1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



by the continued noise from all quarters, and 

 they will in consequence mount out of the full 

 hive into the empty one. Repeat the strokes 

 rather quick than strong round the hive, till all 

 the bees are got out of it, which in general, will 

 be in about five minutes. It is to be observed, 

 that the fuller the hive is of bees, the sooner 

 they will have left it. As soon as a number of 

 them have got into the empty hive, it should be 

 raised a little from the full one, that the bees 

 ma^y not continue to run from the one to the 

 other, but rather keep ascending upon one 

 another,' &c. Wildman, 1770. 



Proper Food for Weak Hives. 



• 

 I am decidedly of opinion that bees fed in the 

 autumn should have honey, in preference to any 

 other kind of food. * * * * This is my 

 reason for recommending honey only — indeed I 

 have never seen bees so healthy as those fed on 

 the simple mixture of honey and water. In 

 Spring, other kinds of food may answer very 

 well, as a small portion only is given at a time, 

 and very little of it deposited in the comb, &c. 



Payne, 1833. 



Greatest Enemy to Bees. 



Nothing is more prejudicial to bees than igno- 

 rant attention. Their most formidable enemies 

 are, perhaps their possessor, &c, &c. 



De Geliew, 1829. 



Description op Queen Bee. 



The queen bee is a faire and stately creature, 

 longer by the half, and much bigger than a com- 

 mon honey bee, yet not so big as a drone, but 

 somewhat longer. She differs from the common 

 bee both in shape and color ; her back is all over 

 of a bright brown, her belly even from the top 

 of her fangs to the tip of her train, is clear, 

 beautiful and of a sad yellow, somewhat deeper 

 than the richest gold ; her head is more round 

 than the little bees, &c, &c. * * * * Her 

 wings are of the same size with an ordinary bee, 

 and therefore in respect to her long body, they 

 seem very short. * * * * I have provoked 

 and forced them to sting by hard holding of them 

 and putting their tails to my bare hand, but 

 could never perceive them willing to put it forth. 

 Nay, when I have forced it out, yet she would 

 not enter it in my hand. In a word, the 

 queen bee in her whole shape and color, is a 

 goodly and beautiful creature. 



Purchase, 1C57." 



Having extended these extracts to consider- 

 able length for a newspaper article, we will cut 

 it 'short, observing, that although many errors 

 appear in the works of the old writers on the 

 bee, we find the grossest blunders and assump- 

 tions in those of more modern date, and it is to 

 be deplored, that some of these publications 

 have such a wide circulation, or were ever set in 

 type. The ignorant and unobserving believing 

 everything in book form, printed, to be true. 



Murfreesboro, Tennessee. II. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Eapid Increase. 



Mr. Editor. — I must record one of the most 

 prolific cases of increase that I have ever heard 

 of, especially in the north. 



A neighbor living three miles north of me, on 

 the open prairie, had lost all his bees last winter, 

 but two stands. I saw them last winter in the 

 old box hives, both hybrids, his black queens 

 having mated with Italian drones. On the 3d 

 day of June, one swarmed ; the young swarm 

 swarmed three times. I saw the young swarm 

 after it was put in a hive. I offered the owner 

 $6 for it. He would not take it. I saw his 

 bees a few days ago, and he has to-day seventeen 

 swarms of bees in hives, and three ran away to 

 the woods, making in all twenty-one swarms, 

 old and young. I examined them all, and out 

 of the seventeen fifteen will winter. They 

 have got plenty of bees and plenty of honey. 

 One of the fifteen stands has got mor.e bees than 

 any of the swarms that I have that did not 

 swarm. He put them all in old box hives. He 

 did not get any honey. 



R. Miller. 



Melugin Grove, Lee Co., 111., Sept. 9, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



An Explanation Desired. 



Editor American Bee Journal :— I would 

 like to have an explanation of the occurrences 

 here detailed. October 3d or 4th, on a visit to 

 the apiary of an acquaintance, he took a virgin 

 queen out of a nucleus to show us, and found 

 her covered by worker bees, apparently attack- 

 ing her with murderous intent. He caged her, 

 and again liberated her next day safely. Octo- 

 ber 5th, I took out a queen from a nucleus in 

 my own apiary, and found her surrounded and 

 attacked in the same way. This queen had been 

 fertile and laying since September 15th, twenty 

 days, at least. I caged her, and again liberated 

 her next day. Having some sweetened nutmeg 

 water for another purpose, I used it on her and 

 her swarm, when I liberated her. She is still 

 doing her duty. In the last case, the swarm 

 was in good condition every way, only that it 

 was small (only three frames). The question 

 is, why were they attacked? Let some bee- 

 keeper answer satisfactorily. 



H. W. S. 

 Cincinnati, Oct. 17, '72. 



Snow is very hurtful, when it dissolves with 

 the heat of the sun, for the bees with the heat 

 will be rolled out of the hives, and they are no 

 sooner forth, but they are dazled and blinded, 

 and cannot find the way in again, but flying a 

 while up and down, being weary, think to rest 

 themselves on the snow, which they no sooner 

 touch, but they are killed ; be sure therefore at 

 such times to shut them in. Purchase, 1657. 



