116 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



he Buck-eyed his whole apiary ; and upon inquiry 

 a few days since, he informed nie that he would 

 lose nearly all his bees. The first time he drew 

 out the chamber everything worked fine. The 

 second time it was rather tight and glued up. A 

 month after that he thougb.t it would take a small 

 yoko of steers to pull out the chamber of frames, 

 and during the summer nearly the whole fell a 

 prey to the moth-miller. However, he should not 

 condemn the hive after this slight trial. It has 

 been an unusually poor season, and none but the 

 strongest stocks stored any surplus. 



W. P. Henderson. 

 Murfrecshoro, Penna., Oct. G, 1870. 



[For the AiiiPrican Bee Journal.] 



The Queen ITnrseiy. 



Under the above heading, Mr. Gallup, in the 

 Journal for October, gives his experience with 

 the queen nursery, which, with him, appears to 

 be a perfect success. I wish to give my expe- 

 rience, and ask Mr. Gallup and others why it is 

 so different from his. 



I made fifty cages 1^ X 1| X 13 inches, four 

 sides of very thin wood, and one side covered 

 Avith wire gauze, and the other with a piece of 

 glass slipped in grooves in the two wooden sides, 

 so as to be moved up or down for a door. In 

 each of these cages I i:)laced a piece of honey in 

 comb (unsealed), with tlie cells in natural posi- 

 tion ; and then placed the cages in frames, on 

 slots inserted across them, so as to hold three 

 tiers of six each, or eighteen to a frame. I then 

 took out two centre frames from good, strong 

 hives, and put one of these frames containing 

 cages in their place. Some very strong colonies, 

 some were medium. To some I gave upward 

 ventilation, by leaving off" the honey boxes and 

 raising the cap. On others I left the honey 

 boxes. I then awaited the result. Some queens 

 hatched in fourteen days from starting the cell ; 

 some in sixteen days; two or Ihree in twenty- 

 four days ; and some never hatched. 



Many of the young queens died in the cages 

 in from twelve to twenty-four hours after 

 hatching ; very few lived to be five days old — 

 the time given by many writers for them to mate 

 with the drones ; only six or seven ovit of about 

 one hundred lived two weeks. The queens, 

 when first liatched, were put in fertilizing cages 

 such as described by N. C. Mitchell, but never 

 were fertilized. 



Now Mr. Editor, will Mr. Gallup or some one 

 else tell me why my experience differs so widely 

 from that of Mr. G. ? 



Sister cells, cut from the same comb as some 

 of those that were put in the cages, hatched in 

 from fourteen to sixteen days, were duly fertil- 

 ized, and are now alive and well. Hence it 

 could not be any defect in the stocks they were 

 raised from. In some of the cages, I put two 

 or three workers, to feed the young queens ; but 

 still the latter would die, and leave the workers 

 to eat the honey left in the cages. 



If queens require any other food than honey, 

 why did not the bees give it to them through the 



wire gauze on which they clustered in great 

 numbers? Some of the cages were put in colo- 

 nies that had fertile queens at liberty, but most 

 of them were put in queenless hives. 



The cells were mostly put in on the ninth day 

 from starting the cell. 



I shall be pleased to see replies to this in the 

 next number of American Bee Journal. 



H. Nesbit. 



Cyntldana, Ky. 



[For The American Bee Journal.] 



Do the Eight! 



Friend Bickford, I wish to shake your honest 

 fist! 



Your matter is sound, your argument just ! ! 



To render substantial aid to our "venerable 

 Tutor" is an imperative duty. Let us see to it 

 then, at once, and 



DO THE RIGHT ! 



I don't feel at liberty to enlarge on the subject, 

 being "only an Englishman." 



Walter Hewson. 

 Wick7utm-breaux, Kent, England, Sept. 28, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The African Honey Tree. — Inquiry. 



In the ''Poultry Bulletin,'' J. M. Wade, of 

 Philadelphia, writes — "A man, I can hardly say 

 gentleman, canre into the store yesterday, with 

 seventy-one humming birds, which he had shot 

 the day before in his own yard. He said some 

 years ago he brought a honey tree from Africa, 

 and thousands (»f humming birds would come to 

 it in one day. Where did so many come from ?" 



As it may be in the interest of bee culture 

 to know what can be leai-ned about the honey tree 

 of Africa, will some one who is informed give 

 the readers of the Ajierican Bee Journal his 

 knowledge of it ? stating its growth, whether bees 

 visit it, its uses, whether it is hardy, length of 

 time in flower, in what month and at what age it 

 blooms, and how it is propagated ? 



E. Parmly. 



New York. 



Early in October, I examine carefully all my 

 hives, to see that they are in suitable condition 

 for wintering. If any need feeding, they are fed 

 at this time. If any have too much vacant 

 room, I partition off that part of the hive which 

 they do not need. I always expect to find some 

 brood in every healthy hive at this time, and if 

 in any I find none, and ascertain that it is queen- 

 less, I either at once break it up, or if it is strong 

 in numbers, supply it with a queen, by adding to 

 it some feebler stock. If bees, however, are 

 properly attended to, at the season when their 

 young queens are impregnated, a queenless 

 colony will seldom be found, in the fall. 



Langstroth. 



