178 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



will be sent free on application to M. 

 O'Keefe, Son & Co., Seedsmen and Florists, 

 Rochester, New York. 



Caution. 



Mr. Editor : — In the February number of 

 the Journal, we notice that Mr. Hazen has 

 furnished you with a description of his "Eureka 

 hive." We may be premature in conjecturing 

 how it reads ; but we take it for granted that 

 his communication is essentially the same as 

 that he has published in other papers. In those, 

 he says: — "For the central apartment use 

 either comb frames, or bars, at pleasure." It 

 may not be out of place for us to add; for the 

 full information of the readers of the Journal, 

 that the comb frames illustrated in his cuts 

 come under the claims of L. L. Langstroth's 

 Patent, published in lull in the February num- 

 ber of the Journal. The pleasure of those 

 using them in the " Eureka Hive " would be 

 much enhanced by their possessing the "right" 

 to do so, as otherwise they would be liable to 

 damages for the infringement of our Patent. 



"With the other pans of Mr. Hazen's hive, 

 and with his theories, we have in this place 

 nothing to do, our object being simply to cau- 

 tion the public against the use of our property, 

 either in the "Eureka Hive" or any other, 

 without pacing for it. 



L. L. Langstroth & Son. 



Oxford, Ohio. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Eotany. 



Mr. Editor: — As the time ofmoft interest to 

 beekeepers is near at hand — the time of blooms 

 and honey gathering — will you permit me to 

 make a suggestion through the pages of your 

 valuable Journal. 



It is a matter of the highest interest to those 

 who would have an intelligent understanding of 

 the capabilities of our whole country for the 

 production of honey, to know what flowers of 

 value for bee-pasturage grow in the different 

 parts of the country, when, and how long they 

 bloom, and what is their comparative value. I 

 wish therefore to suggest to young readers, that 

 they observe and make a note of — 



1. The plants which furnish bee-pasturage — 

 giving their botanical nameswheneverpossible. 



2. The period of flowering, and the length of 

 time they are in bloom. 



3. The comparative quantity and quality of 

 the honey furnished by different plants. 



4. The observations actually made in regard 

 to such plants, as may be cultivated on purpose 

 for honey. 



If persons in all parts of the United States 

 will make accurate observations, and report 

 them through the pages of the Bee Journal, it 

 will not only interest apiarians, but botanists 

 also, and those in general who study the re- 

 sources ot the country. 



I will take my own advice, and in due time 

 present to your readers the results. 



John Husset. 



Glen Dale, Hamilton Co., Ohio. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice's one Blunder of 1868. 



Now, Mr. Editor, and the rest of the know- 

 ing ones, as Mr. Gallup calls them, please don't 

 think, from the above heading, that we call the 

 rest of our work of 1868 perfection. What we 

 mean is, that from our standpoint we see no 

 glaring blunder except the one alluded to — 

 which was as follows : 



On a bright suuny Sunday afternoon in May, 

 1868, (now we always intend to respect the 

 Sabbath, but it seems our bees do not; and if 

 they want to swarm, or any of the young 

 queens are ready to hatch, they do not seem to 

 care a cent what calender clocks and theolo- 

 gians have to say about proper days for labor 

 or rest, &c ; but rather the contrary, as though 

 they thought it an excellent opportunity to 

 "show off" their utter disregard for the fixed 

 rules and careful bringing up we have been at 

 so much pains to give them), but to return to 

 that sunny Sunday afternoon, if we can find it, 

 after so long a ramble. We were passing a 

 pleasant hour, reading a chapter in " Dickens" 

 to a friend, when it struck us that we had 

 started some queen cells, or rather had taken 

 the proper steps to induce a colony of bees to 

 do so, just, nine days before, intending to re- 

 move them on the morrow ; and fearing thai 

 some precocious aspirant to royalty might take 

 a fancy to come out before the usual time because 

 it was Sunday, we decided upon an examina- 

 tion and invited our friend, who "knew bees 

 some," to witness the operation. 



Sure enough, a young queen was just gnaw- 

 ing a hole into the outer and wicked world ; 

 and to prevent her from having the sin of mur- 

 der on her conscience at such an early age, we 

 thought we were excusable in removing temp- 

 tation from her path, even if it was Sunday. 

 Accordingly we removed frames with the ad- 

 hering bees from several strong hives, and 

 inserted the surplus queen cells, being careful 

 as usual to see that we removed no old queen. 

 But as the case Avas urgent, we must confess 

 we ran our eyes over the frames more hurriedly 

 than usual. 



After getting everything all right, as we 

 thought, we resumed our reading till evening, 

 when we examined our <mall colonies to see 

 how many queens were hatched. The one 

 mentioned was out; and another, where we had 

 given only a single frame, had the cell open, 

 and in looking carefully we found a fine large 

 queen— a remarkably fine large queen. But, 

 alas, she had only one wing, and we were about 

 to pinch her as useless, when our friend desired 

 to try her first and see whether she would not 

 lay eggs, as Mrs. Tupper had had one that did 

 so under similar circumstances. Although we 

 had little faith in such an experiment, we finally 

 put her in a cage and laid her at the honey- 

 board of another hive, giving the nucleus an- 

 other cell. She remained there some weeks, 

 was fed by the bees, and seemed lively, when 

 the thought struck us of putting her with 

 nuclei-raising queens, to prevent them building- 

 drone comb. This plan succeeded so well that 



