48 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



neglect to bring out the hive or nucleus con- 

 taining that queen — continuing to do so till 

 satisfied that fertilization has been effected. If 

 the queen is not- seen returning with evidence 

 of impregnation, the hive may be opened in the 

 evening before removing it from the stand, and 

 a more careful examination made at leisure. 

 An inexperienced or inexpert operator, who 

 doubts his judgment in the matter, continues 

 the experiment daily, till he finds eggs or brood 

 in the worker cells. 



The best season for employing this process is 

 the spring, after first swarms have left, and 

 before second swarms make their appearance. 

 If second swarms have issued from some neigh- 

 boring colony, the operator may oft be disap- 

 pointed, as those late-flying drones may inter- 

 fere with and defeat his experiments. 



The hives and nuclei used must of course be 

 properly ventilated, that the bees may not suf- 

 fer or be kept in a state of excitement while in 

 confinement. Means should also be provided 

 for feeding the bees when necessary without 

 opening the hive, otherwise the queen may be- 

 come alarmed and deterred from coming out 

 when the workers are flying. 



I did not originally regard or treat this pro- 

 cess as a secret; but communicated it to many 

 of my friends and visitors in free and familiar 

 conversation. But after the effort was made 

 to procure compensation to Mr. Kohler for pro- 

 mulgating his method, (which I did not doubt 

 was essentially like mine), I ceased to speak of 

 it, till Lieutenant Wedell, who was acquainted 

 with it, announced the fact in the Bee Jouit- 

 sal, and obtained for me some pecuniary re- 

 muneration likewise, for which I feel duly 

 grateful. 



It now appears that several other apiarians 

 have for some time been using substantially the 

 same method. Kruger. 



Edward's Spring, June 15, 18G8. 



Death from the Sting of a Bee. 



Mr. Osmond Patton, of Westmoreland, Oneida 

 county, (N. Y.,) died on Sunday, June 21st, 

 from the effects of being stung by a bee. The 

 puncture was made over the left eye, and in 

 about fifteen minutes afterwards Mr. Patton felt 

 faint, and finally died in about three hours. 



It is to be regretted that a more full account 

 of this occurence has not been furnished. 

 What were the circumstances under which Mr. 

 P. was stung ? Was he much excited or fa- 

 tigued at the time? What was the general 

 state of his health previously ; and of his physi- 

 cal condition when stung ? 



" Nothing can be well done, that is done out 

 of season," is a truth which a novice in bee- 

 keeping should impress on his memory, and 

 avoid illustrating in his practice. 



He that licks honey from thorns, pays too 

 dear for it. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Criticism. 



BY W. W. HIPOLITE, M. D. 



In the Bee Journal for July, B. P. Babcock 

 calls attention to an extract from a work lately 

 written by Mrs. Agassis and her husband, the 

 Professor, advancing a somewhat novel idea 

 regarding the mathematics of the honey bee, as- 

 exhibited in the construction of its comb. It 

 claims that T 



"Tho bees stand as close as they can together in 

 "their hive for economy of space; and each one deposits 

 "his wax around him, his own form and size being the 

 "mould for the cells, the regularity of which, when 

 "completed, excites so much, wonder and admiration. 

 "The mathematical secret of the bee is to be found ia his 

 "structure, not in his instinct." 



We know not what the Professor's advanta- 

 ges have been in securing data on which to 

 found his hypothesis ; and we feel in no small 

 degree timid in making an assault on the doc- 

 trines promulgated by him. Notwithstanding^ 

 however, his position and senile dignity, we 

 claim a voice, because our knowledge has been 

 derived from personal observation ; and justice 

 to ourself, and to our bee-keeping friends, 

 prompts us to place on record our dissent from 

 such erronoous views. In order to entitle this 

 idea to a place among scientific discoveries, two 

 things are certainly necessary. One of these is 

 that it must be new ; and the other is that it 

 must bo true. The first of these qualities we 

 readily admit it to possess, namely, that it ia 

 new ; but neither, alone, will constitute a dis- 

 covery ; both are required. 



A story is told of a young clergyman who in- 

 quired of an older one, who had been present at 

 the delivery of one of the young man's discour- 

 ses, what he thought of his production. The 

 old man said, '* There were many tbings in the 

 discourse which were new, and many thinga 

 that were true." The young man, pleased with 

 the remark, thanked very warmly his senior 

 for his good opinion; "but," added the old 

 man, " the new was not true, and the true was 

 not new." This altered the aspect of the criti- 

 cism, and gave the young brother a "realizing 

 sense " of the importance of both originality 

 and truth to constitute high merit. 



A scientific discovery, as we understand it, is 

 the development and presentation of a new fact 

 or new principle; and the fact or principle must 

 be capable of clear proof, of demonstration, or 

 it can only be regarded as an hypothesis — a 

 mere conjecture, more or less plausible accord- 

 ing to the reasonableness of the case. Not only 

 must it be most clearly new, but also demon- 

 strably true. If that which claims to be a dis- 

 covery be neither new nor true, it will be the 

 farthest possible from what it claims to be. 

 His hypothesis requires something approaching 

 demonstration, in order to place it in the cate- 

 gory of ascertained facts — to make it a discovery. 

 But, to our apprehension, lie has offered noth- 

 ing of the kind, and nothing worthy the digui- 

 fied name of discovery has been made. 



All who have studied the writings of the 



