1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



45 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Washington, August, 1870. 



11^" Several communicatious alreadj' in type are un- 

 avoidably crowded out ; and others were received too 

 late for this number of the Journal. 



' The article on controlling the fertilization of 

 the queen bee, translated for this number of the 

 Journal, will of course arrest the attention of those 

 engaged in breeding queens. The process is claimed 

 to be reliable, and when properly employed always 

 successful. We trust it may be promptly tested in 

 various quarters, and the result of the experiments 

 communicated for publication. 



To make the cylindrical queen cage required, take 

 a piece of board three-sixteenths of an inch thick and 

 with a brace bit, cut out a circular disc one and three- 

 quarter inch in diameter. Now take a piece of wire 

 gauze one and a half inches broad and six inches long, 

 pass it around the periphery of the disc and fasten it 

 thereto with a small tack driven into its edge through 

 the overlapping portion of the gauze, and also at 

 t rce more equidistant points on the pcri])hery. 

 Then, gently compressing the thus formed cylinder 

 between thumb and finger, so as to diminish its 

 diameter slightly at the open end, secure it by passing 

 a piece of wire through the overlap and twisting 

 the ends togethm-. This completes the cage which is 

 substantially the same as the Kleine queen cage, now 

 generally used in Germany for confiuiug queens on 

 the comb. 



[J^^ We really cannot consent to devote more of 

 our space to the controversy which sprung up in our 

 columns between two of our bee-keeping friends. 

 Both have repeatedly had their say, and a continua- 

 tion of statement and counter-statement would be 

 alike uninteresting and unprofitable. The whole 

 trouble obviously grew out of the mistake of an offi- 

 cial, with which neither party had any concern oi- 

 responsibility. We think if they w-illgood-humoredly 

 review the case they will become satisfied that 

 enough, and more than enough, has already been 

 said. Mistakes and misuuderstandiugs should not 

 be allowed to ijroduee ill-feelings and estrangement. 



Whence Came our Koiiey Bees? 



That our common honey btes are of foreign origin 

 is universally admitted ; but it is still a matter of 

 dispute whence they came, or when tliey were intro- 

 duced ; though it is generally supposed that they 

 were brought from England. Those in the Eastern 

 States may liave been thence derived ; but we doubt 

 whether those in the Middle States came from the 

 same quarter. 



In a pamphlet republished in the " Historical Mag- 



azine," Vol. VI., September, 1863, page 268, entitkd 

 " Good Okder Established " in Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey, in America : by Thomas Budd, origin- 

 ally printed in the year 1685, occurs the following 

 passage, referring to those then colonies : 



" Bees are found by the experience of several per- 

 son that keep them, to thrive very well." 



Hence it is obvious that bees must have been 

 kept in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, long enough 

 prior to the close of 168.5, to make the term "expe- 

 rience" applicable to those who kept them. It is 

 also well-known that bees were abundant, even in 

 the forests of Pennsylvania, while they were yet 

 comparatively rare in New-England, Avhere they 

 were introduced from "the mother country," in 

 1680. They must thus have been derived from a dis- 

 tinct importation, if not from a different stock. We 

 incline to the latter conjecture, and for tliis reason : 

 We know that the bees in the Middle States were free 

 from the ravages of the bee moth till about the year 

 1805, and that this pest came thither from New-Eng- 

 land. How long the insect existed there, before it 

 became so devastating as to attract the notice of bee- 

 keepers, is not known ; but its pirogress south and 

 west is traceable, and establishes the fact that it was 

 a stranger south of the Hudson. Though not noticed 

 early, it was doubtless imported with tlie first bees 

 carried to New-England, for it is a fact that importa- 

 tions of Italian bees, whether made from Italy direct, 

 or from Germany, always bring with them the moth 

 or the miller, or both. This we believe is invariably 

 the case. We are credibly informed that the trunk 

 and wardrobe of Herman, who accompanied the stocks 

 imported by Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, were thus in- 

 fected ; and observation shows that it is so common 

 an occurrence that it may be regarded as invariably 

 true. It follows, we conceive, that the bees of Penn- 

 sylvania and the Middle States came from a country 

 where the bee-moth did not exist. That country, and 

 the only country in Europe thus free and having early 

 communication with the New World, is Sweden ; and 

 the Swedes and Finns had settlements in Pennsylva- 

 vania and Delaware as early as 1637. Mead was their 

 favorite beverage ; and they would certainly be likely 

 to carry with them in their emigration, the means 

 of supplying themselves with it, and would thus in- 

 troduce a bee not troaphd wilh the moth. They could 

 do this, and emigrants from no other country could ; 

 lor the bee-moth was not known in Sweden till within 

 the last twenty years — the desire to possess the 

 Italian bee having carried that baneful pest tliither 

 also. 



Notice to Bee-Keepers. 



The time for holding the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention at Indianapolis, Ind., has been changed 

 from August 10th and 11th to December 31st and 

 33d, 1870. A. F. Moon, 



Frcsiderd Jlichvjan Bee-Keejiem' Association. 



