THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



[For the Ameiicaa Bee Jo-urual] 



Novice's Queen Nursery. 



Get two pieces of wire cloth about three inches 

 square, cut a small square out of each of the 

 four corners, so as to make two square boxes, 

 with sides threo-(iuarters of an inch hioh, when 

 they arc turned up. Ravel out the wires on each 

 side half their depth, so that the boxes can be 

 ])ressod into a comb deep enough for the pro- 

 jecting ends of the wires (like a row of needles) 

 to reach the bottom of the cells. Now push one 

 into a comb over a queen cell, and the other on 

 the opposite side of the comb, so that the ends 

 will just meet, and your que n when she hatches 

 is safe, even if the bees cut clear through the 

 comb, as they may do to get at her. Bees 

 enough will hatch inside the cage to take care 

 of her, and you can thus cage all the queen cells 

 in a hive, without cutting a comb, and when re- 

 moved your comb is uninjured. 



When the first hatched (lueen is five days old, 

 she may be let out until she commences to lay, 

 then remove her and release the next in age, and 

 so on until you have used all, or they are ready 

 for artificial fertilization on any of the plans 

 mentioned. 



In this case the queens are always at hand, on 

 the comb where they were hatched, with warmth 

 and young bees, and no places to get fast or to 

 die otherwise. You can put on the cage in less 

 time than to cut out cells, and if on the edge of 

 a comb all the better, as a small corner of comb 

 will serve to hold them, the cages, in place, if 

 they match exactly, which they should do. 



We visited a "brother Novice" yesterday, 

 who last season took nine hundred (900) pounds 

 of honey from six Italian stocks, besides in- 

 creasing them to twelve. We were much pleased 

 with his apiary, appliances, &c. Of course his 

 yield made a sensation in that neighborhood. 

 His great secret of going so far beyond every 

 one else, was that he had read the Journal over 

 and over until he Jiud it at hit fingers' ends. 



He got his Italians as premiums lor twelve 

 subscribers to the Journal, and has the com- 

 bined experience of the leading bee- keepers of 

 our country. Nolhing seems to have escaped 

 him that is of any value, and he has energy 

 enough to put what he learns in practice at once. 



He told us that he had sjient the irliole summer 

 of 18'i9 in learning to raise queens, and did not 

 get a drop of honey ; but we told him the knowl- 

 edge he had acquired was woi'th more thnn tons 

 of honey. He uses the Gallup form of 1 ive. 



We told him he had omitted one duty, \iz. : to 

 write for his tieasured Journal, and we shall 

 look for something from him soon. If we have 

 spoken extravagantly, it is because such men 

 aie very scarce about hei-e, and we fear they are in 

 other pfaces too. Of course he used an Extrac- 

 tor, and says he never wants any more boxes 

 under any consideration. 



One more item. Our assistant has a stock of 

 undeniable hybrids (all her own), and opens 

 them, on an average, to see the queen, etc., 

 about eight times u week, (at a rough guess, re- 

 member,) and they are ti.e quietest and best 

 tjmpered bees in our apiary, and certainly as 



good workers. Remember this, ye who com- 

 plain of hybrids, and claim that bees should not 

 be " overhauled" so often. The stock that gave 

 us last season three hundred and thirty pounds 

 was opened invariably when visitors desired to 

 see Italians at work. 



In regard to expedition, if we cannot take fifty 

 pounds of honey from a hive and shut it all up 

 in less time and with less labor than the same 

 amount can be taken oft" in boxes, and the bees 

 all got out, call us forever 



Novice. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Eeply to Novice. 



Mr. Editor : — In the June number of the 

 Journal, pages 267-8, Novice, in further explain- 

 ing himself on the Eureka hive, &c., thinks that 

 in my article in the May number, page 263, I 

 misunderstood him in his remarks on page 206. 

 I mean to be understood right, and carefully ex- 

 amine what I do write about. What we both 

 wrote on those occasions is now before the pub- 

 lic, and of its judgment I will not complain. 



From wfiat Novice has to say on pages 267-8, 

 it appears to me that he has but partially under- 

 stood me. I hope he will carefully read my 

 article again. Having carefully read over a 

 number of times what N. has to say in his last 

 article, and also read what he there refers to, I 

 hope I understand him this time, and wish to 

 make a few remarks concerning it. 



Novice's ijrinciple, as now laid down, seems to 

 be that our surplus honey must be obtained in 

 frames rather than in boxes. Now, if that is the 

 best for him, at the head of apiculture, with his 

 tact and knowledge, does it prove that it would 

 be the best for us, little folks, before we better 

 learn the trade? And must the best hive for 

 obtaining surplus honey, be struck from ex- 

 istence, simply because it is a box hive — leaving 

 us without one stepping stone between the foot 

 and head '? It is the ignorant that need knowl- 

 edge, and I contend that they should have a 

 chance to obtain it gradually. Now, if Novice 

 will allow us no intermediate steps between "the 

 little and the great," he is evidently in fault. If 

 I were here to introduce for sale the two-story 

 Langstroth hive, with the melextractor (as they 

 need to go together), and also the Eureka hive, 

 I believe I would sell ten of the latter to one of 

 the former. Why ? Because ihe frame is so far 

 in advance of what bee-keepers here have prac- 

 ticed, that they are discouraged about trying it. 

 Not so with the latter. Having been used to ob- 

 taining honey in boxes, this is not so far ahead 

 but that they would try it, and be benefited. Mr. 

 Hazen has therefore tilled a very important link 

 in the chain, and is much to be honored, at 

 least, for his invention. I believe the use of the 

 Eureka hive would be an advance in bee-keeping 

 beyond anything I see practiced around here. 

 So let us have it. Let those that can do better, 

 do it. Fair criticism as to merit and demerit of 

 hives is good, but without showing a favilt in a 

 hive, simply sliirring it, is not good. When 

 Novice says, speaking of Mr. Hazen's hive, 

 "were his patent hive ventilated, we fear it 



