220 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the Amerioan Bee Journal.] 



Shallow Hives. 



After rising the "broad shallow things" for 

 hives (as Mr. Gallup calls them) for ten years, 

 I must say that I cannot eutlorso all which Mr. 

 Gallup says of them. We here in Essex county 

 (Mass.), have but little trouble in making our 

 bees build straight combs, and I never have 

 seen but one, in these hives, destroyed by the 

 moths, and this Avas done while the owner was 

 confined to the house sick. There are hundreds 

 of these "shallow things" used by the bee-keep- 

 ers of New England; and most of those using 

 them have had good success with them. I 

 never yet found a bee-keeper usiug them who 

 did not speak well of them. Of course, Mr. Gal- 

 lup has a right to say what he choses; but we 

 here in this part of the world, do not believe 

 he has fairly tested the shallow hive. I want 

 nothing better for my bees, and do not believe 

 a better hive can be found. Mr. Gould, of Wen- 

 ham, has used these hives for ten years, and he 

 finds no trouble in making Ms bees build straight 

 comb; neither does he have any trouble in win- 

 tering bees iu them. 



Wiiy don't Mr. Gallup tell new beginners Avhat 

 the BEST hive is ? 



I have sold farmers the shallow hive, and 

 their bees have always done well in them, not- 

 withstanding they do not go near their bees 

 more than once or twice in a year. Some far- 

 mers whom I have sold hives to, have had bees 

 in them for seven years, without losing a single 

 stock; and I knoio that they did not trouble them 

 more than twice in the course of the season, and 

 then only to remove the surplus honey. 



Their bees seemed to do well with no care at 

 all, and pay them a handsome profit. Mr. 

 Gould has about fifty stocks in the s!iallow 

 hives, which seem to be wintering well. Most 

 of them are iu double hives, which I described 

 in the September number of the Journal; and 

 each hive had the winter passages made through 

 the combs, and has a box of dry corncobs over 

 the frames. 



I have examined my hives once a week 

 during the winter, and found the bees clustered 

 snug to the cobs every time. I find that the 

 cobs make an excellent winter passage for the 

 bees, to pass to any part of the hive. I some- 

 times found the bees clustered near the entrance; 

 and then again I would find the same stock 

 near the real-. Will others who have used the 

 "shallow things," give the readers of the Jour- 

 nal their experience with them? 



Wenham, Mass. II. Alley. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



Fertile Workers. 



' Mr. Editor: — In October last I deprived 

 three colonies of bees of their queens, for the 

 purpose of introducing Italians. Five days 

 later I removed all the queen cells that had 

 been started, and not having received the Ital- 

 ian queens as soon as I expected, left the colon- 

 ies about three weeks longer. At the expira- 



tion of that time I discovered that two of the 

 colonies had fertile or drone producing wor- 

 kers. 



Will not bees ordinarily, if deprived of the 

 the means of procuring a fully developed queen, 

 do all they can in that direction, and by feeding 

 "royal jelly" to partly developed workers, so 

 change their character as to make them lay 

 drone eggs ? This seems natural, and my ob- 

 servation in the instance narrated above, ap- 

 pears to afford strong corroborative evidence. 

 If it is really true, then, iu our efforts to Italian- 

 ize a colony, unless a cjueen can be supplied, 

 immediately, the young queen cells should not 

 be removed until about the tenth day after the 

 removal of the reigning queen. 



Will you or some of you contributors ventilate 

 this matter a little ? Polo. 



lll;^Fertile workers evidently originate in 

 various ways, and various hj-potheses have 

 been projwsed to account for their appearance. 

 The explanation above accords substantially 

 with the views of Huber, Dzierzon, and Von 

 Siebold. Von Berlepsch, however, thinks they 

 are sometimes produced in colonies in which 

 no queens were reared or attemi)ted to be rear- 

 ed, for several years ; and in which conse- 

 quently no worker bred contemporaneously with 

 a queen could have been found. He cites a 

 case which came under his own observation, 

 and which he thinks confirms that view, but 

 it does not seem to us to be conclusive. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Polanisia Purpurea, and Cleome 

 Integrifolia. 



These plants, described on pages 50 and 71, 

 Vol. 3. AisiERicAN Bee Journal, seem to be 

 very much alike. Both were brought from the 

 Rocky Mountains, and are similar in growth 

 and appearance, according to the descriptions 

 given. I have received a package of seed of 

 Cleome Integrifolia and can see no difference 

 between it and the seed of Polanisia Purpurea. 



An old edition of Wood's Botany describes 

 Cleome and Polanisia as two species under the 

 same order, which shows that they are probably 

 very near alike. 



As I have sown the seed received I can pro- 

 bably detect the difference, if any, next summer. 



I have fed some of the seed of the Polairisia 

 purpurea to sheep, and find they will eat it ; 

 though they do not like it as well as corn and 

 oats. The seed is bitter, and I cannot tell Avhat 

 the eff'ect would be to feed a large quantity of 

 it. The leaves and stalks are of no account for 

 forage, as one pa[)er has asserted. 



Will not some practical botanist inform us 

 in regard to the ditierence between these plants ? 

 Also the probable value of the seed ? 



I have remaining a quantitj' of seed of the 

 Polanisia purpurea, and will send a package to 

 any one who wishes to try it, if a small sum is 

 enclosed to pay expenses of postage and [jutting 

 up. J. L, Hubbard. 



Walpole, N. II. 



