THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



nine days; but the instances above given are 

 sufficient to show that there are such cases. 



A queen dying by accident and a queeu dying 

 from old age aretwo different things altogether. 

 The three queens I obtained from Mr. Cary 

 were put in hives by themselves, and one of 

 them was set on the back side of the house. 

 That one I never showed to visitors, and did 

 not open the hive at all till I discovered that 

 there was something wrong, and tben only oc- 

 casionally. The other two I used to show visi- 

 tors, and they are alive yet. The one that died 

 commenced failing in the same manner that an 

 old queen does, and for two weeks towards the 

 last part other eggs produced drones in worker 

 cells. Now, if a queen fails in that way, I call 

 it old age, whether at the age of three months 

 or three years. "When Hose a queen by accident 

 I am very apt to know it. 



E. Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Removing Bees. 



Qtjetust, on page 186, April number of the 

 Bee Journal, inquires what course I would 

 pursue in certain cases, to cause bees to remain 

 where placed. 



When bees are drummed out of a hive with 

 their queen, and allowed to cluster in a box, 

 either with their own queen or a strange queen 

 in a cage, for forty or fifty minutes, and then 

 deprived of the queen and allowed to discover 

 their loss, they can be put anywhere, either with 

 a strange queen or a queen cell, or with eggs and 

 larva? from which to rear a queen — provided 

 this be done at about swarming time, when the 

 bees are gathering honey abundantly and hatch- 

 ing brood. 



A novice in the business may fail a great 

 many times. But "don't give up the ship." I 

 can aud do succeed every time ; but I used to 

 make a great many failures when I began. I 

 learned the process from Mr. Wellhuysen. 



Mr. F. H. Miner has knocked us upward ven- 

 tilation men all flat on our backs. But, Mr. 

 Editor, just tell him from me that Gallup will be 

 after him in clue time, with a nut for him to 

 crack. That knock-down argument is not con- 

 clusive in my opinion. 



E. Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



All the divisions of natural science have a 

 mutual and convertible bearing, and closely in- 

 terlink in their relations. Thus insects denote 

 botaii3\ which further indicates the climate or 

 elevation and soil; and the superficial soil will 

 point geological conclusions to subsoil and sub- 

 structure. 



One great natural science well mastered 

 gives the key to the great storehouse of na- 

 ture's riches, and yields a harvest of many dif- 

 ferent crops. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Experience of a Beginner 



Mr. Editor :— Permit me, in the beginning 

 of this my first epistle, to express my high ap- 

 preciation of the American Bee Journal. In 

 proof of which I may say that my first duty up- 

 on receiving a copy of it is to read it through 

 from beginning to end. In it I find many as- 

 sertions fully confirmed by my experience ; 

 many others which I take as valuable sugges- 

 tions; and, lastly, some which appear to me to 

 be opposed to both reason and experience. I 

 will relate to you in few words, my experience 

 aud practice in beekeeping ; and from it you 

 will be able to gather the main points of agree- 

 ment or difference between my opinions and 

 those of your other correspondents. 



In the year 180-i I imported the first hive of 

 bees that had ever been in Cape Breton, and as 

 the person from whom I ordered it represented 

 it to be in a Langstroth hive, I obtained before- 

 hand and studied that gentleman's invaluable 

 work on the " Hive and Honey Bee." I also 

 made a hive in accordance with Langstroth's di- 

 rections No. 2, with observing glass and box 

 cover. When my imported hive arrived I looked 

 in vain for any resemblance between it and the 

 one that I had made. It was a little broader, 

 a little deeper, and a littl* shorter ; and as to 

 workmanship, could have been made in as many 

 hours as I took days. Then, eight of the frames 

 had slipped together at one end when the bees 

 were put in, and the honey-board had evident- 

 ly never been off since. It was a hard looking 

 case; but, nevertheless, I took from it the next 

 season a strong swarm and about seventy 

 pounds of honey. 



Encouraged by my success, I sent away in 

 the fall of 1865, and imported seventy-five 

 more hives, expecting of course to make 

 as much from each one as I had from the 

 first. They were recommended to me as being 

 good stocks, some in box and some in Lang- 

 stroth hives; and, on the strength of that re- 

 commendation, I took them without personal 

 inspection. Soon after their arrival I found 

 that the sellers had acted upon the saying — " I 

 was a stranger (to the business) and they took 

 me in !" In some of the hives the bees, combs, 

 and honey weighed less than ten pouuds. In 

 the spring these of course were "non est;" but 

 still I had about forty seven hives left, and 

 foudly imagined that my troubles were pretty 

 well over— little dreaming that they had only 

 just commenced. More than half the hives 

 were frame hives, but movable frames they were 

 not, nor ever were intended to be. Many of 

 them had the frames firmly nailed in, and in 

 others the combs were built directly across. 

 More than this - the frames of no one hive 

 would fit any other, even if they could have 

 been got out. The maker of both them and 

 the box hives must have thought that variety is 

 the chief charm of life. 1 decided immedi- 

 ately that that style of business would never 

 suit me. My comb frames must be movable and 

 uniform. "With that object I made forty-seven 



