66 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Triangular Strips for Comb Guides. 



In making the Langstroth hive, I had some 

 difficulty in preparing the "comb guide." Not 

 being near machinery, I had to make by hand. 



I have now hit upon a neat plan and give it 

 for the benefit of those similarly situated. 



Get out and dress a piece one inch square, 

 about two inches longer than the guide wanted. 

 With a rip saw split this, so as to make four 

 square pieces, leaving the surplus end to hold 

 all together until done. When cut off, each 

 piece will have one perfectly straight edge. 

 Nail two pieces to a plank with edges bevelled 

 off so that, the straight corner being down, you 

 can, with a jack plane set coarse, make a neat 

 three-cornered piece. Tack this on with small 

 finishing brads. 



The bees build better on this than on the large 

 guides, (| — |— §), and where made by hand, 

 four can be made as quickly as one large one, 

 and from the same piece of timber. 



A. G. W. 



MURFREESBORO, TeNN. 



[For the American Bee Journal. ] 



Is it possible to materially increase the 

 Size of the Honey Bee by Breeding? 



The cell of the honey comb has been a won- 

 der on account of its shape, but I have seen no 

 reason given why it is always about a certain 

 size. This fact, I conceive, is no less a subject 

 of wonder than that ; and is as susceptible of 

 an easy solution, by plain practical laws, and 

 has not only a relation to, but explains the 

 former, and at the same time answers my ques- 

 tion. 



An old friend of mine, who lives some ten 

 miles distant, having heard that I had the Ital- 

 ian bees, rode over, one day, to see them. His 

 curiosity had been greatly excited, by what he 

 had heard about them. He had not more than 

 dismounted before he let me know his errand. 



"Well," said he, " I understand you have a 

 new breed of bees, as big as bumble bees, that 

 make comb with cells in it as big as a thimble ; 

 that have no stings, and make honey all the 

 year round. I came over to-day to get some, 

 as I understand that one or two is all you need 

 to get a start." 



I informed him that he was slightly mistaken; 

 that I had no such bees, and that no such bees ex- 

 isted; that I had the Italian bees, that were a lit- 

 tle larger than mme common bees, but that I had 

 the common bees as large as the Italians ; that 

 they had stings, but had the reputation of using 

 them with more discretion than the natives, and 

 as to their making honey "all the year round," 

 they did not make honey at all, but gathered it 

 from flowers, and whenever flowers failed to 

 secrete honey they must stop storing it. 



"My dear sir," he replied, "you are not pos- 

 ted, for Mr. A told me that he saw them at 



Newburg." 



Now, I had acquired some reputation for bee- 



knowledge, however undeservedly, and to 

 save it with my friends, I had to maintain my 

 position in this wise. 



"All the habits and instincts of the bee would 

 have to be changed, if it grew to such a size. 

 The comb would have to be built differently. 

 Instead of hanging it in sheets in the hive vert- 

 ically, with horizontal cells on both sides, it, 

 would have to be in sheets horizontally, with 

 cells or cups only on the upper side ; for if tin: 

 cells were as large as a thimble, or even a very 

 little larger than they now are, the honey would 

 run out of them as fast as the bees put it in. 

 The cells in which the worker bees are reared 

 are about one fifth of an inch in diameter, and 

 that seems to be about the maximum size of cell 

 that can be built horizontally, and hold the 

 honey. The drone cells are about one-fourth 

 of an inch in diameter, and when used for stor- 

 ing honey have to be turned up from a hori- 

 zontal position sometimes 30°, in order to hold 

 it." 



"All that seems reasonable," he admitted, 

 " but why should it be so ? Could not this big 

 bee make the honey stay in the big cell, as well 

 as the little bee in the little cell ? Each would 

 be in proportion." 



" Nature does not permit miracles, nowa- 

 days," I answered. Every substance exists as 

 such, by reason of certain essential properties 

 or qualities. Destroy any one of those belong- 

 ing to any one substance, and you destroy tha£ 

 substance. Among the properties common to 

 all substances is one called attraction, which is 

 an inclination in bodies and particles of sub- 

 stances to tend toward each other. This proper- 

 ty pervades all material things. Destroy it and 

 you resolve creation into chaos again. It not 

 only causes atoms to adhere together and form 

 different substances or bodies, and holds them 

 all together in a great body we call the earth, 

 but holds all the heavenly bodies in their 

 spheres as they revolve through space. 



"Attraction of cohesion is the name given to 

 that force which holds together particles in 

 bodies or masses ; and it is through an instinc- 

 tive knowledge of this much philosophy, that 

 the bee is enabled to stow its honey in the ves- 

 sels it makes for it; and the same reason that 

 you cannot fill a barrel with molasses, that is 

 laying on its side, with one head out, prevents 

 your big bee from filling its cell as large as a 

 thimble, which is in the same position." 



"But why don't it run out of the small cell 

 as well as the large one, as the molasses out of 

 the barrel ?" 



"That is what I'm coming to. Dip your 

 finger into honey and hold it up, with the end 

 down, and you will soon see that the honey will 

 run down and collect in a globular drop, at the 

 lowest point. That drop or globule will in- 

 crease until it attains a certain size, when it 

 will fall off. If you measure the diameter of the 

 drop of honey you will find it to be about the 

 size of the worker cull." 



"I cant see," interposed my friend, "what 



connection there is between the honey dropping 



from the end of your finger and the size of bees, 



or even their cells." 



"I will try to explain, if you will be patient. 



