1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



67 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Notes and Eemarks. 



Mr. Editor :— I have been much mterested 

 ill perusing the July number of the Journal, 

 especially the different articles on queen raising ; 

 but was very much disappointed in not finding 

 any results of experiments with non-flying fer- 

 tilization of queens. I fear all have failed, like 

 myself. This is an experiment that much inter- 

 ests me, as I find much uncertainty in my 

 queens' becoming purely fertilized, owing to 

 black bees being kept near. A man living four 

 miles from me has had queens mate with Italian 

 drones, and no Italians are known to be nearer 

 than mine. 



Will "Amateur" please inform tis, through 

 the Journal, what number of wire-cloth his wire 

 house is covered with ; and to what extent he 

 has been successful in having queens fertilized 

 in that house. He says (page 15 of the present 

 volume), "so far as I have tried it, I have not 

 had a single failure ;" but does not say that he 

 has had even one queen fertilized therein. If it 

 is a success, I am for a wire house. 



I know it is contrary to theory, but I have 

 frequently hived a swarm in a hive just painted, 

 and also painted some soon after the bees were 

 put in, and never discovered that it was in the 

 least injuriovis or objectionable to the bees. I 

 cannot, therefore, agree with the editorial note 

 as to the cause of the mortality of E. J. Worst's 

 bees (page 16, current volume). I think it was 

 war in the hive that killed the bees on the three 

 frames inserted, which were probably nearly 

 equal to the swarm, as he states that it was an 

 after swarm." 



This season has been favorable for increase of 

 stocks, but little surplus honey. The first 

 swarm issued on Good Friday, April 7th. 



O "Weei^s 



Clifton, Tenn., July 10, 1871. 



^^Nothing stated by Mr. Worst, in his com- 

 munication, leads us to suppose that there was "war 

 in the hive," in the case of his bees ; and if there had 

 been, the cause of such war or animosity would in 

 itself be quite inexijlicable. Ramdoiir, Avho devoted 

 a lifetime to practical bee-culture, and was in the 

 habit of thus strengthening weak afterswarms, says 

 explicitly, when recommending the process, "there 

 need be no fear that these strangers will have a hos- 

 tile reception. Many years' experience and reiterated 

 experiments have satisfied me that they will be kindly 

 received." If then there was war, what was the 

 cause of a war so unnatural? — [Ed. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Unfertile Queens. 



Mr. Editor : — I have two queens, very large 

 and bright, one born June 15th, the other June 

 29th, which, uji to the present time (August 

 11th), have not laid an egg ; yet all the condi- 

 tions for fertile and prolific queens are jji-esent. 



The cells were made in full stocks of fine 

 bright Italians, and removed to nuclei on the 

 ninth or tenth day. The queens issued, small 



and bright, soon becoming" very long and 

 splendid looking, and (in usual time) having 

 every appearance of being fertile. Al)out ten 

 or twelve days after their appeai'ance of fertility, 

 finding no eggs, I began stimulating them, 

 which has been done daily since, although the 

 nuclei are strong with bees, and have an abund- 

 ance of honey and bee-bread, the bees leaving 

 room in and around the centre of the middle 

 frames, evidently on purpose for the queen to 

 deposit eggs in. I have also supplied them with 

 good emjity worker comb at different times. 



These queens are from a very prolific family, 

 the mother and sisters being remai'kable for 

 their fecundity. 



I have heard of similar cases, but not of such 

 long standing. Will some of our exi>erienced 

 c]ueen raisers give their views on the subject, 

 from experience, if possible ? 



I am keejiing these queens to watch the result ; 

 but may yet have to resort to dissection and the 

 microscope to solve the problem. 



T. B. Hamlik. 



Edgefield Junction, Tenn. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Two Stranj^e Cases. 



Last season I introduced an Italian queen into 

 a colony of black bees for Josiah Turner, Esq. 

 The first of her progeny was beautifully marked, 

 till nearly the whole swarm was Italianized. 

 Then hybrids began to appear, and the Italians 

 to disappear. After some weeks again the 

 hybrids began to disapi^ear and black bees made 

 their appearance, with some few slightly marked 

 ones among them. Now, one would hardly 

 suspect that an Italian had ever been there. The 

 bees have not swarmed. There is no api^ear- 

 ance of a change of queen. I believe the same 

 identical queen still remains in the hive. Can 

 any one tell how these changes came about ? 

 Did the queen mate with several drones, and if 

 so, at one flight, or on different occasions ? I 

 clipped her wings when I introduced her. 



Another case. In the early part of May I re- 

 moved an Italian queen in the apiary of E. O. 

 ]Maritz, of Raleigh, and introduced her in a hive 

 of black bees, where she remained some four or 

 five weeks. I then removed her some fifteen 

 feet, in a wire cage, into another stock of black 

 bees. After leaving her confined about thirty- 

 six hours, 1 opened the cage to let her walk 

 out on the comb. But instead of her majesty 

 doing so, she rose and flew (her wings were 

 clipped last season), and in less than a minute's 

 time she was inside of the hive from which she 

 was taken thirty-six hours before. How did she 

 find the way back, if she had not been out of 

 the hive daring the four or five weeks she was 

 ensconced there, and marked the place ? 



Tliere is an increased interest in apiculture, 

 since my advent here with the Langstroth mova- 

 ble comb hive and my reports of northern suc- 

 cess. Frequent inquiries are made about Alsike 

 and Italian bees ; but last year was not favorable 

 to bee-keeping, and thus far this season has not 

 been as good as the last. There have been very 



