THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



49 



On May 5 the hive weighed M pounds ; it lost 

 two swarms wcighins; 13 pounds, yet on Aug. 2 

 it weighed 120^ pounds. There was no increase 

 in weight from June 2R to July 21, e.vcept ^ 



Jound on one day and ^ on tmotiicr, and from 

 uly 17 to Aug. 2 tlie whole increase was only 

 three pounds. The work of each day is mi- 

 nutely recorded and the results go to prove that 

 the beekeeper should have some means of ascer- 

 taining the weight of his hives daily throughout 

 the season. A method of doing this has been 

 invented by Mr. Shirley Ilibbard, of Tottenham, 

 England. It consists of a turned pillar, made 

 after the fashion of a telescope, working like 

 a piston in a brass or iron cylinder. Beneath 

 the pillar is a spiral spring, on which the pillar 

 rests. Two slits run down the side or front of 

 the cjdinder, and between them an index is 

 marked. A finger is attached to the base of the 

 pillar, and the hive adjusted on the top of the 

 latter, so that as it presses down on the spring 

 the finger marks the gross weight of the whole. 

 A thumbscrew passes through the cylinder, and 

 by pressing against the pillar holds it in a fixed 

 position whenever it may be desirable. 



Beekeeping has in some instances been made 

 very protitable. Much depends on the season 

 and on the pasturage. The value of the best 

 honey is, in a great degree, determined by the 

 style and state in which it is brought to market. 

 It will generally be found most advantageous to 

 use glass vessels or boxes, and to send the honey 

 to market in the same. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Introducing Queens. 



THE SIMPLEST, SUREST AND MOST EXPEDITIOUS 

 MODE. 



Take a stick of candy, of any peculiar flavor, 

 dissolve it in hot water, and sweeten with honey 

 or white sugar,adding cold water enough to make 

 a teacupful of the sweetened mixture. Have 

 your queen, to be introduced, ready in a wire 

 cage, or nucleus hive ; drive out the bees into 

 an empty hive or box ; remove the queen from 

 them, and sprinkle the massof bees thoroughly 

 with your sweet-scented water; stirring them 

 up until all are scented and filled with the sweet 

 mixture; then turn your queen among them, 

 sprinkling her as she goes in, and make them 

 all crawl back into the hive over a sheet on the 

 alighting board, and your queen is safely in- 

 troduced. This is done so quick the bees do 

 not realize the change. 



Geo. Hakdesty. 



Malvern, (Ohio,) July 20, 1867. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Editor Bee Journal : I see in the columns 

 of your excellent Journal one or two cases cor- 

 roborating two cases in my own experience. 



The first is, that I placed in a maturing box 

 a queen cell, and examined it in two or three 

 days. At first sight I thought it was destroyed, 

 being opened on the side of the cell, the apex 

 being entirely closed. But, to my surprise, 



the next moment I saw a beautiful young Ital- 

 ian queen, which l?eeamc fertilized and was 

 perfect. ' •' / (■ , , 



The other was this ; I raised ft card from a 

 nucleus, to learn how they were progressing 

 wilh cells. The first thing I noticed was au 

 opening in a cell, just similar to the one de- 

 scribed. The thought at once occurred that 

 there was a queen at large committing havoc 

 with my cells. I then saw an opening in a 

 queen cell, just as if a queen had committed 

 violence on it, and near it was a beautiful 

 queen, which afterward became fertilized. 

 Hence we are confirmed in the conclusion that 

 there are exceptions to the rule that the posi- 

 tion of the queen at the time she comes out of 

 the cell is always head downward. 



Addison Johnson. 



Pleasant Plain, Ohio. 



For the American Bee Joarnal. 



Purity of Italian Bees. 



I was very much pleased with Prof. Varro's 

 article, in No. 1, volume iii, of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, on this subject. It is certainly the fairest 

 and most satisfactory which has been given by 

 any American bee-keeper in your paper. 



There must be a great deal of harm done the 

 bee interest of the country hy the immense 

 number of impure queens sent out yearly, by 

 men who ought to know better than to go into 

 the business before they had made themselves 

 perfectly familiar with the markings of the 

 Italian bee, as settled by "the best" European 

 " apiarians." 



It is surprising to see how boldly the gentle- 

 man who considers one band all sufiicient, sets 

 forth in his circular, as tests of purity, the very 

 marks and temper, which any one who has 

 read volume i, of the Bee Journal, or Mr. 

 Laugstroth's writings on the subject, knows are 

 certain indications of mixed blood. I procured 

 last year an Italian queen (tested) from a gen- 

 tleman of Baltimore, Maryland, who has the 

 Italians in their greatest purity. And, although 

 I have opened the hive continually, both last 

 season and this, to obtain brood t^or queen- 

 raising, I have not received a single sting, nor 

 have I seen a bee, young or old, gorged or 

 empty, that did not show distinctly <7tree yellow 

 bands. Prof. V.'s remarks about the price of 

 pure queens are most sensible ; no one could 

 ?,e\\ pure tested queens at less than $15 or $20, 

 and be paid for the time and trouble he would 

 have to spend with them. There is one thing 

 more I was in hopes Prof. V. would notice — 

 that is, the practice of sending out queens un- 

 tested, with guarantee to replace them if their 

 progeny is impure. This manifestly leads to 

 the sale of many bastardized queens, for in 

 most instances the purchaser never saw an 

 Italian bee, and has to rely entirely on the de- 

 scriptions of interested parties to judge of 

 their purity. 



Would it not be the best, indeed the only way 

 to insure pure blood, for dealers to send out 

 none but tested queens, and to charge fair liv- 

 ing prices ? D. M. Worthington. 



Elkridge, Maryland, July 13, 1867. 



