72 



the: AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



mentioned on page GO, vol. 3, of the American 

 Bee Jotjunal, in an article from the Prairie 

 Farmer ? 



The season just past has been the best we 

 haveJiad for several years. The weather was 

 favorable for the secretion of honey, and the 

 bees have gathered much larger quantities than 

 usual from red clover and buckwheat. 



I almost forgot to say that I would retui'n the 

 compliment by sending a package of Polanisia 

 purpurea to the one who sends me some Gleome 

 Integrifolia, and also many thanks, as I wish to 

 test the various kinds of bee plants offered. 

 J. L. Hubbard. 



Walfole, New Hamfshike. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Editor : — Since in a former communica- 

 tion to the Journal I was bragging up the 

 amazing docility of my Italian bees, I have 

 thought it advisable to transmit to you, at this 

 timc^ for publication, the extraordinary effusion 

 of my little daughter's astounding inspiration, 

 which although not altogether unaided by my 

 own, (of course,) has perpetrated the following 

 persuasive exhortation to a decrepid Italian 

 Bee. F. V. 



To an old Italian Bee. 



Restless wanderer through the glade, 

 Whence and v>'hither ait thou bound ? 



Come and linger in the shade. 

 Rest thee from thy ceaseless round. 



Torn and tattered are thy wings, 

 And their hum betrays thy days, 



Lesser grow thy golden rings. 

 Fainter their once brilliant rays. 



Still, though worn with age and cares, 



Unrest is thy chosen lot ; 

 'Midst the glen's unnumbered snares, 



Thou 3^et roam'st and heed'st them not. 



Song with industiy combined. 



Is thy glory, end, and aim ; 

 Thou art happy, free and kind. 



Universal is thy fame. 



Sweeter far than Siren song, 



Heard by sailor on the main, 

 Is to me, the flowers among, 



Hum of thine, upon the plain. 



Truly, labor is thy joy, 



Unlike man's enjojanent, thine ; 

 For no tedious hours annoy 



Thee, like him 'mid flowers and wine. 



Unlike him ; thou mad'st no vow 

 To desist from drinking mead ; 



But thou sipp'st it now, and now : 

 Nectar is thy drink and feed. 



Not like him, when anthems swell, 



At tby oft reviving revels, 

 Dost thou buzz of crackling hell, 



And of grinning death, and di'vils. 



Yet, thy end is much like his, 



Here we may the fact accredit, 

 Siill, it seldom ends in bliss. 



We have heard, and sung, and read it. 



Fire and brimstone are thy lot. 



When thy toilsome life is ended ; 

 Stay, repent thee, on the spot, 



Lest thou perish unrepented. 



Four score days and ten have past, 



Since thy bibbing days began ; 

 Unless thou repent at last, 



Thou wilt die a drunken man. 



Tippler, sabbath breaker, thief, 



Busy body to thy end, 

 Of all outlaws thou art chief; 



Hence, before thou die, amend. 



Adella C. Varro. 

 Washington, Pa., Aug. 27th. 1867. 



[Translated for the Bee Joiirnal. 



Various Items. 



1. Wil'' bees accustomed lo a fertile queen accept 

 an unfertile o7ie f — It is commonly believed that 

 when a fertile queen is removed from a colony 

 of which she has long been an inmate, the bees 

 will not readily and immediately accept an un- 

 fertile queen which may be ofl'ered to them as 

 a substitute. An occurrence in my apiary last 

 summer, however, shows that such is not in- 

 variably the case. 



I removed a fertile (<ueen from one of my 

 hives, designing to use her elsewhere. But 

 having, at the time, a supernumerary young 

 queen, recently hatclied and still unfertilized, I 

 intended to introi'ue her to the bereaved colony 

 in a cage; but alter I had opened the hive and 

 placed her on a comb, she flew off and thus 

 escaped imprisonment. I concluded that she 

 was lost, as she was a stranger and would 

 scarcely seek the hive ; or even if attracted by 

 the humming, she would probably be attacked 

 and destroyed by the bees, as yd unconscious 

 that they had lost their queen. Thus thinking, 

 I closed the hive and leit. 



A few days after I procured a queen cell 

 nearly mature from another hive, to insert it in 

 the colony believed to be queenless. But this 

 proved to be needless, for on opening the hive 

 I found the young queen supposed to have been 

 lost moving about very actively on one of the 

 combs. Well contmt to find it so, I clcsed the 

 hive again, and carried l)ack my queen cell. 



I presume the j'ouug queen kept hoveiiug 

 about the hive till the bees discovered that their 

 old queen had been removed, and began to 

 manifest their unea-inet-s after my departure. 

 Attracted by the "noise and confusion," she 

 may then have ventured to mix with the crowd, 

 and been kindly received at the moment when 

 from conscious queenlessness they were verging 

 on despair. 



3. Safe introduction of queens.— When p.re- 

 paring to transport my stocks to a distant lieath 

 last .lulumn. to enable Hir-ni lo avail them.'^clvc? 



