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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[March 



must make decided advances from year to year, 

 but how much more satisfactory would it be if some 

 competent hand would from time to time announce 

 with no uncertain report the substantial results of 

 each year's study and experience. For example, 

 whilst there are many good ways of transferring 

 bees, certainly there must be some best way, and so 

 of introducing queens, feeding, wintering, &c, &c. 

 There ought to be some one courageous enough 

 to say which (weighing all the circumstances) is 

 the best plan of hive, size of frames, boxes, &c, 

 &c, but as this is very delicate ground to tread 

 on, perhaps we must leave each bee-keeper to work 

 out his own painful and expensive experience. In 

 all other matters, however, I can see no objection 

 to a fair and honest statement of the advance in 

 the art apiarian . I would again make the sugges- 

 tion that a monthly "Hint" might be given as to 

 what should be done in the way of feeding, over- 

 hauling hives, &c. The difference in latitude of 

 your various subscribers is not so great but that 

 some time during a month your suggestions would 

 apply. Further, I would reinforce the various 

 admonitions of the February number, that we 

 should strive to crush out that querulous tone which 

 too frequently mars the communications to the 

 Journal. Point is a good thing, but the sting 

 which is left behind, like that of our pets, is more 

 injurious to the giver than the receiver, but bad 

 for both. Let us turn over a new leaf in this 

 regard, and determine that henceforth we will ask 

 and give advice in all simplicity and kindness. 



Finally, I wish you God speed in your good 

 work. You have a noble exemplar in your predeces- 

 sor. I believe that he was pure, honest, upright, 

 outright, and downright. He had his deep convic- 

 tions and was not afraid to give them utterance. 

 He gave praise when he thought it was due — if he 

 detected imposture, he "flashed it up as a police- 

 man's lantern flashes up a rogue," but he was 

 always honest, frequently "to his own hurt." I 

 trust that his dream may be your reality, and that 

 under your guidance the Journal may find its 

 way to every household that can appreciate rural 

 pleasures, teaching them more and more to value 

 and cherish 



" The breath of their gardens, 

 The hum of their bees." 



Gordonsville, Virginia. B. Johnson Barbour. 



Note by Ed. A. B. J. — Our esteemed corre- 

 spondent summons us in the foregoing letter to a 

 well nigh impossible task — that of deciding, 

 amidst conflicting theories and methods, which is 

 absolutely best. We are not gifted with infallibility, 

 and if we were to claim the possession of such a 

 gift, a host of readers would " compass us about 

 like bees," to dispute our exercise of it. We are 

 quite free to admit that the diversities of opinion 

 among bee-keepers on various points must be some- 

 what "bewildering to a novice," but the only way 

 of relief we know of is that pointed out in Holy 

 Writ, " Prove all things, hold fast that which is 

 good." There is no royal road to bee-keeping. 

 Every bee-keeper must test for himself the various 



methods proposed, and choose those he finds most 

 satisfactory. Apiarians of equal eminence differ 

 in their modes of transferring, introducing queens, 

 feeding, wintering, &c, but one thing is quite cer- 

 tain, and that is, the "novice" will not go far 

 astray if he copies any one of them. The same in 

 effect, is true of hives. We cannot undertake to 

 decide which of all the numerous hives is best, but 

 bee-keeping can be carried on successfully with any 

 movable-frame hive. They are all good. Doubt- 

 less there are good, better, best, but who is to put 

 on the labels, indicating their comparative merits ? 

 The only plan is for each to follow his own preference. 

 In regard to monthly hints, the difficulty is pre- 

 cisely that which our correspondent supposes does 

 not exist. "The difference in latitude of" our 

 "various subscribers" is "so great," that what 

 would suit one locality would be utterly inapplica- 

 ble in another. We have subscribers in Minnesota 

 and Canada to the north, and in California and 

 Florida to the south ; — in the one latitude bees are 



freezing to death, and in the other 



" Gathering honey all the day, 

 From every opening flower," 

 during the same month. Two sets of hints, north- 

 ern and southern, might possibly be given, but 

 even these would vary considerably in their appli- 

 cation. 



We thank our correspondent for his kind conclud- 

 ing words, and in return, wish him great pleasure 

 and success in his apicultural undertakings. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The late Eichard Oolvin. 



I was surprised to see no notice of the death of 

 Richard Colvin, of Baltimore, in either the January 

 or February numbers of American Bee Journal, 

 and could only account for it by supposing that 

 Mr. Langstroth's health was too bad to permit his 

 writing, and that Mr. Geo. S. Wagner had not been 

 informed of the death of his father's old friend. 



Although Mr. Colvin has, of late years, been 

 very little known to the bee-keepers of the coun- 

 try, their obligations to him are very great. He 

 was one of the first men of means who took hold 

 of the movable comb system, and gave his time 

 and money freely to introduce it into general use, 

 less from any hope of pecuniary reward, than from 

 a desire to aid the cause of bee-culture, in which 

 he took so deep an interest ; but I will say no 

 more on this subject, as I am sure Mr. Langstroth, 

 who is so much better able to do it justice, will 

 treat it fully so soon as his health will permit. 

 Mr, Colvin was among the first importers of the 

 Italian bee. If I am not mistaken, he was the very 

 first person who attempted to import them, but 

 they died on the voyage, and some one else received 

 a queen in good order before his second hive 

 arrived. 



There are several articles from Mr. Colvin' s pen 

 in the first volume of the American Bee Journal, 



