1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



15 



Mr. Root must be aware this is not taking 

 frames from one hive and brushing oflF the bees 

 before another to gather a large surpkis from 

 one, and have the other weak and inefficient. 



Flings and flurries about patentees and pat- 

 ent rights weigh but little with the considerate. 

 If the encouragement of improvements given 

 by the laws of the country are improper or un- 

 wise, the government may be counseled to 

 repeal the laws giving them. 



Does Mr. Root take his scythe and whetstone 

 into his meadow, or his sickle into his wheat- 

 field to cut down his grass and grain because 

 mowing and reaping machines are patented ? 



Is it more dishonorable to secure the advanta- 

 ges of an improvement in one useful article 

 than in another ? 



Jasper Hazen. 



Albany, N. T. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Simplicity Bees, and Chromo-Lithograpliical Api- 

 culture. 



Mr. Editor: — I have had sent to me a 

 sample copy of the Bee Keepers^ Magazine for 

 April, 1873, "devoted exclusively to Bee Cul- 

 ture," from which I have learned much, and 

 one very disagreeable lesson, which is, that I 

 am more ignorant than I thought, for I did not 

 before know that chromos and lithographs were 

 so necessary to bee-keeping that one-fourth of 

 the space in a magazine "devoted exclusively to 

 bee culture" had to be "devoted" to them. 

 Please inform me how to use them. Do you 

 put the pictures in the hive, or outside ? I see 

 that they have to be put in frames, and there- 

 fore infer that they have to be put in the hive, 

 if so, does there have to be a separate room for 

 them? 



But, Mr. Editor, while Mr. Dadant has been 

 all the way to Italy for the best bees, and a 

 great deal has been said about improved and 

 new breeds of bees, the four enterprising 

 editors of the Magazine have got ahead of all 

 of them. On page 143. in a kind of catechism, 

 some fellow is examining the editors on, he 

 asks them to "describe the wings" of the bees. 

 They all answer in a single breath : "There are 

 four, two attached to the thorax and two to the 

 abdomen," etc. 



My bees are not a bit that way. They have 

 not got nary wing on the abdomen, all four are 

 stuck right up on the shoulders, and have no 

 propellers behind. I suppose it is a great im- 

 provement, particularly if the hind wings are 

 reversed, as it enables the bees to fly back home 

 without putting them to the trouble to turn 

 round, and it must be a great advantage when 

 they "come at you" to sting, for they can do it 

 far more eflfectually than the old fogy bees that 

 have to make a new move of their bodies in 

 order to get the sting in the right position, for 

 they can straighten themselves out and come 



like a dart, and drive the sting home every pop. 

 It is a great trick in case of accidents, too, for- 

 if the bee gets cut in two both pieces can fly 

 home ; the only trouble being, that the abdo- 

 men, having no legs, could not crawl into the 

 hive ! 



The four editors that have got up this bee, do 

 not advertise it for sale, but I understand they 

 propose to give them away to all who will send 

 enough money to pay for either of their won- 

 derful publications and the "5 superb chromos." 

 I don't know howmuch it will take, but if the 

 editors continue to feel like the old negro in 

 the classical anecdote they tell in their baby 

 department, I guess they will "luf 'em down 

 easy." Yours in 



Sim Plicity. 



P. S. — Would it not be a good idea to scatter 

 the legs a little as well as the wings ? Sim. P. 



N. B. — And also have a stinger on both ends. 



b. Plicity. 



Addenda. — Them bees are as handy as the 

 old hunter's dog, that ran so fast that when he 

 struck a sapling with his head, he split himself 

 in two equal halves from nose to tip of tail. 

 The old hunter put the two halves together, 

 but in his hurry and confusion put two legs up 

 and two down. The pieces g.ew together, and 

 he found he had imjjroved his dog wonderfully 

 for he ran as fast as ever, and when one pair of 

 legs got tired, he turned half a summersault 

 and went in on the others, and thus he could 

 run forever, if necessary, and "never tire." I 

 must have some of them reversible, Ijack-action 

 bees, even if I have to buy the chromos to get 

 them. You ought to have some, Mr. Editor. 

 Simeon Plicity. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



From Blaokhawk Co., Iowa. 



American Bee Journal : — As you are such 

 a capital fellow for informing us in such grand 

 style in all matters relating to bee-eulture, and 

 in keeping us so well posted of the doings and 

 sayings of brother bee keepers when collected 

 together in bee-societies, we thought we would 

 show you that this cold spring has not frozen 

 the interest in bee-culture out of us in this part 

 of our grand young Iowa, and that our specialty 

 is not likely to have the go-by for lack of in- 

 terest. 



At a meeting of a goodly number of the bee- 

 keepers of this (Blackhawk) county, held in 

 this city May 14th, a constitution was adopted, 

 giving our society a name (the Blackhawk 

 County Bee-keepers Society), and stating that 

 '•its object shall be for mutual instruction, co- 

 operation, protection, and to promote the inter- 

 ests of bee-culture." F. S. Engledow, Cedar 

 Falls, was chosen President; C. P. Hunt, Water 

 loo, Vice-President ; Dr. A. B. Mason, Waterloo, 

 Sec'y ; and Dr. J. A. Bickley, Treas. 



