80 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Drone Comb, &c. 



AH worker comb in the brooding apartment, 

 is just the idea that suits me; and if you cau 

 help your readers to get it, by successes or blun- 

 ders of correspondents, some progress will be 

 made. This is too far north (latitude 45£) for 

 bees «o do extra service. My best bive, after 

 taking out two frames of brood to assist a 

 queenless stock, swarmed July 10. As a prime 

 swarm of mine, in Illinois, hived July 3, starved 

 in October, I concluded to make a sure tbing of 

 tbis, and prevent, any more late swarms, by 

 taking five combs from three stocks for the new 

 hive, and placing it on the parent stand, re- 

 moving the old stock to a new location. Pla- 

 cing the empty frames between brood combs, 

 as near tbe centre as possible, according to Mr. 

 Gallup's directions on page 7 of the July num- 

 ber, I hoped for straight worker comb. As I 

 try to "see my bees often," I noticed the frames 

 were being filled with drone comb ; and also 

 that the boxes, where worker comb had been 

 used for guide pieces, were being filled with 

 nice worker comb. So I concluded to try once 

 more, and as the bees commenced building in 

 two or three places on a frame, I put three 

 pieces of worker comb, each, on eight frames, 

 and exchanged them for those just filled in the 

 hives. July 24th, number 4 (the new swarm) 

 had three full combs, two of them all drone size 

 cells and the third about one-fourth worker 

 cells— the rest drone. One comb was full of 

 brood, ten by eighteen inches, about 5,000, and 

 as much more in the other two, making 10,000 

 young drones started, besides other patches in 

 the old comb— rather too many, to suit me, in 

 one bive. Number 1 had two frames, two- 

 thirds full, all drone size. Number 2, with a 

 young queen that began laying June 21, filled a 

 frame, all drone comb. Number 3, the parent 

 stock, had, just started some pieces the size ol 

 my hand, drone comb of course. My bees are 

 Italians of the Quinby stock, so it is no wonder 

 they are "behind the times !" 



A swarm put in an empty hive builds mostly 

 worker combs. Will the editor give us his 

 opinion as to the number of combs in order to get 

 straight combs, and at the same time to avoid 

 drone comb ? I took the combs away twenty 

 or thirty feet, smoked and brushed off the bees 

 into a pan and shook them in front of their 

 hives, giving each its own amount as near as I 

 could guess. They do not appear to quarrel 

 with young bees though these are strangers. I 

 then cut the combs up and put them in surplus 

 boxes, opening what few cells were capped 

 over, aud left them in the cellar two nights to 

 kill the brood, before putting the boxes on the 

 hives. Still some drones were recapped, and 

 have since hatched out. 



Last year, two black swarms gained four or 

 five pounds each on bass-wood blossoms, weigh- 

 ing twenty-five pounds in August. This year, 

 four Italian hives gained thirty-two pounds each 

 on bass-wood blossoms ; weighing sixty-one 

 pounds each, besides the weight of hives and 

 boxes. H. D. Miner. 



Washington Harbor, Aug. 15, 18G8. 



D^~Mr. C. F. H. Gravenhorst, a very intelli- 

 gent, experienced, aud successful bee-keeper, of 

 Brunswick, in the late kingdom, now Prussiau 

 province, of Hanover, announces that he thinks 

 he has succeeded in constructing a hive, or de- 

 vising means, by which bees may be constrain- 

 ed to build worker comb exclusively. He 

 promises to make the process known, so soon as 

 he has satisfied himself, by further experiments, 

 that comb building may be thus controlled in 

 other kinds of hives also, and under all circum- 

 stances. It is to be hoped he may be success- 

 ful, as this would be another important advance 

 in practical bee-culture. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Crooked Combs. 



I have two frame hives with bees in them ; 

 but it is impossible to get the frames out, with- 

 out breaking the combs all to pieces. I have 

 tried Mr. May's form of frame. The bees did 

 not build as straight as they did with the trian- 

 gular bar at the top. When they got about 

 midway, they crossed from one frame to 

 another, and back again. What shall I do ? 



Does the tulip tree flourish as far north as 

 Maine ? Please answer through the Journal. 



Horace Libbt. 



Lewistown, Me. 



E£lF"Nuttal says the tulip tree " is unknown 

 in a wild state, east of the Connecticut river, 

 although occurring as far north as latitude 45°, 

 at the southern extremity of Lake Champlain. 

 T.t is most common, and attains the largest size, 

 in the Middle and especially in the Western 

 States. It delights only in deep, loamy, and 

 extremely fertile soils." 



A bee deprived of its antennae, immediately 

 become dull and listless. It desists from its 

 usual labors, remains at the bottom of the hive, 

 seems attracted only by the light, aud takes the 

 first opportunity of quitting the hive, never to 

 return. A queen thus mutilated, ran about 

 without any apparent object, as if in a state of 

 delirium; and was incapable of direc'ing her 

 trunk, with precision, to the food which was of- 

 fered to her. 



It hath been a constant tradition, that the 

 queen bee hath a special guard always waiting 

 on her ; and that when she goeth forth, she is 

 always attended by them. I r-ave often seen 

 her go forth, but always without attendance. 

 It may possibly fall out that some bees may go 

 abroad with her, and some others return when 

 she comes back to the hive, but never as her 

 special guard. — Purchas. 



The enclosure in which bees were kept was 

 formerly called the bee-croft, where immense 

 numbers of these insects were housed. In roy- 

 al inventories we find "honey casks" enumera- 

 ted in great number. Honey was royal food ; 

 hence, perchance, the nursery line : — 

 "The queen was in the garden, eating bread and honey." 



