20S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



pounds of flour; hut I believe that one pound 

 would be more than sufficient. 5. Yes, for then 

 I lie}' find bee-bread in nature, and then, and 

 then alone, do they breed rapidly. This is an 

 indisputable fact. 6. The more brood they 

 have, the more honey they use. 



Question No. 4. Novice says that his low, 

 broad, flat hives have given him, the past two 

 years, more honey and have been stronger in 

 winter stores, than the tall, narrow hives. 

 "Why this is so, he cannot explain. 



Answer. Low, broad hives give generally 

 more honey, than tall, narrow ones. In low, 

 broad hives breeding never gets to such an ex- 

 tent as in high, narroio ones ; consequently, the 

 one kind have more honey, and the other more 

 bees. For breeding, broad, low hives are not to 

 be recommended. The rational beekeeper will 

 always use hives from nine to ten inches broad, 

 and from sixteen 1o eighteen inches high. A 

 little more or less is of small consequence. 



Question No. 5. Mr. Bingham writes about 

 preparing hives for winter, and comments on 

 Langstroth's statement that he found frost on 

 the top of a board placed above six thicknesses 

 of carpet, and then assumes that no moisture 

 can pass through a tight board placed over a 

 colony of bees. Is that sound philosophy ? Is 

 not lumber so porous that heat can drive mois- 

 ture through it ? 



Answer. If the board is but half an inch 

 thick, no moisture will pass through it. But it 

 must lie tightly, and be well cemented on all 

 sides, or the warm air charged with vapor will 

 pass through the crevices, and then the bees 

 will suffer for want of water, and perish. 



Question No. G. On page 110, I rind that the 

 darker the hive, the more contented are the 

 "bees. Now, would you advise me to paint my 

 hive black? 



Answer. Bees only like darkness within the 

 hive ; Avhereas they dislike the dark color out of 

 it. If you would paint your hive black, bees 

 would hesitate long before entering it. To 

 paint it black inside would be useless, as every 

 hive should be so constructed that liffht is only 

 admissable through the entrance. If bees are 

 generally treated" by a person wearing light- 

 colored clothes, they will readily attack and sting 

 a person dressed in black who presents himself 

 before their hive. 



Question No. 7. On page 114, 1 observe that 

 young swarms build worker combs exclusively 

 at first. No exception to this rule, I suppose. 

 Now, if a young swarm has a fertile queen, and 

 she fills a small comb with eggs during the first 

 forty-eight hours after being hived, and then 

 dies from disease or accident, would the bees 

 make much worker comb while they are rearing 

 a new queen ? Or would the bees decamp ? 



Answer. At first, that is about the first eight 

 or ten days after being hived, every swarm 

 builds worker comb exclusively. If the fertile 

 queen is lost or killed by some accident during 

 the first forty-eight hours after being hived and 

 having begun to fill a comb with eggs, the bees 

 will not decamp, but will lear a new queen. 

 And until this new queen is fertile, they con- 

 tinue to build in some measure ; but with very 

 lare exceptions, they build drone comb only. 



Having thus answered Querist's questions, I 

 beg leave to add that, if he is able to read Ger- 

 man, it would be well for him to order, through 

 the importers, my husband's great work — 

 "Die Biene und ihre Zucht mit beweglichen 

 Waben, in Oegenden ohne Spatsommertracht, 

 von August Baron von Berlepsch, lste Auflage, 

 Mannheim 18G9, I Schneider, Preis 4 Thaler." 

 It would be exceedingly useful to him, and 

 not only answer all his queries, but teach him 

 many valuable things besides. I do not say 

 this because the book was written by my hus- 

 band, but because it is really acknowledged to 

 be the best bee-book in Germany ; and that the 

 Germans do know something about bee-culture, 

 and are thorough in everything they cling to is 

 known as well, and conceded. If you devote a 

 lifetime to some branch of knowledge, you are 

 pretty sure to understand it. 



When my husband was yet quite a } r oung 

 child, he used to tease his nurse by running to 

 a neighboring apiary and asking her to get 

 some honey. On his seventh birth-day, his 

 father took'the boy's hand and conducted him 

 to the garden, where was placed a little bee- 

 stand and a hive, v hich his father had bought 

 for him, and said to him — "That's your birth- 

 day present !" Near the hive stood, hat in 

 hand, Jacob Schulze, a simple peasant, but a 

 clever beekeeper. Thenceforward he was my 

 husband's teacher and bee-friend. From the 

 28th of June, 1822, to the 12th of December, 

 1854, when he died, that man was always hon- 

 ored and befriended by my husband; for though 

 a peasant by birth, he was truly a gentleman in. 

 heart and character. 



From 1822 to 1869, my husband loved and 

 tended his little winged favorites, and the ex- 

 perience of forty-seven years is treasured up in 

 the book above-named." It contains not only 

 his own rich knowledge of bee-life and bee- 

 keeping, but also that of other celebrated bee 

 cultivators ; and is a perfect treasure for every 

 bee-friend. I wish it were translated into Eug- 

 lish, for it would be the very thing for the good 

 practical sense of the Americans. 



I do love America : 



" Long may her Eagle soar 

 Proudly from shore to shore, 

 From sea to sea !" 



Lina, Baroness of Berlepsch. 

 Coburg, Saxony, March 3, 1869. 



[For tho American Bee Journal.] 



The Last Season not all a Failure. 



The past season has been a Very poor one for 

 bees, in this section; yet, I know of one man 

 who has had good success. He lives about six- 

 teen miles from me. He started with twenty- 

 nine swarms, and increased them to sixty-four, 

 mostly by artificial swarming. He got about 

 two thousand pounds of surplus honey, and 

 raised fifteen Italian queens to sell ; besides 

 Italianizing some of his old stock. 



Wji. J. Merrill. 



Pleasant Brook, N. Y., April 2, 1S69. 



