224 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Apkil, 



stated that if honey was the sole object, she 

 would get a pure queen, imported, if necessary, 

 to insure absolute purity, and then raise all 

 queens from this one, paying no attention to 

 what drones they met. In this way the bee- 

 keeper would have but little trouble, and would 

 be sure of having nothing worse than tirst-cross 

 hybrids, which, all things considered, will pro- 

 duce as much or more honey than the pure ones. 

 We gave svibstantially the same thing in the 

 Journal some time ago, in answer to the state- 

 ment, by an agricultural editor, that Italians 

 were of no use unless kept on an island, &c. 



We purchased one other queen of Mr. Lang- 

 stroth, in the fall of 1869, but lost her before we 

 had raised many queens ; and last fall so many 

 of our old qiieens failed that we purchased 

 twenty-five of Mr. Grimm to replace them, not 

 having time to raise others. 



We have thought the cross- colonies most 

 profitable, but find so many exceptions that we 

 should not like to say so. 



The lightest colored and most peaceable bees 

 we ever had are from a queen now in her third 

 summer, which laid so very few eggs that we 

 have been obliged to assist her with brood ; but 

 kept her, because we could not think of killing a 

 l^retty queen. In fact, she was about as prolific 

 as Grimes's hen, as the i-hyme goes — 



" Whoever stole our speckled hen, 

 Had better let her be ; 

 She laid two e,i,'^'s on every day, 

 Aud Sundays she laid three." 



Well, as Mr. Langstroth said aptly, there are 

 exceptions to all rules in bees, and, sure enough, 

 yesterday we found our slow queen had filled 

 her hive with bees, and has now nearly as much 

 brood as any stock in our apiary. She is now 

 entering upon her third season, remember. 



On page 218 is another question for Novice. 

 We can empty every comb in a two-story Lang- 

 stroth hive in fifteen minutes, probably about 

 twenty minutes on an average ; that is, we have 

 taken care of honey from thirty in a day. Honey 

 will flow, without any trouble in warm weather, 

 as soon in the morning as you can see, and even 

 after dark or by moonlight. 



We have just received a Peabody melextrac- 

 tor, and are much pleased with it ; have no 

 doubt it will answer every purpose. What reve- 

 lations melextractors are destined to unfold to 

 the bee-keepers of 1871, after honey boxes are 

 among the things that were, is prominent in the 

 dreams of Novice. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



Unreliable Statements. 



The novice in bee-keeping who reads atten- 

 tively the pei'iodicals and books on bees, for the 

 purpose of learning real facts respecting the bee 

 and the hive, must at times be sadly puzzled. 



Extraordinary statements are so often made, 

 in minute detail, having all the appearance of 

 reality, and yet so contrary to all previous ex- 

 perience, that one hardly knows what to believe. 

 It is a great pity that any one who really wishes 

 to impart information on so important a subject, 

 and where there are so many beginners, should 



theorize, or guess, or imagine, and then make 

 his statements as if they were real facts. Thei-e 

 are articles constantly appearing in print, about 

 which an intelligent bee-keeper knows that the 

 writer has either been grossly deceived himself, 

 or that he is deceiving others. 



If such authors as Huish and Decouedie, &c., 

 were now living, they would be heartily ashamed 

 of their works, — so full of errors, and yet stated 

 with so much confidence as to lead hundreds 

 astray. Of course it is true that there is much 

 relating to the bee which is not fully understood. 

 It is one of the charms of bee-keeping that there 

 are mysteries ; and he who makes a real discovery 

 will be a benefactor ; but let their statements be 

 well authenticated. 



When a man, for instance, says that he "he 

 took twelve queen cells and placed them in sepa- 

 rate boxes, 3 by 2| inches, with four to six drones 

 in each, and in two days nine out of the twelve 

 were fertilized," we have a statement which 

 contradicts the experience of all other apiarians. 

 It MAY he so. It would save a world of trouble 

 if it could be demonstrated beyond all doubt ; 

 but as long as there is a doubt, it is of no practi- 

 cal benefit in bee-keeping. There was a time 

 when all the world, social, religious, and scien- 

 tific, was wrong upon one point, and Galileo 

 alone was right. So it may be now, in this case ; 

 but it is to be hoped that with the sprea,d of bee- 

 keeping, and with able pei-iodicals, like the Jour- 

 nal, the time will come when all that is mere 

 guesswork now will be so well established that 

 a professed apiarian would hardly be willing to 

 make important assertions without very great 

 care in giving all the facts, and those so well 

 attested that, in the mouth of two or three wit- 

 nesses, every word may be established. 



Holmesburg, Pa. D. C. Millett. 



[For the Ameriraa Bee Journal.] 



Bees in Colorado. 



Mr. Editor : — In the February number of tke 

 Bee Journal, Mr. N. Cameron answers the ques- 

 tion, asked in a former number, " Can Bees be 

 kept in Colorado?" I was in Colorado in 1866, 

 and had occasion to travel considerably through 

 the months of July and August ; and from what 

 I could see, I made up my mind that Colorado 

 was a No. 1 locality to keep bees in. The 

 part that I was in mostly was in the vicinity of 

 Denver. On a small creek ten miles north of 

 Denver, I saw two stands of bees in the yard 

 near a house. As these were the first I had seen 

 in the Territory, my curiosity was at once 

 aroused, and, hitching my donkeys to the fence, 

 I struck for a look at the dear little pets. But, 

 to my sui-prise and chagrin, I found them 

 guarded by a faithful canine, who would not let 

 me advance without a pitched battle ; and as he 

 was a rather rough looking fellow, I came to the 

 conclusion that "discretion was the better part 

 of valor," and retreated in good order. Still, 

 not being willing to give up my object so easily, 

 I boldy marched up to tlie door of the house (to 

 which the faithful sentinel made no serious ob- 

 jection), and discovered that the family were 



