210 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



[March, 



stocks of the common bee. They are in my cel- 

 lar. I put a ventilator both in the north and in 

 the south side of the cellar, made by nailing 

 together four pieces of board, making an open- 

 ing of al'out two inches each. This I close when 

 the weather is cold. The bees are in four difler- 

 ent kinds of hives. And this brings me to the 

 very thing that puzzles me. I find most of your 

 correspondents difier in some resjjccts, so that a 

 bee-keeper may take what seems to him to be 

 the best, and go ahead making experiments, and 

 if he does not succeed try some other plan ; and 

 thus test several plans in one season. This does 

 well enough, where no patent interferes. But 

 when we conre to the hive question, we tind 

 people differ as much as in other things. Mr. 

 Thomas thinks his hive is the best in the world ; 

 Mr. Alley knows his is the only one containing 

 all the requisites of a good hive ; Mr. Langstroth 

 still maintains that he has the very best. Some 

 think the Beebe hive is just what suits them ; 

 and others, with equal zeal, will contend for the 

 Price hive ; and so on to the end of the catalogue. 

 Every one is affirmed to be the best by its special 

 advocates. Now, I always tliought it was qood, 

 BETTER, BEST! But whose is best? That's 

 the question, at least for a beginner. Tliat is 

 what I am after. Who will decide this matter? 

 I should be willing to leave it to the editor ; but 

 it is not his province to be umpire ; but to hold 

 an impartial scale between the contestants, what- 

 ever his private judgment may be. Tiien how 

 shall I settle it ? It will not do to buy a right 

 from every patentee, and make a few hives of 

 each kind to test them ; for that would require a 

 small fortune, or at least much beyond the profit 

 of the bees ; and I should grow some grayer than 

 I now am before a satisfactory decision could be 

 reached. So I say, down with the patent right 

 business ! Thousands of money worse than 

 thrown away, because paid in the majority of 

 cases to miserable lying whelps who are too lazy 

 to get a living by work. I do not speak of the 

 inventor. All praise to the man of genius. But 

 let the Government pay them a suitable remu- 

 neration, and then let every one experiment on 

 that which looks most sensible and promising. 

 Now who will tell me what hive to use ? If I 

 could find one not patented, containing all the 

 requisites of a good liive — cheapness and all, I 

 would be pretty sure to try it. 



Will some one tell me how much Alsike clover 

 will sow an acre? Will it pay to raise pasture- 

 age for bees, in a timbered country, where there 

 is plenty of basswood, elm, and hard maple? 



Bvxt now I must certainly ask to be excused, 

 for I have used more ink and paper than I at 

 first designed. 



H. F. Phelps. 



Pine Island, Minn, 



The pollen gathered by the bees is of various 

 colors, but the combs they construct are always 

 of one color ; and when newly made are pure 

 white. 



Bees extract sweets even from the most poison- 

 ous plants. 



[For the Americaa Bee .luurnal.] 



Bees and Grapes. 



I wish to know through the Journal, if bees 

 have troubled grapes in any other locality, the 

 past season. I think in this place nearly one- 

 half the crop was destroyed by them. It was 

 very dry when grapes began to ripen, and a 

 shower of rain cracked open a great many of 

 them, which gave the bees a taste ; and as there 

 was nothing else for them to work on, they 

 nearly ruined the crop. I did not think they 

 would touch the whole ones ; but after once get- 

 ting a taste, nothing would stop them. A good 

 whole sound bunch could scarcely be found. 

 Concord grapes were eaten the most. At first it 

 was laid to the Italian bees, but in some jDlaces 

 I noticed more black ones than Italians. 



J. L. Peabody. 



[For the Amcvican Bee Joarual,] 



Hivins; Bees. 



Virden, 111. 



Mr. Editor : — I read your Journal with much 

 pleasure, and feel myself much benetited by it. 

 I will say something about hiving bees, by a be- 

 ginner. I was first called out to hive a very 

 large swarm, and was rather timid in the oper- 

 ation. 1 thought I should without doubt be 

 stung to death ; however, I mustered up courage, 

 took my hive, and went to work, I placed tlie 

 hive directly under the cluster, and caught hold 

 of the limb, and gave it a jerk. Down came the 

 bees in a heap. I then took a stick and com- 

 menced trying to make them go in the hive ; but 

 the bees got too many for me, and I had to re- 

 treat in good order, "'such order as it was." I 

 thought it was nothing to hive a swarm of bees ; 

 yet I was a little backward about it anyway. 

 But I have now learned liow to handle bees, 

 since I commenced reading the Journal. Some 

 talk about woman's rights, etc.; you talk, 

 thought I, I have had my rights and more than 

 them. 



A CURIOUS QUEEN BEE. 



Can any one inform me what kind of queen this 

 is? I will describe her. One evening, as I sat 

 watching my bees, I saw a bee fly off that looked 

 very much like a queen. In a few minutes it 

 came back ; I caught it and examined it ; it 

 proved to be to all ai)pearance a queen, in shape, 

 color, &c. It was like all other queens in shape, 

 but it had the marks of a humble-bee. It was 

 no larger than any other queen, but it was black 

 as a crow and resembled a humble-bee. I let 

 this queen go, and she went into the hive unmo- 

 lested. Two days later, I saw two more in the 

 same hive. 1 leave this for Mr. Gallup to un- 

 ravel, for I think he will accommodate the la- 

 dies. "Let me hear from you my friends !" 



St. Louis, Mo. 



A Beginner. 



