206 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Makch, 



claims as granted read thus : First, the air spaces, 

 W, W, und rentilators, Z, Z, arranged in either end 

 of the hive, toith air spare W, and ventilator Z of 

 the upper chamber substantially as herein sH 

 forth. Second, the perforated division boards H, 

 H, arranged on either side of the ren're of the 

 chamber A (brood chamber) cut-off, 1 arranged 

 to operate as and for the purpi'ses set forth. In the 

 first claim the objects set forth are that we may 

 effectually control the ventilation of the hive, and 

 at the same time we prevent others from securing 

 frames in the hives in like manner. The air 

 spaces W, W, spoken of, are the space between 

 the partition boards and the ends of the hive, 

 both in the brood chamber and surplus honey 

 chamber. The perforated division boards are 

 used in a hive 40 inches Ion*?, outside measure, 

 and exactly of the same depth and width as the 

 one above described. This hive has three en- 

 trances, one in the centre, an<i one six inches 

 from either end. We form our brood chamber 

 in the centre of the hive by putting in 14 brood 

 fiames. 



For further particulars, address 



W. R. King. 



Franklin, Ey. 



[For the American Bee JomrnjJ.] 



Natural, Hardy, Prolific Queens. 



MY LAST BLOW. 



No doubt it was in order to puff his reversible, 

 removable, double cased, seclioial casket, movable 

 comb hive, that Mr. J. M. Price, after worrying 

 his brain, found no other way to attract atten- 

 tion than to give a writ of imbicility to all the 

 beekeepers who make artificial swarms or raise 

 artificial queens ; claiming that they act against 

 reos'in, nature and common senile. 



That theory, respecting natural, prolific and 

 hardy queens, inflated with hyperboles and mis- 

 statements, had no more power of resistance 

 than the red inflated balloons of our children. 

 Verity, with one touch of a pin, caused it to 

 collapse completely. Mr. Price, in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for November, tries to inflate 

 it anew by similar means, adding calumny 

 thereto. 



I beg the reader to remember that in the num- 

 ber of the A. B. J. for January, 1871, page 163, 

 Mr. Price says that he has tested his method for 

 five years. In the number for November, nearly 

 a year later, he says he has tested it for two 

 years. He erred in the first case, or he erred in 

 the second. 



In the A. B, J. for September, 1869, and in 

 that for January, 1869, Mr. P. says this experi- 

 ence is to make ten sicarms from one, and that 

 every swarm raised its own queen. In the same 

 Journal for November, 1S71, he says that he 

 never raised artiflcial queens in small swarms, 

 but used only his largest and most vigorous 

 stocks. What is that, if not a second error? 



Mr. Price cites Gallup as sustaining the same 

 views as himself. Yet I have already pointed 

 out the ideas of Mr. Gallup, such as I find them 



in an article published by him in October, 1870. 

 He says — " A queen cell built over an egg and 

 fed as a queen from the start, I have not been 

 able to discover why they are not as good as 

 natural queens raised at swarming time." What 

 shall I call such voluntary mistakes of Mr. 

 Price? 



Further on Mr. P. asserts that Novice bought 

 twenty-five queens from Mr. Adam Grimm, to 

 replace his queens, because they were too old, 

 after seventeen months. Yet nowhere did 

 Novice say that his queens were too old ; but 

 that he replaced hybrid queens. See A. B. J. 

 for November, 1870, page 100. Is not that a 

 fourth error? 



I could make more similar quotations, but 

 these are suflicient to show the truthfulness of 

 Mr. Price. 



As to the tested queen that Mr. P. did get 

 fiom me in the beginning of June for six dollars, 

 she was, before leaving Hamilton, one of the 

 most prolific in my apiary. What experiments 

 did he make with her, when she came into his 

 hands ? The reader can read partial accounts of 

 these in the A. B. J. for January, 1871. In that 

 number Mr. P. shows that that queen was the 

 first Italian he had ever seen, and that she was 

 also the first he had ever introduced in all his 

 life. He was then so little acquainted with 

 introducing queens that, after he received her, 

 he looked over the back numbers of the A. B. 

 J., to find the way to introduce her. He states 

 that he put her on a comb of sealed brood, with- 

 out bees, except those that accompanied her, 

 and placed the hive near his stove. Then, after 

 dark he looked her over and concluded to shake 

 the bees off seven stands at the entrance of her 

 hive ; and that the second day after, he changed 

 his mind and placed her, caged, in another hive 

 which had the swarming impulse. And he 

 dwells for more than a column on his unskilful 

 precautions, showing his inexperience in the mat- 

 ter. 



So, that unhappy queen, wearied by her 

 journey, had to endure being handled and carried 

 from one hive to another, and bear all the bung- 

 lings of Mr. Price, together with ill treatment 

 from the bees of seven hives, mo2"e or less ill 

 disposed towards her. And, finally, she had to 

 suffer the pinchings of bees under the swarming 

 impulse— which forced her to lead out a swarm 

 9^ days after her introduction, and nearly four 

 days before the first queen cell was capped over ! 



Is there any queen breeder who would guaran- 

 tee the prolificness of his queens, knowing theiu 

 to be in such blundering hands as those of Mr. 

 Price ? 



So little did I promise to replace her, and so 

 little did Mr. Price believe that I made such a 

 promise, that, when asking from me another 

 queen, he added — "If you can, let me know, 

 with price.^^ With this, I enclose to the editor 

 two letters of Mr. P. Indeed, I wrote to Mr. P. 

 that probably the queen would be better in 

 spring. Knowing the dealings of the man, I 

 did hope that before spring, the queen, recover- 

 ing from maltreatment, would have reinforced 

 her hive, so as to be in better condition. 



But was the queen as uuprolific as Mr. P. 



