THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



255 



[For the American Bee Jonraal.] 



Replies to Inquiries, Notices, &c. 



In answer to a few inquiries by Joel Dayton, 

 I will say— keep tlie top of the hive as tight as it 

 can be made, as soon as the liive is set out. A 

 strong swarm will wax up every little crevice 

 themselves, but a weak one must be assisted. 

 Contract the size of the hive by the use of the 

 division board, to assist all weak swarms in keep- 

 ing up internal heat. Also, stimulate regularly 

 with diluted sweet ; and as soon as the weather 

 becomes steady warm, strengthen weak stocks 

 by giving them sealed brood from strong ones. 

 The extra combs should be taken from the hives 

 and kept in a cool place, and returned one at a 

 time, as the bees require them. If the swarm is 

 weak in consequence of the queen being unpro- 

 lific, it should be supplied with a prolific queen, 

 as it is useless to keep strengthening up a swarm 

 that has a worthless queen. 



I move the hive forward on the bottom board 

 sufficient to have it project over the front edge 

 the whole width, or raise the front of the hive on 

 small blocks, which answers the same purpose. 

 A strong swarm, when storing honey rapidly in 

 boxes, will want an inch of spnce the whole 

 width of the front, in warm weather, especially 

 in your locality. On high, airy prairie they will 

 require less. I will here state that Decorah is in 

 a small valley, almost completely surrounded by 

 high ground. 



And now, Mr. Editor, allow me to say that 

 the Michigan Beekeeper's Convention has rather 

 misrepreseiited Gallup's paper on bee maladies. 

 Wonder if they had been spilling bad whiskey 

 until they could not read sti'aight. There, gen- 

 tlemen, I am perhaps harder on you, than you 

 are on me ; but remember that you are the first 

 aggressors. 



Mr. Quinby thinks there must be a mistake 

 about queens hatching in less than ten days. As 

 he does not believe me I will refer him to Mr. D. 

 W. Fletcher, of Langsingville, N. Y., Mr. G. A. 

 "Wright, postmaster, Orchard, Iowa ; and last but 

 not least the editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal.* Either of those gentlemen can and proba- 

 bly will give information on this subject. The 

 cases where queens have hatched on the morn- 

 ing of the ninth day with me, are so numerous 

 that the tenth day cannot be accepted as the 

 rule ; and from one case I am perfectly satisfied 

 that they may, and sometimes do, come out on 

 the seventh day. E. Gallup. 



OrcJtard, Iowa. 



* If the weather permit, we now always trans- 

 fer queen cells on the eighth day ; having so very 

 frequently found them destroyed, if we deferred 

 secuiing them till the ninth, that we do not trust 

 waiting even till the morning of that day. Much 

 depends doubtless on the strength of the colony, 

 and the temperature maintained in the hivc§. 



Ed. 



Keep the moths from your empty combs by 

 exposing them occasionally, in a close box, to 

 the fumes of burning brimstone. 



[For the Ameiicap Bee Jouiuul] 



Two Yellow Bands, or Three? 



On page 200 of the April Bee Journal, Mr. 

 Quinby, speaking of the yellow bauds or purity 

 of Italian bees, conveys tlie idea that the light- 

 colored bees bred by Dzicrzon and some careful 

 breeders in this country, are not as pure as the 

 two-striped darker colored ones, such as he pro- 

 cures from Mr. Gravenliorst. Mr. Quinby admits 

 that it may be possible that the very light ones 

 are pure, but thinks we should nut claim that 

 they are purer than the two-striped ones. 



Now my experience is that to breed queens 

 from one that produces two-striped workei's, they 

 will almost invariably produce some black bees. 

 I have always bred with the understanding that 

 queens producing workers with less than three 

 stripes, are not pure. Now, who knows whether 

 I am right, or friend Quinby ? Let us settle this 

 point, for if friend Quinby can sell queens that 

 produce workers with only two sti'ipes, let us all 

 do the same, and call them pure. I will admit 

 that it is easier to rear two-striped queens, than 

 those having three or four stripes. But, I am 

 not willing to admit that they are as pure ; and I 

 do not like the idea, after some of us have, by 

 careful breeding, succeeded in producing beauti- 

 ful little colored bees, to have others claim that 

 these are not any purer than those having only 

 two stripes— which, till a recent date, we have 

 been taught were not pure. 



Aaron Benedict. 



Bennington^ Ohio. 



Double Flowers. 



It would be a sad business for the busy bee, if 

 the florist's skill could so improve the asters and 

 golden rods of our fields, as to transmute all of 

 them to double flowers. ' Even could they thereby 

 render them as delightfully fragrant as they would 

 be splendid in appearance, the show and fragrance, 

 though gratifying 'to the eyes and olfactories of 

 amateurs, would by no means make amends to 

 the bee for the loss of honey -secreting power 

 which the metamorphosis of petals would in- 

 volve. Luckily for the lovers of honey, how- 

 ever, science and skill combined, though able to 

 improve a few varieties to such extent, can never 

 reach and change the whole floral kingdom. 



The Bee-hunter's Secret. 



"Sometimes he took up bee hunting for a 

 spell, and made money by collecting wild honey. 

 He described his manner of finding the hive or 

 nest and securing the honey ; and, with a hushed 

 voice, he told me a secret, which was — that, if 

 you took three leaves, each of a different tree, in 

 your hand, there was never a bee would dare to 

 sting you !"— The Southerner at Home, No. 

 IX. 



Among the ancients honey from Sicily was 

 held in highest estimation, so that Hyblean honey 

 was proverbially famous, though by some the 

 Attic honey was preferred to all other. 



