1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



65 



and several others had failed entirely with it. 

 But we failed in not getting Mr. Adair's idea of 

 moving the entire brood nest back from the 

 front. 



Ton will see a communication from Upper 

 Canada, in the December number, on his (the 

 writer's) objections to combs running crosswise 

 of the entrance. But if he will adopt Mr. 

 Adair's plan, and move the entire brood nest, 

 after it is established, back to the rear of the 

 hive, I think he will succeed. I again refer the 

 reader to Progressive Bee Culture. (There is 

 such a thing as progressive bee culture.) Also, 

 to Annals of Bee Culture for 1873, for Mr. 

 Adair's claims on his form of hive, etc. The 

 hints there thrown out are well worth a close 

 and impartial examination by the progressive 

 bee-keeper. " Novice " cannot stop to theorize ; 

 but it is (or was) by theorizing that our very 

 best posted bee-keepers have arrived at their 

 present standard of bee-keeping. Webster 

 says : " Theory is a deduction from established 

 truth, from which it follows as a necessary con- 

 sequence." There may be truths which we do 

 not yet fully comprehend, even in bee-keeping. 

 We are well aware that many will fail to under- 

 stand or comprehend Mr. Adair ; but that is no 

 proof that he is not in advance of a large pro- 

 portion of bee-keepers. B. Gallup. 

 ♦ » ■ ■ ■ 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Letter from Tiverton, Canada. 



Thousands of colonies of bees perished in 

 Canada last Spring, owing to the clear^ cold 

 weather, and raw, frosty winds with which we 

 were visited, the poor little bees were enticed 

 out of their hives, with the clear light, and 

 warm rays of the sun, but the cold frosty winds 

 prevented their return. In this locality, they 

 could not safely venture out before the ^middle 

 of May! 



My bees were taken from winter quarters on 

 the 17th of March, and almost in as good con- 

 dition as when put in on the 30th of November, 

 except one colony which died for want of food. 

 But some of them soon became so reduced that 

 had I not united them, they would have per- 

 ished. With care, however, I got them through 

 to the warm season. 



But could not some remedy be suggested, 

 Mr. Editor, to prevent the bees from leaving 

 their hives on unfavorable days ? Novice tells 

 ns that he has the entrances of his hives to- 

 ward the East. Is this done to meet the diffi- 

 culty alluded to ? Since the middle of May, the 

 season has been all that could be desired for 

 bees; and twenty young Italian colonies have 

 been added to my apiary, all of which are 

 strong and active, and honey is now collected 

 in great abundance from basswood blossom and 

 white clover; though I am sorry to sny the for- 

 mer is n )t so plentiful this season as on former 

 years. 



I have been using the extractor pretty freely 

 last month, though not to the same extent aa 

 some on your side of the line report. I am not 

 yet reconciled to the system which leads to the 

 removal of all honey in the Fall, and then feed 

 with an inferior food. The little industrious 

 fellows deserve the very best food during those 

 dull months they are imprisoned with snow and 

 frost, and with me, the hive that does not weign 

 30 lbs., including laees, comb and food, in No- 

 vember, is marked under weight, and my atten- 

 tion is fixed on it early in Spring, more than 

 on any other. 



In my letter last year to the Journal, I sta- 

 ted that I discovered a worker bee hatched in 

 a queen cell ; the same thing has met me this 

 season. There is nothing to distinguish the 

 cell from another queen cell, except that it 

 takes a longer time to hatch than when queens 

 are produced. 



If you think the above worthy of a place in 

 the A. B. J., you can insert. Wishing the A. 

 B. J. prosperity, 



Rev. I. Anderson, 



Tiverton, Bruce, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 5,^ 

 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Will E. King. 



Dear Journal. — It has been a long time 

 since we sent a communication for your columns, 

 in fact, Mr. Editor, we have written nothing 

 for the JouNRAL since it has been edited by you. 

 This is not because I did not wish to write, but 

 because most of the time we have not been able 

 to write ; in the outset we must say, that we 

 think the journal has improved very much in 

 the past six months, not that Mr. Wagner did 

 not give us a good journal, no no, but bee keep- 

 ing has progressed very fast and we find that 

 our old war horses are still at their posts, and 

 that they have kept up with the age in which 

 they live and at all times are ready to tell us 

 what they have learned ; we even see that some 

 of our " novices '• have discovered that first-class 

 bee hives can be made for $1.00 each, ha, ha, we 

 wonder how long it will take them to get this 

 well " rooted " in the minds of North American 

 bee keepers. We are very much afraid that an- 

 other long cold winter like the past will freeze 

 it out, sap, " root," and all. If a wooden moul- 

 board plow only cost one dollar I must buy it 

 and use it, even if I cannot kill the weeds so 

 well, or plough so deep, just because a good 

 strong well made steel plow will cost from 

 $3.50 to $5.00. 



We are indeed glad to see that friend Free- 

 man, of Olustee Creek, Alabama, is a reader of 

 the journal, for it has only been about eighteen 

 months that he was an advocate of nine feet of 

 lumber, saio and hatchet, and a few nails; or, if 

 this was not convenient, to take a hollow log for a 

 hive. Glad to know that he has come to the 

 conclusion that the hmoy S«'nT)son tound in the 

 carcass of the lion was indeed in a movable comb 



