74 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



[Oct., 



prefers such cells precisely, because from them 

 he obtaius the largest queeus. "In many- 

 cases," says he, "the queen cells built in a hive 

 that has sent out a swarm, are post-constructed — 

 that is, they wore started after the swarm had 

 left. Still, among them some very large ones 

 may be found. And according to my experi- 

 ence, queen cells built in or on old combs are 

 invariably smaller than such as are built in new 

 combs. Hence most large cells are found on or 

 near the lower edge of newly built combs ; and 

 when it is desired to obtain particularly large 

 and 'fine cells, I uuqueen a colony whose queen 

 for other reasons I may intend to remove, and 

 supply the colony, the day after it has shown con- 

 sciousness of being qneenless, with a frame con- 

 taining newly built comb stored with eggs laid by 

 a queen from which I wash to breed, the brood and 

 eggs derived from the removed queen, with any 

 royal cells that may have been started, are trans- 

 ferred to other colonies, containing the bees to 

 start queen cells on the new combs given to 

 them." 



Mr. Stahala adds — "If from a worker larva a 

 large queen is to be i)roduced, she must not only 

 be reared in a capacious cell, but also be sup- 

 plied with better and more abundant food, 

 during the entire period she continues in her 

 larval state." This, he says, is best attained 

 by having eggs laid in newly built worker comb. 

 And should it happen that the lower ranges 

 of cells in such combs contain no eggs, they are 

 to be pruned off before inserting the comb. 

 Large queen cells thus obtained aie to be 

 transferred to their destined nuclei on the ninth 

 or tenth day, and large and fully developed 

 queens will almost invariably emerge from 

 them. These nuclei, however, must always be 

 so well stocked with bees that the queen cells 

 are kept constantly covered and warm. It is 

 therefore well hot to have any unsealed brood 

 in them, as that might induce the bees to lly out 

 in large numbers. It is also well to limit the 

 brooding space as much as possible, so as to 

 confine the heat. Should the season be so ad- 

 vanced that the bees have ceased building comb, 

 insert a frame furnished with mere strips of 

 guide comb in the brood nest of a populous 

 colony, and the bees anxious to close the 

 vacancy will speedily build comb there, if well 

 fed ; and the queen will promptly supply the 

 cells with eggs. This may then be transferred 

 to the queen-breeding stock or nucleus, the bees 

 of which may be forced to build queen cells 

 upon it, by removing all other brood combs 

 immediately. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



Dear Jouknal : — This article will be neces- 

 sarily brief, on account of ill health. Receiving 

 a i)eremptory order from our physician to be out 

 of doors as much as possible, w^e construed it as 

 a providential interposition to t\irn our attention 

 to our basswooJ orchard project, and have got it 

 so far under way as to have purchased 10^ acres 

 of land for the purpose. 



We propose to first thoroughly underdrain it, 

 four feet deep, and then raise the plants from the 

 seed, in hills twelve feet apart. As fast as they 

 get crowded they are to be thinned out. We are 

 collecting all the information we can, as to their 

 cultivation, and would be very thankful for any 

 fact on the subject. If we should not live to see 

 them bloom, some other beekeeper may. Partial 

 paralysis of our right side prevents our hitherto 

 faithful right hand from saying more at present. 

 With kind wishes to all, we remain, as ever, 

 yours, Novice. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



Now this is coming a rather sharp dodge to 

 get one of my articles read — I mean heading it 

 Novice, for of course every one will at least com- 

 mence to read it, thinking by the heading that 

 Novice wrote it himself. 



But I am satisfied that some of the later sub- 

 scribers of the Journal would like to know some- 

 thing about Novice, more than they do ; and as 

 I had the pleasure of making him a visit last 

 summer, I will say may say about him. 



His name is A. I. Root, and not A. J. Root, as 

 it is often printed, and the worst thing about his 

 moral character is that Medina, Ohio, where he 

 lives, is accessible only by stage. He is a jeweller 

 by profession, of about thirty-five years of age 

 I should judge ; though as I am not good at 

 guessing, I may be five years wide of the mark ; 

 married of course ; rather under medium size ; 

 trim built ; of sandy complexion ; very neat in 

 appearance, and I should judge neat about every- 

 thing he does. One would suppose, from his 

 free and easy manner of writing, that he is a 

 talkative person ; but I am inclined to think he 

 is rather reticent, exce]jt when his favorite 

 topic — bee-cultui"e — comes up. (Please bear in 

 mind that I only saw him one day, and that I 

 have never seen or heard a word from him, before 

 or since, except what is printed in the Bee 

 Journal.) 



The reader of the Bee Journal need not be told 

 that, in everything pertaining to the bee, he is an 

 enthusiast, perhaps over sanguine, yet withal so 

 modest and vuiassuming in putting forth his 

 ideas, that it is a real ])leasure to hear him talk. 

 It is to be hoped that he will make enough 

 failures, or have enough Christian grace given 

 him, to keep him from becoming an egotist. 



His apiary presents a very neat appearance. 

 Internally his hives were not made as true as they 

 might have been. In one hive he had a lot of 

 jiieces of comb arranged in a frame, laid on a 

 board, and left on the top of a hive, for the bees 

 to fasten together. I have since tried the same 

 thing, only I \n\t paper on the board before put- 

 ting on tlie comb, as I find it easier to separate 

 the comb from the jjaper than from a board. 



His hives were i^laced on separate bottom 

 boards or stands, and a numbered bras'S check, 

 such as jewellers use on watches, placed on each 

 hive, and a duplicate check on each stand. This 

 was done to number the hives, and to allow the 

 hives when set out in the spring, to occupy the 



