1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



95 



combs. I use boxes, and my bees stored over 

 6,000 pounds of honey in them this season, 

 which is all sold. I now have 181 perfect colo- 

 nies, 93 of which have made their own combs ; 

 each card can be turned end for end, and the 

 hive closed up. 



T. F. Bingham. 

 Allegan, Mich.., Sept. 22, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Ohips from Sweet Home. 



As we receive the Journal and read its con- 

 tents, we mark with a blue lead-pencil all new 

 ideas. I take three bee journals. " Novice's" 

 gleanings are pretty thoroughly marked. This 

 has been a poor honey season in this locality. 

 Owing to the drouth white clover failed; then, 

 just as the Linn came in bloom it turned cold 

 and wet, and continued so till Linn honey was 

 gone. Since July 7 we have had no rain, but 

 one shower, up to the present writing, (Septem- 

 ber 11), over two months; this last drouth has 

 cut short our fall pasturage which usually 

 continues till frost. 



RAISING QUEENS. 



We, as usual, have*, been experimenting, and 

 think we too have learned some things and 

 will try to help, whether we do or not. When 

 examining our hives we find which has the 

 most good qualities. As for color of queen we 

 care but little, but we wish her to be pure, pro- 

 lific and "peaoeable. We make a new colony, 

 giving the qii^en and a sufficient number of 

 bees to it, which we leave in the place of the 

 old one;..thHi plan is the nearest to natural 

 swarming. The old stand we move to a new 

 location, being careful not to rob the parent 

 hive of too many bees, as they have all the 

 brood to keep warm and nurse. We never 

 divide, unless strong enough to make two. On 

 the ninth day we cut out all queen cells but 

 one. A pen-knife te the best for this purpose ; 

 be careful to not chill or sun-burn them. When 

 two or more are so closely connected that there 

 is not space to cut between, we put such clusters 

 in one edge of the nursery, and by close watch- 

 ing we usually get the first out before she has 

 time to kill the others. " Novice," in his 

 Gleanings, says that cutting in a cell does not 

 affect the young queen if she be developed 

 sufficiently. A Langstroth frame will make 

 thirty-two cages by cutting the horizontal 

 pieces thin and full length, the upright pieces 

 14, inch thick and 1)4 inches wide. Linn is the 

 best as it does not split easy. Cover one side 

 with wire cloth, and on the opposite put tin 

 doors, \}^ by 2 inches; fasten with small wire 

 staples, driving them in two doors at once, 

 which economizes the room ; punch small holes 

 for them ; to fasten down take a piece of wire, 

 bend at right angles and drive in. The cells 

 can be pinned in the cages, also a small piece 



of sponge saturated with honey. We formerly 

 thought it best to not introduce a queen till 

 she was three or four days old, as it kept the 

 hive a less length of time without a laying 

 queen ; but we now, for safety, introduce them 

 as young as possible, and have much better suc- 

 cess. We think it unnecessary in such cases to 

 daub with honey, royal jelly or other scents 

 We kept a laying queen in the hive with the 

 nursery, but found too many dead queens. Since 

 then we made a hive on purpose, by putting 

 in two thin division-boards, so as to have room 

 on each side tor two frames ; these we can use 

 for fertilizing, and find it well to keep in re- 

 serve laying queens. One of these has an 

 entrance behind, the other at the side ; the 

 centre has room for the nursery and four frames, 

 and the entrance at the front. In this we raise 

 queen cells, by giving them cards from our best 

 hive, and in scarcity of honey a lot of choice 

 drones ; being queenlcss they will not destroy 

 them. We are trying to winter reserve queens 

 in these nenclei. Next year we think of trying 

 our nurserv, laid on top of the frames, as per 

 Novice A few days after introducing a queen 

 we look for her and make a note in our bee- 

 register, "saw queen." " laying," "missing," as 

 the case may be ; if the latter we give them a 

 card of brood from a choice queen, and if the 

 young queen is gone they will let us know, 

 when we next examine, by having choice queea 

 cells for our nursery. 



Mr. Editor, we think you done just right in 

 rutting in Simeon Plicity's article on "Sim- 

 plicity bees," etc ; for " a joke, now and then, is 

 pelished by the wisest men." 



We hope Adam Grimm will tell us about his 

 bee-feeder, smoker, getting bees out of boxes, 

 introducing queens, etc. 



W. J. Ronald's article on wintering bees_ is 

 just such as we have found, by general inquiry, 

 to be a preventative of that dreaded bee-disease. 

 His second requirement, " The bees should be 

 put into winter quarters early, or on the first 

 cold day," is one which has saved many bees 

 that we know of. 



We keep our bee journals bound, so as to 

 have them for ready reference, and find them as 

 valuable as any bee-books. 



samson's lion. 



The Editor has rightly concluded, that the 

 skull was too small, but gives "a better ex- 

 planation," which is as unlikely as R. M. Argo's 

 explanation. " In a secluded spot among the 

 grapevines," would be a poor, damp place " to 

 deprive the bones and skin of their moisture by 

 the heat of the sun," before decomposition 

 would set in. Judges 14:8: " There was a swarm 

 of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion." 

 Webster defines carcass : The dead body of au 

 animal ; a corpse. Now if all the flesh and 

 entrails were gone the dead body would not be 

 there. Why should we try to believe Samson's 



