144 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec. 



may do good. We would judge that some of 

 them fancy all beekeepers in the country are 

 looking up to them as teachers ; when the fact 

 is they have told ns long ago nibrly all they 

 know about beekeeping, and their articles now 

 are chiefly speculation and theory, putting forth 

 ofttimes some new fangled notion not even tested 

 by themselves. And they thus keep a little lot 

 of beginners fooling away their time, experi- 

 menting on those tricks that are vain. 



As to Kansas : the harvest is past, the summer 

 is ended, and the bees are all right. The season 

 has been a very good one, also up to the 8th of 

 June the bees nearly starved. From that time 

 till the first of August there was just about 

 enough honey to keep them breeding well and 

 make the necessary increase. 



The honey harvest closed this year about the 

 15th of September, although in some years it 

 continues a month longer. As this was our first 

 experiment with the Extractor, of course we are 

 away behind those that have had more experience. 

 Even Katie Grimm has beat us so bad that we 

 are almost ashamed to tell how little we were 

 able to do. Three hundred and thirty (330) 

 pounds was our best day's work — which was on 

 the 9th of September. But by referring to the 

 Journal, we see that on the 15th of July, Miss 

 Katie extracted 2^ barrels, or nine hundred and 

 twenty-five (935) pounds. Our surplus amounted 

 to one hundred (100) pounds to each stock, 

 counting the increase. 



We have never told you what kind of hive we 

 are using, nor what a cheap honey extractor we 

 have got. We are afraid to do so, lest some of 

 you would want to give us a dollar for a descrip- 

 tion. Our hive suits us very well, and we are 

 going to let every body else use just such hives 

 as please them best. 



Our main difficulty heretofore was in getting 

 the combs straight in the frames. This season, 

 however, we hit on a comb guide that works to a 

 charmC'Oh, how pleased was I !"). Butasthere 

 has been very little said on the siibject of comb 

 guides since we have been a reader of the Journal, 

 we are not certain that we have not hit on some- 

 body's patent, and have after all nothing but 

 what beekeepers have been using for years. 

 However, if there is any one that is in trouble 

 about getting straight combs, we will describe 

 our guide in a future number of the Journal.* 

 Any one can make it, and it cost but a trifle. 

 As far as tested, it don't fail once in a hundred 

 times. Besides, we have our bees make use of 

 our surplus wax in comb building. How is that, 

 Mr. Walter, for a "wild country?" Don't you 

 think the Orchard beeman would like to know 

 how to do that ? By the way, your apology for 

 him was rather lame. It would have been better 

 if you had said he wanted to see whether any 

 reader of the Journal was foolish enough to send 

 him a dollar. We think it doubtful whether there 

 was. There was one, however, that sent us five 

 cents, and we don't think he would have done it, 

 exceijt for the Twining "six secrets," to use in 



*By all means let us have the description soon. 

 Nnmbers are anxious to get a " sure thinii" in time 

 to arrange for next season's operations. — [Ed. 



connection with the Gallup hive. Here is his 



letter in the original Ms., only with the name 

 and date cut off. The orthography is a little 

 amusing, and somewhat peculiar. 



" Mr. Noah Cameron, Dear Sir, you will find en- 

 closed 5 cents, for whitch pleese send me Gallup's 

 discriptions for makeing Beehives and the twinning 

 Six Secretes for handling and manageing Bees. 



and except my kindest thanks for the Same. 

 Yours truly, 



We will guarantee that he has not taken the 

 .Journal long, or he would not have invested even 

 five cents for the "secrets." 



Small Queens. — What little experience we 

 have had with such, is that they are of little 

 account. Some will do first-rate for the first 

 season ; but most of them will fail to be good 

 layers iu the second, and some fail entirely. We 

 deem it one of the most important things in bee- 

 keeping, to keep all your stocks supplied with 

 good, vigorous, prolific queens. It makes more 

 difference than it does what kind of a hive you 

 tise. And how to raise good queens is a subject 

 pregnant with interest. Its importance cannot 

 be overestimated. In our humble opinion it 

 entirely eclipses the hive question. 



There has been a deal said about natural and 

 artificial queens ; yet nothing conclusive has been 

 established. There are many poor queens 

 among both kinds. We are of the opinion that 

 depends upon the attention that they get in the 

 larva) state. All small queens should be rejected. 

 They are evidently not fully developed. They 

 have had a scant supply of the royal food. There 

 are also many poor queens among those that are 

 of good size. Why this is so, we are unable to 

 say. It may be the fault of bad breeding. All 

 our queens should be under our eye, to see that * 

 they ai-e physically perfect before they are al- 

 lowed to take charge of a colony. It is a good 

 point when your queen can fly immediately on 

 her exit from the cell. 



We had a hive this season in the same fix that 

 one or two correspondents have previously men- 

 tioned. The brood was dying and there was 

 scarcely any of it capped over. The conclusion 

 we arrived at was that the bees had swarmed at 

 a time when the hive was full of eggs and young 

 larvfe : and that they had left too few bees for 

 the work they had to do. 



As this letter is long enough already, we will 

 only add that at a meeting of the Kansas Bee- 

 keepers' Association there were three delegates 

 elected to the National Convention to be held at 

 Cleveland, in December. They are Dr. L. J. 

 Dallas, William Barnes, and your correspond- 

 ent. 



N. Camebon. 



Lawrence, Kansas. 



In a favorable season, the first fifteen days of 

 the new-establishment of a swarm in a hive are 

 employed in the most active labor. There is 

 sometimes as much work done in that short 

 time, as in all the rest of the season that is left 

 for working. 



