1S72.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



273 



[For the Ainericiin Bee Jourual.] 



A Large Number of Queen Cells. 



In August, 1870, I removed a liybrid queen 

 from a full stock and introduced an Italian. On 

 the twenty-second or twenty-third day after, on 

 opening the hive I found it literally stocked full 

 of queen cells. 



A German friend being present suggested we 

 count them. I cut out and removed fifty-four 

 queen cells. What was a little remarkable to 

 me was, they were every one sealed. A majority 

 of them were very large, but some were small. 

 They were on the sides, bottom and edge of the 

 combs. Will some friend tell me why so many, 

 and whether it is common '? I ought to say, per- 

 haps, that before removing the hybrid queen — a 

 very prolitic one — they had attempted several 

 times to swarm, but were prevented by a Quinby 

 Queen Yard. 



Bees seem to be wintering well in this section, 

 so far as I hear. We have had cold weather 

 since December 1st, so that those out of doors, 

 have not been able to fly. 



A. C. Manwell. 



Eipon, Wis. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



A Beginner's Experience. 



Mr. Editor : — You request beekeepers to send 

 you an account of their experience in keeping 

 bees, so I thought I would send you mine. I 

 commenced beekeeping in 18G6, when I was fif- 

 teen years old, by buying an Italian queen of 

 Ml'. W. H. Furman, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 

 whose advertisement I saw in an agricultural 

 paper. 



I i3ut the queen and the few worker bees that 

 came with her, into a large box hive, bought a 

 ])Ound of strained honey and fed them on a piece 

 of tin, and waited with all the isatience imagi- 

 nable for them to go to work, thinking in my 

 ignorance that they would build up a swarm. 

 AVell, they stayed there a week or two, built a 

 small piece of comb, and then swarmed. Think- 

 ing the hive too large, I went to work and made 

 a little one and pi;t them in it. That was the 

 last of them. At the time the queen was pur- 

 chased, Mr. F. got me to subscribe for the Jour- 

 nal, and I soon saw what a donkey I had been 

 making of myself. So I let the thing rest for a 

 while until I could read and know a little about 

 the business. 



In March, 1870, I bought two swarms in old 

 box hives, for twelve dollars ($12.00), one of them 

 one, and the other eight years old. I had heard 

 a great deal said (and almost sung sometimes), 

 about the (Oreat) American Bee-hive, so I 

 bought the right (or wrong), and made me some 

 of them, and now I would sell out my right 

 pretty cheap. There, I have put in an adver- 

 tispinent Gallup fashion, and I expect somebody 

 will give me fits for it. The season of 1870 was 

 very dry in this part of the country, and but one 



of my stocks gave me a new swarm, which left 

 the hive just a month later, and tried to enter 

 one of my neighbor's hives, and then there was 

 war. I supposed they Avere all right, as they 

 were going and coming very briskly, btxt on 

 looking into the hive after they had left, I found 

 it about half full of nice straight comb but not 

 a drop of honey, and I came to the conclusion 

 that they were starved out, and that I was ten 

 dollars out of pocket. It looked very nice on 

 paper to talk about going to a hive full of bees, 

 and open and take out the frames, with all the 

 little scamps coming at you, sharp end first. 

 Result of the season, two stocks of bees in old 

 box hives, some empty comb hives, and bee- 

 keeper a little down in the mouth. 



I didn't like the American hive, so I went to 

 work as all new beginners are said to do, and got 

 up a hive after my own fashion, wliich I knoic is 

 better than the American. Last year 1 had bet- 

 ter success, for both of my stocks sent off a 

 large swarm each, that tilled their hives and gave 

 me several frames, and nearly two boxes full of 

 honey. The swarms came off in the latter part 

 of June, one of them twenty minutes of eight in 

 the morning. 



My frames hold twelve pounds each. 



In July, with the help of my father and a 

 neighbor, I managed to get the old stocks trans- 

 ferred into American hives. I say managed, for 

 we had an awful time in getting the bees out, 

 as they wouldn't drive for rapping on the hive, 

 or for smoke, so we used brimstone until they 

 were quiet ; then went at the hives with chisel 

 and hammer and got them transfei'red, what 

 there was left of them, for I can assure you, Mr. 

 Editor, that about . half of them were quieted, 

 so that they forgot to get . up. By grand good 

 luck we didn't happen to kill either of the 

 queens. They gathered enough to winter on 

 with a little feeding at the start. In the latter 

 part of August we got seven swarms given to 

 us, three of them late swarms, and the other 

 four we got for taking the honey from the bees 

 for the owner, who gave us the brood comb to 

 transfer along with the bees. Two of them that 

 were transferred on the 31st of August, filled 

 their hives in fifteen days, about sixty pounds 

 each. We did not use any brimstone on these, 

 but put nets over our heads and gloves on our 

 hands, and went for ^em. Mr. Editor, it woTild 

 have made you laugh to have seen me Ur/hi 

 out for the corn field when my net got loose 

 and the bees got under it'. I have got over being 

 afraid of the sharp end of a bee, but they will 

 sting for all that, have done it (94) ninety-four 

 times this season, and it sicells too. 



I have handled bees in almost every shape this 

 last season, except introducing queens, and I 

 am going to try that next season. I have made 

 this letter longer than I meant to when I started, 

 but I hope you will excuse me as I am a new 

 beginner. 



Brother Gallup, I am going to try some of 

 your frames in my next hives. 



Yours truly, 



Oneida, III, Feb., 1872. 



W. M. Kellogg. 



