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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec, 



This lime last season queens would hardly lay 

 at all ; now I would he glad so stop their profuse 

 laying. Every stand is amazingly full of young 

 hees. The smart weed is very thick in hloom, 

 and hees hard at work. Weather excessively 

 hot. R. M. Argo. 



Lowell, Ky., Sept. 10, 187'?. 



[For the Americau Beo Journal.] 



: Novice" and "The New Idea." 



"Now Thomas," said the Sabbath school 

 teacher to one of his scholars, "you have just 

 read that Noah had three sons — Shem, Ham and 

 Japheth ; now tell me who was the father of 

 Shem, Ham and Japheth?" 



Tom scratched his head, and after studying 

 the question, only answered, "Sir?" 



" Why, Thomas ! don't you know who was 

 the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth, after 

 what you have read?" 



"No, sir — I think not." 



"You certainly do know, Thomas, if you 

 would only think. You know Mr. Jones, who 

 lives over the street, has three sons — James, 

 William and Henry Jones. Now, who is the 

 father of James, William, and Henry Jones?" 



"Mr. Jones," exclaimed Tom; "I guess I 

 know that." 



" Certainly, Thomas ; that's right. Now this 

 is exactly the same thing. You see, as you have 

 been reading, that Noah had three sons — Shem, 

 Ham and Japheth. Now you can tell me who 

 was the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth?" 



" O, certainly!" exclaimed Tom, eagerly. 

 "Certainly, I know now ; why, Mr. Jones." 



Mr. Editor, don't this sound very much like 

 the catechism that friend Gallup has been trying 

 to put my particular friend " Novice" through? 

 Says Novice, "Now, Mr. Gallup, are you sure 

 there is anything you have been trying to get 

 into our head after all-?" Further on, he says, 

 " In his last article we do gather this ***** 

 that the queen prefers to keep her brood at the 

 bottom of the comb in mid-summer." In other 

 words, he knows now that Mr. Jones is the 

 father of Noah's sons. 



I did not start to argue the matter with 

 "Novice," and I will only say that I think the 

 difficulty with him is, that he has become so 

 wedded to his two-story hobby, that he cannot 

 see anything else.* He cannot test the theory 

 with that ; and the very management he says he 

 gave the Quinby hive (which does not embrace 

 the New Idea), shows that he does not catch the 

 idta. On page 11, Progressive Bee Culture, I say : 

 "In a hive only ten inches deep, the queen is 

 necessarily confined to her first brood nest ; for 

 as soon as it is fully occupied and once fdled, the 

 comb all around it is filled with honey and bee 

 bread ; and if honey is very abundant in the 

 flowers, they will soon begin to encroach on the 

 brood-cells, filling them with honey, and to that 

 extent extracting the queens brooding room. 



"This is easily remedied, by at least once in 

 every three weeks inserting in the centre of the 

 brood-nest at least three empty sections (or 



frames) to be fdled with new comb ; to make 

 room for which the brood-chamber should be 

 separated in the middle, and pushed apart so as 

 to admit them. The bees will rapidly fill them 

 with comb, and the queen will occupy it with 

 eggs. It is better to insert one section each week, 

 than to put in all at once ; but, when time is 

 important, they can all be civeu at once, each 

 time the brood-nest is filled." 



"Novice" seems not to have so managed his 

 Quinby hive ; for, if I understand him, he just 

 let the bees alone after they were put in it. He 

 neither took my advice, nor followed Gallup's 

 directions, "To move the brood apart and insert 

 one empty comb right in the centre, and keep 

 doing so at regular intervals, as required, etc.," 

 so as to give the queen plenty of room all the 

 time. 



Now it seems to me, that if "Novice" had 

 read this, he "certainly" could have told Avho 

 was the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. 



I have no taste for personal controversy, such 

 as is too frequently indulged in by your corres- • 

 poudents, nor have I any faith in my own or 

 anybody's infallibility. 1 was taught, when a 

 boy, to try and be charitable, particularly in 

 matters of opinion and judgment, and have 

 always tried to act up to the maxim, "If you 

 cannot believe yourself wrong, at least believe 

 everybody else equally sincere, and as likely to 

 be right as yourself." And if "Novice" really 

 thinks that Jones is the father of Shem, Ha"m 

 and Japheth, he has my hearty permission to 

 do so. 



I would not write this now, had my name been 

 left out by "Novice," or if he had used less 

 harsh language; in what he says of Progressive 

 Bee Culture; or if, in quoting from it, he had 

 not attributed to me what I did not say : as, for 

 iustance, he says " Mr. Adair claims, by the 

 same New Idea, a colony can he made to gather 

 as much honey and build the comb for it, .as they 

 would with empty combs constantly furnished 

 them." 



Mr. Adair did not say so. The book in name, 

 as well as substance, is based on the fact that 

 we are progressing, not that we are perfect, in 

 bee-culture. On the very first page I say : "The 

 revolution that Dzierzon initiated when he con- 

 structed the movable bars, is still going on, and 

 will only be complete when every healthy colony 

 of hees is made to produce the maximum yield, 

 &c. ;" and further on, in answering the question, 

 " How is it to be accomplished ?" 1 answer in 

 general terms by saying, " By a thorough under- 

 standing of the laws governing the actions of 

 the honey-bee, and the adoption of such intelli- 

 gent management as shall take advantage of 

 those laws, &c." 



The part he attempted to quote, I will copy in 

 full from page 5 : 



" A perfectly balanced normal colony of bees 

 consists only of a queen and workers ; and so 

 long as that balance is maintained, there is no 

 necessity for any other members being added. 

 Another fact of great importance is, that so long 

 as the balance is perfect, no drone comb will be 

 constructed by the bees, nor will any queen-cells 

 be commenced. And we venture to assert 



