool and windy, until about the first part 

 of June, especially in the open prairies. 



There are a great many people who have al- 

 ways used box hives ; and when they first obtain 

 a frame hive, they like it so much better than the 

 box hive (without any regard to Avhat the form 

 may be) that they think their form of hive is 

 the best in use ; while the fact is, they are not 

 competent judges. We can only arrive at safe 

 conclusions after experimenting, for a series of 

 seasons, with differently formed hives. 



In transferring from liollow trees, and from all 

 kinds of box hives, of every conceivable form, I 

 have always noticed that there v/as only about 

 from ten to twelve inches in depth of comb occu- 

 pied Avith brood, except in rare cases. If a large 

 quantityof brood is expected early in the season, 

 our frames should not be so broad that the bees 

 cannot occupy the full breadth of the comb from 

 outside to outside, 



E. Gallup. 



Orchard, Iowa. 



[For the Americaa Bee Journal ] 



Black Queens from pure Italian Brood ! 



Last fall I raised several nice queens as black 

 as a croio all over, from the purest Italian brood, 

 and other ones of the most beautiful golden color, 

 on the same combs, at the same time. I presume, 

 there is no nicer queen or better marked workers 

 in all the countrj'-, than the mother and worker- 

 sisters of these jet black queens." I am positive 

 that the worker sisters of these black queens car- 

 ried in pollen liberally at fourteen days old. I 

 did not save the black queens, but their queen 

 sisters of the same age bring on pure worker 

 progeny. 



lias any one else had similar experience ? Will 

 some one explain ? J. W. Greene. 



Chillicoihe, Mo., April 10, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



All Aboard!" 



[Fo 



Bee Journal. 



A Queen among Fertile Workers. 



Last summer, after asking my " five questions," 

 I introduced a small, black virgin queen into a 

 colony of many fertile workers. She was kindly 

 received and protected, the workers at the same 

 time continuing to lay. Being encouraged, and 

 yet not wishing to retain the black queen, I ven- 

 tured a little further; and at the end of four days 

 introduced a fertile laying Italian queen. She 

 was also received and protected. She laid eggs 

 liberally in one part of the hive, and the fertile 

 workers laid in another part for five days, then 

 the bees carried out alive the laying workers, and 

 the queen and colony went on all right. 



J. W. Greene. 

 Chillicothe, Mo., April 10, 1870. 



On the Great Apiarian Railroad they now run 

 two trains : — 



The 1st, or Express, with conductprs Gallup 

 and Novice, who believe there has been improve- 

 ment in the past, and are for progression in the 

 future, in all that pertains to the science of Bee- 

 keeping, Bee Kives, Bee Management, Wintering 

 of the Bees, improving the breed, and improving 

 the practice. And — 



The 2d, or AVay Train, with mixed freight 

 and sleeping-car. This carries all bee-keepers 

 who believe in box hives, fixed frames, tight tops 

 and side-doors ; and that there has been and can- 

 not be any improvement in bee-keeping, bee man- 

 agement, bee hives, bee moth-traps, bee feeders, 

 or in wintering bees. 



Among the passengers on this train tco are 

 those who believe, " or would make others be- 

 lieve," that an artificially raised queen is never 

 consumptive or asthmatical, nor ever has atro- 

 phia, scrofula, or nervous debility, nor proves 

 sterile, or miscarries ; and that when such queens 

 are large and look like a splendid fertile queen, 

 they never have the dropsy or colic, or are not 

 badly constipated, with general debility of the 

 vital powers, and are worthless — except for the 

 five or twenty dollars they bring their breeders. 



This slow train also carri- s all who believe 

 bee-keeping has not improved in the last twenty 

 years, since I went into it ; are still quoting from 

 tlieir note-books of twenty years ago, and de- 

 fending exploded theories — because, under the 

 light of science, they once advocated certain 

 standard hives and systems of bee management. 

 They persistently stick to the theory, hive, and 

 management, because in a past age it was thought 

 good ; and will not heed the wreck of fond hopes 

 and the loss of millions of money it has caused, 

 but adhere to it even in the light of present truth, 

 because they think that to be consistent, they 

 must advocate it in the future as in the past. 



All such .Rip Van Winkles in bee-keeping have 

 secured berths in the sleeping car to the end of 

 life's journey. J.M.Price. 



Buffalo Grove, Iowa. 



