1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



283 



tar on each eud of the wood and none in the 

 middle, you can make what is called a "hollow 

 wall." 



I do not claim that the above idea onjTinated 

 with me, but it was through my influence that 

 the aforesaid buildings were erected ; and they 

 are giving good satisfaction. I have already 

 written a longer article than I intended, and will 



close. 



John T. Eose. 



Petersburg, Mich. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Bee Palace. 



Mr. Editor :— Did you ever see the Bee 

 Palace? It is patented,' of course— there is no 

 hive but is. We are not going to describe it in 

 detail, being satisfied that none of the readers of 

 the Journal would want it, for the reason that 

 it does not infringe on the Langstroth patent. 

 Don't iinderstand us to say Ihat we think the 

 readers of the Journal would infringe on the 

 Langstroth patent, but that they will use no 

 other than a movable comb hive. 



The Bee Palace is not a frame hive. It was 

 introduced into this section of country two years 

 ago, by a Mr. Black. If he had attached leg to 

 the Black, it would have been most appropriate. 

 The general shape of the Palace is similar to a 

 small church steeple inverted, with legs to it. 



We were favored with a call from this worthy 

 Black-% with a load of his Bee Palaces. He set 

 one of them on the ground, and discoursed about 

 as follows : 



"This is the best hive in America. With it 

 you can manage bees with less trouble and ex- 

 pense, and more profit, than with any other hive. 

 Here is the swarming-box. All you have to do 

 is to put this on the top of the hive, and when 

 the bees get ready to swarm, they will go up in 

 the box. You can then take them off and hive 

 them. In this way you make all your own 

 swarms. No watching bees, or any danger of 

 losing swarms. ' There is no other hive from 

 which artificial swarms can be made so easily. 

 Here, too, are the surplus honey-boxes, on the 

 sides of the hive. When one set is filled, you 

 can take them off and put on others. The side 

 of the hive is the best place for honey-boxes. 

 Bees will store twice as much honey at the sides 

 as they will at any other place. Here, also, is 

 the miller-trap below — sure to catch every miller 

 that comes round. The hive is warranted to be 

 moth-proof, or no pay. A farm right with our 

 hive is only forty dollars ; with two hives at 

 forty-five dollars." 



We did not appear very anxious to invest. 

 He finally proposed to give us one, if we 

 would put bees in it and try it ; but as we had 

 no bees we wanted to kill, he loaded on his Bee 

 Palace and drove ofi', remarking that he " never 

 could sell to persons using the movable frame 

 hive." He did sell to one of my neighbors, how- 

 ever. The swarming arrangement just suited 

 this man, as it was always a great deal of bother 

 to watch the bees. He took two Palaces at forty- 



five dollars, put his bees in them, and has had 

 his swarming-boxes on for two years ; and if he 

 don't get to'heaven before he gets a swarm in 

 that way, we think he is a subject for prayers. 

 Another man was taken with the moth-trap. 

 That was just what he wanted. But you see he 

 was a little sharper than the first purchaser ; he 

 was not going to pay till he tested it. So Mr. 

 Black made out his warrant and the farmer his 

 note, and they exchanged papers. The resitlt 

 was that alter Mr. Black had canvassed the 

 county round about, he sold all the notes he had 

 taken, and left for parts unknown. So the first 

 thing Mr. Farmer knew he was sued, and to his 

 great surprise found that the warrant is no 

 off-set to the note in the hands of a third party. 

 So he had the forty dollars with interest and 

 costs to pay. This man subsequently bought 

 the Twining humbug and six secrets (ventilated 

 in the Bee Journal last December). We asked 

 him, why, having been bit once, he would buy 

 another humbug. "Well," he said, "it was so 

 much cheaper, on/?/ ten dollars." There is no 

 rule by which to govern a fool. 



Beeist. 

 Lawrence, Kansas, April, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Two Queens in one Hive. 



I occasionally see an account of two queens 

 beino- found in one hive, but in each case the 

 circumstances 'seem to be very different. In my 

 short experience in bee-keeping I have had two 

 such cases, which diftered much from each other 

 and from any that I have seen reported. The 

 first was like this : A strong colony of black 

 bees made extensive preparations for swarming 

 in June, 1870, by starting a large number of 

 young queens. I usually do my own swarming, 

 but thought, in this case, I would let the bees 

 have their own, way and swarm naturally. But 

 ISTature "to all things sets her limits fit," and 

 here it did not seem natural for them to swarm. 

 After waiting eight days from the sealing of the 

 queen cells, I made an examination, and to my 

 surprise found the old and two young queens at 

 liberty on the combs. That evening I heard 

 piping, the same as for after-swarms, which con- 

 tinued for five days. Then it ceased, and eleven 

 dead queens were thrown out of the hive. It 

 was easy to account for their not swarming ; but 

 singular that they should preserve hatched 

 queens so long, in the presence of an old laying 

 queen. 



The other case, again, was imder entirely dif- 

 ferent circumstances. About the first of last 

 August, I took a queen (Italian) from a nucleus 

 swarm, giving it two eleven days old twin cells, 

 that were built so close together that I could not 

 separate them without injuring one or the other. 

 The fourth day after I examined the nucleus 

 and found both queens hatched, and saw them 

 side by side, apparently as friendly as two work- 

 ers, without any inclination to fight. I was then 

 called from home, was absent a week, and on 

 my return examined the nucleus and found both 



