1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



223 



[Fur the Americiin Bee Jourual.] 



Deau Bee JouRrJAL :— If we were not afraid 

 you might tliiiik Novice boisterous, we would 

 like to sail our hat in the air, and hurrah for our 

 success in wintering again, as our sixty-four are 

 all right, safe and sound ; nearly in the same 

 condition as when they were put away last win- 

 ter. Our better half "suggests that if we could 

 manage to sail that same old hat, liaving been 

 pulled dt)wn so often for hybrids, to some inac- 

 cessible point, it would be another decided suc- 

 cess. 



You know. ]\Ir. Editor, our former troubles in 

 wintering, and how it was our main trouble ; 

 but with our bee-house we have now done it 

 twice, without any loss a' all. If those candidates 

 for out-door wintering could go through the ex- 

 amination with us, see the hosts of live bees 

 (the dwindling down after being taken out is all 

 humbug ; ours have been out two weeks now, 

 and are working heavily in flour, and many of 

 them would pass well for June) and brood in 

 all stages, they would conclude that bees could 

 raise all the brood in-doors that can by any pos- 

 sibility be required as early as this date, March 

 9th. We have just got about half through our 

 examination of the hives ; have found one queen- 

 less, or at least no queen turned up, and another 

 with queen but no brood. IJut there were so 

 many bees in both cases, that we gave them 

 brood from other stocks that could well sjiare it, 

 and have no fear that they will not be all right. 



And now we must make a confession that re- 

 minds us painfully of being only a novice yet, 

 after all ; full of blunders as usual, and as it 

 seems we shall always be. We found one queen 

 with wings unclii>t, which, you know, we never 

 allow, and accordingly dipt one, and then set 

 her on another frame from the one we removed 

 her from, remarking, at the time, that she 

 was treated much as if they (cross-hybrids) 

 would sting her ; but, as she was in her own 

 hive, we shut it up and passed on. A few days 

 later we found a dead qneen in front of the same 

 hive, and on opening found queen cells. We 

 have heard of bees stinging their own qneen 

 before, but this is our first case of the kind. 

 A fertile queen (March first) is worth, let us see, 

 100 lbs. of honey at least (the way we manage, 

 remember), and the mortification, etc., 500 lbs. 

 more. But let us try some other more pleasant 

 theme. 



W. D. Wright, Knowersville, N. Y., asks as 

 follows : 



"I have a wooden extractor, and although the 

 wire cloth is but ten meshes to the inch, and the 

 frames 10 by 14^ inches, when turned the wire 

 cloth hollows so much that any new comb flies 

 out of the frame immedi'iti ly, all to jneces. 

 Have you had any such experience, and do you 

 know any remedy?" 



Lots of experience. For remedy, keep the 

 wire cloth up in its place some way. We have 

 used several cross-bars of heavy wire, but a 

 friend at the Convention gave us the best plan 

 we have heard of, viz. : Take a strip of heavy 



tin, half an inch wide, double it lengthways, and 

 fasten it across back of the wire cloth, with the 

 smooth edge against it, which will be stiffer than 

 any wire. 



"2d. How much space do you leave between 

 the upper and lower set of frames, in the two- 

 story hive?" 



Not more than one inch, or the bees will build 

 combs there. We never u.se a honey-board when 

 the bees are at work above. If they raise brood 

 thei-e, all the better ; then we have a side storing 

 hive, ahead of Hazen's, Quinby's, Alley's, or any 

 other, in- our opinion. 



"3d What do you mean, in the last No., by 

 leaving the hive ojjen in summer?" 



Just this : We remove all entrance blocks and 

 back ventilator entirely ; and we think all this 

 room is needed for a thoroughfare for a two- 

 .story hive of Italians. As for too much venti- 

 lation : not at all for a heavy force of bees, and 

 if t^iey are not all such in June, it is your own 

 fault 



"4th. Have you ever sent any honey to New 

 York?" 



No. We sold it all, or nearly all, readily in 

 Cleveland. 



We said, in our opinion, Mr. Langstroth's re- 

 marks were woith more than all else that was 

 said on bees at the Convention. Several persons 

 have asked for an explanation. What we meant 

 is tliis : Mr. Langstroth, as we felt, was the only 

 one almost whose remarks were up to the times. 

 Community is, and always has been, almost 

 twenty-five years behind him. His remarks on 

 the melextractor were given with full conscious- 

 ness of the place it is designed to take in future ; 

 yet none, or very few, bee-keepers seemed to be 

 aware of this ! How many bee-keepers will 

 agree that extracted honey can be produced 

 better for ten cents per pound, than box honey 

 for fifty? Or, if they do, why do they stick to 

 boxes for all the world as they stuck to old 

 box-hives? 



He was very meagerly re()orted, as was almost 

 all of the Convention. Almost every prominent 

 bee-keeper could have given, from memory, a 

 much more valuable report. Many important 

 matters were disposed of in three lines that 

 really required forty, and in many instances, the 

 three lines were all bosh. We were sorry to find 

 many very important subjects omitted entirely. 

 AVe could, with little trouble, point out these 

 items, should any one care to have us do so. 



Mr. Miller, of Peninsula, asks Novice five 

 questions, page 207, which we answer all at 

 once, by stating that the stock of bees that 

 gave us the three tons and over of honey, last 

 year, were raised entirely friim one iw nty dollar 

 queen, purchased from Mr. Langstroth. As our 

 object has been honey, and nothing but honey, 

 we raised our queens precisely on the plan Mrs. 

 Tupper gave before the Convention. (Reporter 

 omitted it, of course, as it was of great value. 

 What they did state was something that Mrs. 

 Tupper did not say at all, and would not have 

 said. See page 180. ) 



In regard to the difterence in value of Italians 

 and hybrids (we hope the lady will excuse us, if 

 we do not get it exactly as she gave it), she 



