1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



129 



met at Franklin only two weeks before, besides 

 having met at Indianapolis in December, 1870. 

 We found the Doctor as busy as a bee among his 

 bees. In fact, until late at night, was he feed- 

 ing his nuclei. Among the new acquaintances 

 formed, was that of Mrs. Hamlin, a most estima- 

 ble lady, indeed ; IVIr. Barber and lady. Mr. 

 Barber, the son-in-law of Dr. H., is a Ken- 

 tuckian ; also, Mr. Barnum, partner of Dr. H. 

 in a large nursery, called the Cumberland Nur- 

 sery ; also, Mr. W. E. Ladd, formerly of New- 

 port, (Ky. ), but now assisting the Doctor in his 

 apiary. We were sorry, indeed, that Mrs. Ladd 

 was absent in Kentucky on a visit, as we should 

 have liked to make her acquaintance. We also 

 met Mr. Oscar Hamlin, the Doctor's son, and 

 Mr. Shaw, who is employed in the manufac- 

 ture of hives on a large scale, for the Doctor 

 and Mr. Ladd. 



After eating a hearty supper, we talked with 

 Doctor H. and Mr. Ladd about bees for several 

 hours, then retired, resting well ; and were up 

 early, and out among the bees. This was, in- 

 deed, a busy time with the Doctor and Mr. Ladd. 

 as well as Mr. Barnum, for bees, as well as bee 

 hives and fruit ti-ees, had to be prepared for the 

 fair the coming week. 



We will here state that the Tennessee Agri- 

 cultural Board does something, which very few, 

 if any of our Agricultural Boards do, that is, 

 they give the Apiarian Department some notice, 

 offering premiums on best colony of Italian bees ; 

 also on best colony of black bees, on bee hives, 

 on melextractors, on finest ten pounds of comb 

 honey, on finest ten pounds of extracted honey, 

 extracted by melextractor ; also premium for the 

 best general display of honey. The Apiarian 

 Dei^artment was placed in charge of the Tennes- 

 see Apiarian Society, with Dr. T. B. Hamlin and 

 Mr. J. A. Fislier as superintendents. 



We remained with the Doctor until the fol- 

 lowing week, giving our aid to get all ready for 

 the fair. We had a look into fifty or more of 

 the Doctor's fine colonies, and were shown very 

 many fine queens, many of which were imported. 

 The Doctor has three hundred colonies of fine 

 pure Italians, and his arrangements for rearing 

 queens are excellent. He can be called the bee- 

 king of the South. We found Mr. Ladd an 

 apiculturist, indeed, well posted in every depart- 

 ment, and ready at all times to demonstrate 

 what he knows. He has but few equals within 

 the sphere of our acquaintance. All things being 

 in readiness, we started for the fair. On a/riv- 

 ing, we found the Apiarian Department well 

 represented in bees, bee hives, and honey ; but 

 there was only one extractor on exhibition. The 

 Adair hive was represented by Dr. Davis ; the 



Logan hive, by Mr. ; the Tennessee 



improved, by Mr. J. C. Owen ; the Langstroth, 

 by Dr. T. B. Hamlin, W. E. Ladd, Mr. Barnum, 

 and others ; and the Triumph, by your humble 

 servant, W. R. King. Dr. Hamlin had two full 

 colonies of Italians, besides several nuclei, on 

 exhibition. He took the premium on the best 

 colony of Italian bees ; also on best general 

 display of honey (no competition). Dr. Davis 

 took the premium on best colony of black bees, 

 in Adair hive, there being cue other, iu old box 



hive. Mr. J. A. Fisher took premium on 

 extracted honey. It was fine, indeed. Mr. 

 Stuart, on best comb honey. Dr. Hamlin, Presi- 

 dent of the Tennessee Apiarian Society, and 

 superintendent of this Department, took the pre- 

 mium on Ids hive, the Langstroth. As I was a 

 stranger, and a long way from home, I kept 

 quiet, and looked on, listening to outsiders ; and 

 it was the general talk that the Tennessee Apia- 

 rian Society did not intend that the Langstroth 

 hive should be beat, for their President owns the 

 State of Tennessee for that hive. Besides, they 

 had adopted it as a Society, and they mean to 

 hold on to it, no matter what better hive may be 

 shown them. We say this was the general talk 

 outside of the Tennessee Apiarian Society. We 

 were advised, before we went to Nashville, not 

 to enter our hive for exhibition ; that there 

 would be no show for us. But we were not to 

 be blufted off in tliis manner, for Ave have at- 

 tended, in person, this fall and last, fourteen fairs 

 with our hive, and it has also been exhibited at 

 over twenty other fairs, by other parties, and it 

 was never beaten before ; cimsequently, we were 

 not afraid to exhibit anywhere wliere we would 

 find unbiassed, competent men to act as commit- 

 tee men. We will soon prepare a description of 

 our hive for the American Bee Journal, to be 

 illustrated by cuts, so as to let it come fully be- 

 fore the beekeeping public. 



Fearing that we are wearying you, Mr. Editor, 

 we will close by i^romising to send you shortly 

 an article on non-flying fertilization, according 

 to our plan, which has proved successful the past 

 season, in every instance except one. We will 

 also tell you something about N. C. Mitchell's 

 method of fertilizing queen bees in confinement, 

 and where he got his plan. 



W. R. King. 



Milton, Ky., Oct. 24, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Does the Qusen Bee Lay Eggs in the Queen Cell ? 



On page 85, of the October No. of the Journal, 

 the editor asks the above question of American 

 beekeepers. As I came so near seeing that im- 

 portant action on one occasion, I will relate what 

 I have already told my friend Gallup, at the time 

 of the Indianapolis Convention. 



Two years ago, in the latter part of May, I 

 examined every one of my colonies, for the pur- 

 pose of clipping the wings of the queens that 

 had not already been so treated on some former 

 occasion. I had carefully examined every comb, 

 but could not find the queen of the second hive 

 I opened. I therefore renewed the search. On 

 taking out the second frame, I noticed a queen 

 cell of nearly full size, built on the front edge of 

 the comb, and thei'e also I observed the queen 

 withdrawing her body from that very cell. 



As I could not look into the cell without diffi- 

 culty, I opened it and found on its bottom an 

 egg, fastened in the same manner as we find 

 them in worker and drone cells. Whether this 

 cell contained an egg before the queen inserted 

 her abdomen into it, or not, I did not know, but 



