164 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan., 



lific queen I have ever had that lived as long as 

 she has, I think that the chilling she received 

 in her transit from Hamilton, Tils., to Winthi'op, 

 had a great deal to do with her extreme unpro- 

 lificness, in the vpay Mr. Langstroth mentions in 

 his work. Her queens — "artificial ones " — were 

 all duplicates of herself, for size and color. As 

 for fertility, none went into brooding early 

 enough to pass judgment thereon, except that 

 they were not as forward as her natural ones, 

 for long before my natural queens reached the 

 age at which the artificial one commenced lay- 

 ing, tjiey had filled up their hives with brood. 



The black queen, that I removed from the 

 swarm under the swarming impulse, I introduced 

 to a medium swarm without a queen. I gave 

 them three frames of brood and two of honey, 

 placing the two with honey one at each side of 

 the three with brood, and filling up the sides 

 with five empty frames. Thirteen days after 

 introduction she led out her swarm. So you see 

 that the five weeks' swarming fever was not to 

 be broken up by the change. I destroyed the 

 queen cells at her introduction, and there was 

 no vincapped brood in the hive at the time. Two 

 days after her introduction I found her eggs in 

 the cells ; and the hive having only three frames 

 for brood and five empty frames, I did not look 

 for a swarm. The swarming was a surprise to 

 me. As one man in the illustrated Bee Journal 

 has gone so far as to inform us that the queen 

 never lays an egg in a queen cell, and that the 

 bees never carry the eggs to them, but that the 

 bees altoays make a queen cell over worker brood 

 — if he will next spring follow my directions, as 

 given in the July number of the American Bee 

 Journal, and examine the combs three times a 

 day, he will see tlie queen cells commenced and 

 in all stages, until the eggs are in them. Then 

 he can watch their development until they are 

 capped ; and he will then see that a swarm un- 

 der the swarming impulse always commence 

 their cells several days before the eggs are in 

 them. Only bees forcibly deprived of their 

 queen, or bees preparing to supersede an old 

 queen, transform worker cells to queen cells. 



As I have not come before the bee-keeping 

 community with a secret process for i-aising bet- 

 ter queens than other breeders can, and am not 

 prepared to go into the queen-breeding business 

 this next season, bee-keepers who still think 

 that I may be mistaken in the result of my ex- 

 periments need not take it on faith, but can 

 verify all for themselves, and get queens that 

 are worth several times as much as any forced 

 one they ever raised, and at less expense and 

 witli a great deal less trouble. Hoping that 

 some reliable breeder will conclude to fill a de- 

 mand already made for queens by this process, 

 I remain yours, as ever, John M. Price. 



Buffalo Qrove, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Supplement to Alley's Offer. 



(See Dec. No. page 137.) 



Never, under a??,_y circumstances, take so much 

 comb and brood from your stock hives, as se- 

 riously to reduce their numbers. This should 

 be to the apiarian as ' ' the law of the IMedes 

 and Persians, which alterQ.th not. " — Langstroth. 



I will send by mail a choice Italian Queen to 

 each of those persons sending in the fourth, fifth 

 and sixth largest lists of new yearly subscribers 

 to the American Bee Journal. 



To each of the first twenty persons who for- 

 ward their subscriptions to me, I will send one 

 choice Italian queen for one dollar. 



All over twenty and up to one hundred, may 

 each have one queen for two dollars. 



This ofter is limited to new yearly subscribers 

 and February 1, 1870. Two subscribers at six 

 months each, will be reckoned as one yearly 

 subscriber. 



Here is a chance to get the Journal at cost, 

 and queens at greatly reduced prices. 



This off"er is made to aid the circulation of the 

 American Bee Journal, and not from any lack 

 of customers, as I have never been able to 

 supply the demand, and during the past season 

 could not send one-third of those desired from 

 my apiary. Right here let me say a word on 

 sending queens. Out of over one hundred sent 

 by mail the past summer, only two or three sent 

 this side of the Mississippi were reported weak 

 on arrival, and none dead. Of five sent to a 

 distant point, in Missoiiri, one was weak and 

 soon died, and two were dead on arrival. They 

 were over a week on the way. I continued to 

 send by mail until after the middle of October, 

 and the last seemed to go as safely as any. I 

 think, with due care, they may be sent as early 

 and as long as queens can be raised. The feed 

 suijplied is only the best of honey in a inece of 

 sponge ; and in cool weather an extra covering 

 is placed on the box. 



J. L. Hubbard. 



Bricksburg, If. /., Dec. 7, 1870. 



[For the American Boe Journal,] 



A Puzzle for young Bee-keepers. 



A honey bee came to visit her humble bee 

 cousin, one morning, as the young bees, just 

 emerged from their cells, were crawling about 

 rather helplessly. 



"Sorry," said the bustling humbler,, "that I 

 can hardly find room for you to get a seat. 

 Have you as large and bustling a family at 

 home?"" 



"Ha, ha," replied the bee, counting the 

 wriggling throng, "let me see, the one- third 

 of our number is just as many thousands as you 

 have individuals here ; and the one-fourth of 

 your number is exactly the twelve-thousandth 

 part of ours." 



Of how many was each family composed ? 



Fucus. 



