THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



25 



but wlicn thus destroyed it is again in full 

 bloom in the course of a few days. Bees work 

 upon the blossoms from morning until nij,'ht, 

 which is not the case wilh white clover, buck- 

 wheat, basswood or any other blossoms that I 

 am acquainted wilh. In the middle of the day 

 «'ven bees do not suspend their laliors, as the 

 interior blossoms are so shaded and protected 

 tliat the honey is not lost by evaporation. 



(4.) This plant will grow on almost any 

 soil, and without cultivation after it is once es- 

 tablished. It will also grow in the shade of 

 trees, liedges, or anything else ; but it succeeds 

 best on moderately drj' soils, and those of a 

 loamy, sandy, or gravelly nature. That is, 

 it yields more honeij on those soils. 



(5.) It is a biennial plant, and hence easily 

 destroyed, if detired. If it goes to seed, and 

 the seed is not disturbed, it Avill give a new 

 crop from j'car to year. 



1 have some seed of this plant and will send 

 a small package of it to any of the Journal 

 readers, if two or three stamps are enclosed to 

 pay for postage and trouble of putting up. 



JI. M. Baldridge, 



St. Charles, iLtixois. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Two or More Queens in a Hive. 



I am sometimes led to wonder at the seeming 

 surprise manifested by some on finding two or 

 more queens in a hive, as if such was contrary 

 to the nature and habits of the bees, or diffi- 

 cult to explain. Now while it is true to the 

 uature of a queen to destroy her rival, yet it is 

 also true to the nature of the workers to guard 

 against such a destruction until they (the ru- 

 ling power, if I may so sjieak,) shall decide 

 what is for their interest. It is by no means an 

 uncommon thing at swarming season, to find 

 two or more queens in a hive — I have even 

 taken five from a hive at one time. But Avhy 

 did they not destroy each other? Simplj^ be- 

 cause the workers would not allow them to do 

 so. The condition of the hive was as follows : 

 The stock had cast a tirst or prime swarm, 

 about the time the second swarm should have 

 issued ; bad weather came on, and as several 

 queens were perfected about the same time, of 

 course they would hatch about the same time, 

 and as the workers desired to cast another 

 swarm, each queen was guarded by its own 

 cluster or guard, until tine weather should ap- 

 pear. Each queen and cluster forming as it 

 were a distinct swarm. If fine weather had 

 come soon enough, say within a day or two, 

 tiie result would have been that the hive would 

 \iave cast a second swarm, in which there 

 vould liave been three or four queens. Or, 

 nore correctly speaking, there would have been 

 1 second, third, fourtli and fifth swarm, all 

 .oming off together, and forming one of those 

 vwarms which ignorant beekeepers cannot ac- 

 count for, because in hiving it, they tind tAvo or 

 iiiore queens. The fact is, it is several swarms 

 or clusters with their queens joined together, 

 each cluster guarding its c(Ucen. But suppoi^e 

 I'oul weather had continued lor some time. In 

 that case, the workers would have given up the 



idea of swarming, the queens would have been 

 released, and a roj'al battle would liave been 

 the result — only one ([ueen surviving the deadly 

 strife. In the case related by Mrs. Ellen S. 

 Tuppcr, of Iowa, in Bek .Iouknal Vol. II, No. 

 12, the young queen was simply guarded by a 

 portion of the workers loth to lose thyir queen; 

 and had pleasant weather continued, one of the 

 queens might have swarmed out, or crawled 

 out of tlie hive as I have often seen them do. 

 I cannot accept the inference drawn by Mrs. 

 T., for it is not true to their nature that the 

 workers should not distinguish her majesty, be- 

 cause she was unimpregnatcd. Although they 

 do not pay that attention to an unfertilized 

 ciueen that they do to a fertilized one, still evcrj' 

 day facts prove that they readily understand 

 that they are destined to propagate their species. 

 Moreover if the workers had not distinguished 

 her, the old cpieen certainly would, and would 

 have killed her if she had not been guarded. I 

 once assisted my brother to run tliree swarms 

 into a hive containing empty combs; each 

 swarm had a queen ; the result was in this case, 

 tliat each queen was guarded in separate parts 

 of the liive and although all three Avere laying 

 queens, still for two days, not a queen was al- 

 lowed by the workers to move on the combs and 

 lay, as not an egg was deposited in the cells. 

 On the third day, the hive was again examined; 

 one queen with a cluster of bees had crawled 

 out to the outside of the hive ; another queen 

 with her guard. Avas lodged on the top of the 

 comb frames, in the passage to the honey box; 

 and the third ([ueen Avas guarded in the hive, 

 on one of the combs. Tavo of the queens Avere 

 removed, and the next day, there were plenty 

 of eggs in the combs. Each SAvarm Avas unwil- 

 ling to yield up its queen to death. It is con- 

 trary to the nature of a queen to alloAV a rival 

 queen in the hive ; but it is not contrary to the 

 nature of the Avorkers to allow tAvo or more queens 

 in a hive for a time; and as the workers rule, the 

 queens must abide their Avill. J. H. Thomas. 

 Beooklin, C. W. 



The Abaza (a Circassian Tribe) have a 

 strange way of burying their bees They put 

 the body in a coffin of Avood, which they nail on 

 the branches of some high trees, and make a 

 hole in the coffin by the head, that the beys, as 

 they say, may look into heaven. Bees enter 

 the coffin, and make honey, and cover the body 

 with their comb. "When the season comes, 

 they open the coffin, take out the honey and 

 sell it. Therefore much caution is necessary 

 in buying and using the honey of the Abazas. 

 Evii-iA Effekdi. 



Wax is bleached byre-melting it, and run- 

 ning it several times into thin sheets or cakes 

 sutfering it to cool, and exposing it to the in- 

 fluence of the air and sun. TJiis Avill rendt-r 

 wax perfectly Avhite. 



Weight of Bees. — In one pound avordupois, 

 or sixteen ounces, there are about five thousand 

 bees. From fifteen to twenty thousand bees 

 constitute a strong hive, that is, from four to 

 fite pounds in weight. 



