THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



249 



moved our black queen, put her in a cage over 

 another hive, to save her in case we needed to 

 return her, and simply laid the queen cell on top 

 of the frames (the hees soon cover it, and it is 

 just as well in warm weather, and can be exam- 

 ined at any time without opening- the hive). The 

 next day we were on the watch, and saw a tine 

 queen hatch out and go down into the hive well 

 received. 



Of course we should have looked after this 

 hive further ; but as the two otlier queens of 

 same age became fertile, we neglected to exam- 

 ine the hive again until the spring, when we 

 found a black queen and drones in worker cells. 

 Of course our Italian queen was lost or killed, 

 and they raised one of their own too late to be 

 fertilized. The drones are quite small, scarcely 

 larger than a worker. Another fact for the bee- 

 house — the colony is now quite populous, al- 

 though it has had no fertile queen since last Sep- 

 tember. Had it been left out of doors, how would 

 its condition have been ? 



[For tUe American Bee Journal.] 



True Theory of Bee-Cultiire. 



Mr. Editor: — The published report of the 

 profits of N. C. MitchelPs apiary, in dollars and 

 cents, for the year 1869, which appeared in the 

 first number of the Illustrated Bee Journal, has 

 created quite a sensation in Beedom in these parts. 

 The illiterate generally discredit it ; the mediocre 

 is taken aghast ; while the w ould-be knowing 

 ones are completely knocked off their pins. But, 

 Mr. Editor, I believe every word of it, although 

 at first, I must confess, I was considerably 

 exercised, as it was such a big step in advance 

 of anything of the kind ever before given to the 

 public, and so completely upset and cast into the 

 shade the most extravagant reports of even those 

 W'hom, from their long experience in the busi- 

 ness, and their oft repeated practice of coming 

 before the public as models and instructors in the 

 art, one would have supposed had reached the 

 acme of perfection. But this is an age of pro- 

 gress and reason, or, as a quaint writer perti- 

 nently observes, " an age of steam-cars and tele- 

 graphs." Rapid strides are being made towards 

 the perfection of science and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge. The importance of practical light in the 

 great work of ameliorating and improving the 

 condition of man, is beginning to be seen and 

 appreciated. The cause of truth has suffered 

 much, in many departments of science, from a 

 system of practice, the principles of which, de- 

 pend more for their validity on the fruitful im- 

 agination of an infatuated brain, than upon that 

 order and relation established by the Creator 

 himself. 



In no department of rural economy has this 

 fact been better exemplified than in the science of 

 bee-culture. While scientific men in all ages and 

 countries have puzzled their brains to discover 

 the modes of action that govern the growth and 

 economy of vegetation, in order to improve the 

 art and science of husbandry, apiarian science, 

 the most interesting and profitable of all rural 

 pursuits, has been involved in comparative ob- 



scurity. Though a few important advantages 

 have been secured, by a better adaptation and ar- 

 rangement of the domicile or habitation of the 

 bee, to the natural habits, wants, and instincts of 

 that insect, the true theory of bee-culture, in ac- 

 cord with the natural system presented to our 

 view in the order and relati(ni of principles es- 

 tablished by God himself, and producing their 

 results according to that order, has never before 

 been correctly understood. The term science, 

 technically considered, means a system of first 

 principles or elements which, as a whole, com- 

 pose the foundation of that system, whether in 

 the animal, vegetable, mineral, intellectual, or 

 moral kingdom. But science, taken in the true 

 signification and meaning of the term, denotes a 

 knowledge of these principles with regard to 

 their active and operative powers, and their rela- 

 tions to each other, in maintaining the economy 

 and harmony of that system, together with a 

 knowledge of the effects which would result 

 from their regular and uniform operation. 



He who would succeed in directing and shap- 

 ing the action of a colony of bees so as to secure 

 the greatest amount of profit, and proceed with 

 a certainty of success, must study and apply that 

 system of principles which constitutes the foun- 

 dation on which bee-culture rests. In the appli- 

 cation of these principles he should possess suffi- 

 cient tact and judgment to enable him to vary 

 their application so as to reach the exigencies of 

 each particular case. Has this degree of profi- 

 ciency been attained by any of our fellow bee- 

 keepers, at this stage of progress in our onw^ard 

 march towards perfection? We believe it has, 

 and with it the dawning of a day rendered bright 

 Avith the light of shining countenances, and full 

 of promise and comfort to millions of toiling men 

 who will teach their children to bless and honor 

 the names of those instrumental in hastening the 

 good time coming. We believe that, by the un- 

 remitting toil and study of years, a theory has at 

 last been discovered and applied, that will satis- 

 factorily account for the large returns claimed. 

 The practice of bee culture, in accordance with 

 the principles involved in this theory, if perse- 

 vered in, cannot but be productive of results in 

 the highest degree satisfactory. It is a fact well 

 known to bee-keepers, that at times, and under 

 certain conditions, colonies of bees, in the accu- 

 mulation of stores and the general economy of 

 the hive, will so far exceed the general average of 

 colonies equally strong, as to fill the apiarian with 

 astonishment, and almost persuade him that they 

 are a superior kind of bee. In my own practice 

 I have oftentimes had colonies to work, with un- 

 tiring diligence, weeks after the labors of others 

 had ceased. So, too, every bee-keeper is cogni- 

 zant of the superior thrift and industry in which 

 a newly made swarm, whether natural or artifi- 

 cial will excel others by its side, having perhaps 

 twice its amount of bees. I once had a swarm 

 to issue on the last day of June, from a common 

 box hive, after having doggedly refused to do so 

 for nearly a month, the bees all this time loung- 

 ing inside and out on the sides of the "gum," 

 without any apparent increase in the contents of 

 the hive, except in brood and bees. This swarm, 

 with above the average in number of bees, was 



