186 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



own raising the past season than any person in 

 the United States. I mention this to sIioav that 

 he has a system of practice that is successful. 



M, Quiney. 

 St. Johnsville, N. Y. 



[For the American Bee Journal .] 



Dividing Bees. 



Friend Fairbanks has a few remarks on page 

 HGof the Journal, on dividing bees, and gives 

 the practice of Mr. Wedge. 



Mr. Wedge's practice, if written out in de- 

 tail, would be successful even in the hands of a 

 novice, and does away with the finding of the 

 queen. The main objection, as presented, is 

 that the mode is too slow and too complicated. 

 We want a plan that is more simple still. 



I hope Mr. Fairbanks and others will analyze 

 this subject thoroughly, so as to simplify our 

 manipulations in dividing bees, as much as 

 possible. Many of us are not so far advanced 

 that we can learn nothing more by careful and 

 well digested thought in this department of bee 

 culture. 



By a close analysis of my system of dividing 

 bees, I find that in no case do I need to find the 

 queen. This is quite an important discov« ry, 

 as it does away with that one "exception." 

 My system enables mc to divide bees very rapid- 

 ly, and it would not be boasting to say that, by 

 it, I can easily divide two colonies in the same 

 time and with less trouble than one by the mode 

 given by Mr. Fairbanks. 



M. M. Baldridge. 



St. Charles, Ills. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Queries. 



What is the best comb-guide, and how best 

 made ? 



What kind of guide does Mr. J. M. Price use 

 to get such straight combs ? 



In Mr. Gallup's article on the Multiplication 

 of Stocks, (Bee Journal, vol. 4, p. 133,) in 

 in forming the seven new stocks, would he pur- 

 sue the same course to cause the bees to remain 

 that he did with the first swarm made? 



Canada. Querist. 



How the Bees Make Honey. — Were the 

 following, copied from a late English work, but 

 true, what vast quantities of honey might be 

 manufactured by a strong colony ot bees, if a 

 cart-ioad of oatmeal were placed within their 

 reach, and regularly replenished: 



" The pollen or dust of flowers is the sub- 

 stance with which the bee covers itself, and 

 sucks in, afterwards to be deposited in the form 

 of honey, which is the natural secretion of the 

 bee, as milk is of the cow. The bees' deposit in 

 their crop, or honey bag, which is an expansion 

 of the gullet, and from this receptacle they dis- 

 gorge it again when they return to the hive; 

 it being, in the interval, somewhat altered by 

 admixture with the liquids which are secreted 

 in the mouth and crop of the insect." 



[Fortlie American Bee Journal ] 



Queries and Remarks. 



Mr. Editor : — I have carefully read every 

 number of the AmeiScan Bee Journal that 

 has been published. I find many articles con- 

 tained in its pages very amusing, as well as 

 many that are interesting and instructive. Now 

 I wish to ask you and some of your able con- 

 tributors whether it is a fact that queen bees, in 

 their larval state, are fed with food differing in 

 composition from that fed to worker larva? ? 

 Has there ever been a careful analysis made of 

 what is called royal jelly, and of that not quite 

 so royal which is fed to worker larva? ? Is it a 

 fact that queen bees can be produced, under any 

 circumstances, in less than ten days after a 

 queen has been removed from a hive, unless the 

 bees had previously started queen cells, to sup- 

 ply themselves with a young queen ? 



Since the spring of lb60 I make queen raising 

 a special and prominent part of my business, 

 and have never j r et been able to produce a queen 

 in less than ten days, usually in from fourteen 

 to sixteen days, as I almost invariably use new 

 laid eggs for propagating queens. Your con- 

 tributor, Mr. Gallup, gives us through the 

 Journal several instances of queens hatching 

 in seven and eight days from the time the old 

 queens was removed from the hive. Our best 

 American as well as European authors give the 

 time for queens to hatch at eight days after 

 being sealed up. According to my experience 

 they are correct in this statement. 



Friend Gallup also tells us that queens die of 

 old age when only three or four months old. 

 All animated creation is subject to accidents, 

 disease, and death. If a child dies when only 

 a few months old, that does not prove that old 

 age has overtaken it. There are many causes 

 for queen bees dying. I will give you my ex- 

 perience of one cause — which is, injudicious or 

 too frequent handling. The queen will some- 

 times become frightened ; the workers discov- 

 ing her fright and agitation, will seize her by the 

 legs and wings to hold her. While thus held 

 she sometimes commences piping, and the bees 

 will then cluster upon her, and frequently hold 

 her in this situation uutil she dies from suffoca- 

 tion, or is so badly injured that she is thence- 

 forward worthless. If a person di sires to ex- 

 amine or exhibit a queen frequently, it would 

 be well for him to have an observatory hive, 

 with glass sides, to contain only one comb. In 

 this way the queen could be seen at any time, 

 without the risk of losing a valuable one. 



Colerain, Mass. Wm. W. Cary. 



In the East, even in countries producing sugar 

 in abundance, honey is extensively employed 

 for the preservation of fruits, which in their 

 ripe state in those hot climates would rapidly 

 lose their fullness of flavor were they not thus 

 protected — honey there being esteemed superior 

 to sugar in the circumstance of its not crystal- 

 izing by reason of the heat, and also from its 

 applicability to this usg in its natural state. 



The bees are a pacific people that labor for 

 our good ; and in return we should interest 

 ourselves for them. — Wildman. 



