1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



69 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Washington, Sept., 1870. 



The remarks on queen raising, by the Rev. Mr. 

 Briggs, in our last issue, appear to be considered by 

 some as aimed personally at Mr. Alley, of Wenbam, 

 Mass. We did not so regard them. Mr. Briggs' 

 object seemed to us to be very different, and one in 

 which queen breeders in general have quite as much 

 interest as queen purchasers. Bee breeding, as a 

 science, is yet in its infancy — not less so in Europe 

 than here ; but is evidently engasiing the attention Of 

 the best and most experienced apiarians, and has 

 already led to some highly interesting discussions in 

 the German Journals and Conventions. Of these 

 we shall, in due season, take proper notice — we give, 

 in this number of the Journal, several communications 

 referring to Mr. Briggs' article, and shall probably 

 have one from him in explanation. 



H^ The i\Iareh nrrmber of the American Bee 

 Journal contained a call for a meeting of the Michi- 

 gan Bee-keepers' Association, to be held at Lansing, 

 on the 23d and 2ith of that month. — Bee-keepers 

 from other States and the British Provinces were in- 

 vited to attend that meeting, as it was proposed then 

 to make arrangements for holding a National Bee- 

 KEEPEHS' Convention. The Association met ac- 

 cordingly, and it was resolved to hold a National 

 Convev.tion at Indianapolis, (Ind.) on the 11th and 

 12th instant, but the time was subsequently changed 

 to the 21st and 22d of December next, as better suiting 

 the convenience of bee-keepers. The jilace designa- 

 ted seems now, however, for some reason, to have 

 become objectionable to certain parties who probably 

 have "axes to grind." They are now laboring hard 

 to effect a change ; but we presume the effort will 

 fail, as we are assured from various quarters thaj the 

 Convention will be held at Indianapolis. 



the claim to a patent is based ; but unfortunately, no 

 modification or combination can ever enable him 

 who employs this contrivance to circumvent the 

 moths thereby. 



A patent has recently been granted for a method 

 of excluding bee-moths from hives by means of a 

 long lever operated by a hen-roost. The inventor 

 claims " a combination of a vibrating roost or perch 

 for fowls with the slides or doors of one or more bee 

 hives, when so constructed and arranged that the 

 weight of the fowls upon the roost shall close the 

 hives, and their removal from the roost shall open the 

 doors." How this ingenious contrivance came to 

 be patented at this late day, we do not know ; but 

 certainly it Is neither, "new" nor "useful." The 

 same thing was tried and abandoned many years ago, 

 as will be seen by reference to Langstroth's " Hive and 

 Honey i>ee," page 263, first edition. Possibly there 

 is some new " modification " or some novel " combi- 

 nation " of material (chickens included), on which 



When a colony in an apiary is found to be queen- 

 less, and has been so till all the brood has matured, 

 it will generally be found difficult to get the bees to 

 raise a queen from brood inserted, or even to accept 

 and cherish a sealed queen cell. Repeated trials are 

 usually necessary, and when successful the popula- 

 tion has generally so dwindled, before the new gene- 

 ration attains the working age, that the colony is of 

 little value, especially late in the season. The better 

 mode is to introduce at once a fertile prolific queen 

 from some populous colony, and let the latter do the 

 queen raising; unless we have fertile queens in re- 

 serve in nuclei. With the transferred queen, several 

 combs of brood taken from other strong colonies, 

 should, if possible, be given to the one that has been 

 queenless. The desired object will thus be more 

 speedily attained, and frequently with benefit to the 

 colonies drawn on. 



The European Sparrow. 



"A large number of German sparrows, have been 

 imported and placed in the vineyards in the vicinity 

 of Davenport, Iowa." So the newspapers inform us 

 — the object, we presume, being the destruction of 

 caterpillars. We fear, however, that the gi-ape grow- 

 ers there have made a capital mistake, and are likely 

 to have an easy time annually hereafter, when gather- 

 ing the vintage. 



It has been customary to charge the bees with 

 damaging the grape crop, but it appears that in 

 Germany this sparrow is the real offender. The Rev. 

 Mr. Stern, an aged and well known bee-keeper, re- 

 siding at Wesseuburg in Lower Austria, writing to 

 the Bienenzeitung about this alleged malfeasance of 

 the bees, says — " I have lived more than thirty years 

 in a village of three thousand inhabitants, most of 

 whom derive their support from grape culture^ 

 Besides their vineyards, they have numerous trellises 

 of vines at their houses, and there are several apia- 

 ries in the village. I have myself an arbor of vines, 

 180 feet in hngth, within twenty-five feet of my 

 apiary. Now it has happened for many years that I 

 did not get a single bunch of grapes, undamaged, 

 from any vine in this arbor, and the other grape- 

 growers in my neighborhood fared no betler. Berries 

 torn open were annually to be seen, and I have seen 

 bees on suvh berries often — not indeed by ' myriads ' 

 nor yet by tliousands, or hundreds, nor even by fifties, 

 but only liere and there a solitary one quietly sipping 

 of the extruding juice. I have killed hundreds of 

 hornets in the act of tearing open the berries, and 

 thousands of wasps busy at the same work ; but 1 

 have tiever i-een abee no engaged. But, wliat flies and 

 bees are wholly incapable of doing, and what wasps and 



