THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



81 



For (lie American Bee Jouniiil. 



Letter from Kansas. 



THE I'KOrKK MAN. 



A few clays ago I received a letter from 

 ]Mr. A. Chapman, of New Cuniberlaiul, West 

 Virfi'inia. lie speaks of a mau that met me 

 with a lot of queeus on my way home from 

 Kelly's island. Then he asks me " who the 

 l^roper man is to write to, to get queens from 

 there, and whether 1 think the queens raised 

 there are pure." He then goes on to say that 



•''he thought Mr. the proper man, and 



ordered a lot of queens of him, which, how- 

 ever, he regarded as impure, and he feels 

 very much aggrieved." All of which ques- 

 tions we are unable to answer, because we 

 •are not the " proper mau, " and have never 

 been to Kelly's island, nor received any 

 <iueens from there. If the man that obtained 

 a lot of queens at the Island, will answer Mr. 

 Chapman's questions, no doubt he will take 

 it as a favor. We find no fault with queen 

 breeders that live up to their contracts, but 

 when they advertise that they warrant the 

 queen to be pure, and when they do not 

 prove to be such, will furnish other queens, 

 •or refund the money, we naturally under- 

 stand from such a contract, that we are 

 buying queens that have not been tested, and 

 take the chances. 



If every oue in a dozen should prove to be 

 hybrids, we have no business to complain, if 

 the money is refunded, or other queens sent, 

 us we may elect. But would we not natur- 

 ally come to the conclusion that if a large 

 majority of the queens sent out by any 

 breeders, were impure, that he was not the 

 proper man? In buying that kind of queens, 

 we are well satisfied if three-fourths or more 

 of them are pure. But in ordering tested 

 queeus, it is a difterent thing. The breeder 

 in that case cannot make you good by either 

 refunding the money or furnishing you 

 another queen. If the queen should prove 

 to be impure, you have sustained a damage 

 ■equal to the value of the queen, or more, be- 

 sides having your money refunded. 



THE MELIPtTLT. 



I was sorry to see the opinion of Mr. 

 Adair, thus : that the " extractor has been 

 overrated. If bee-keeping is to be made a 

 success, it will not be accomplished with the 

 use of the Honey Emptying Machine." This 

 decision, however, is logical, from the stand- 

 point of the melipult. Will not somebody 

 furnish the General with a good, common 

 Honey Extractor, without so many scientific 

 principles about it, as the "melipult?" That 

 machine, we believe, would be a success in 

 scattering hayseed among politicians. 



WINTERING BEES. 



What is the cause of the dysentery ? Xow 

 who would not like to know that ; and how 



to winter bees without loss ? Tlie causes are 

 laid down positively by Mrs. Tupper. "Too 

 much honey; too many oUl bees; too much 

 cold ; too much disturbance." Mr. Quinby 

 agrees with her, as far as the cold is con- 

 cerned. And Mr. Hoot, with his sugar 

 syrup, without acid, has the panacea. But 

 what seems the strangest of all, is, that bee- 

 keepers wont belie\'i! it. There is no oue 

 that has faith in another's theory, and it is a 

 mooted question whether success in each 

 case depends solely on faitJi or merit in the 

 prescription. Now, if it was the cold, the 

 disturbance, the old bees, too much honey, or 

 bad honey, why was it that my bees all win- 

 tered safely too years ago ? All old bees — 

 some full of honey, some nearly empty — 

 swarms of all sizes, and disturbed every few 

 days V But last winter, with my bees in the 

 same cellar, treated the same way, only not 

 disturbed as much, two-thirds of them or 

 more had the dysentery, and last fall they 

 were breeding a month later than the year 

 before ! Hives of all conditions were among 

 the eighty that were put in last year, and those 

 that escaped the dysentery, were some of the 

 very smallest swarms. Some of the best and 

 heaviest, and some medium, including four 

 or five hives that were supplied with sugar 

 syrup without acid, was among the first to 

 die. As Mrs. Tupper says, they "miserably 

 perished " every one. I might say here, that 

 I was n«t testing the sugar syrup, because I 

 had faith in it; but, from the fact that Iliad 

 orders for more honey than I had a surplus 

 to fill, extracted several hives clean, to get 

 enough to fill the last order, so that a want of 

 faith could not have been the cause of my 

 failure. 



RAISING BROOD WITHOUT POLLEN. 



I take the negative side of that question. 

 I tested it last season, by confining a queen 

 on a frame, with young bees that had never 

 had access to pollen, and they could proceed 

 no farther than merely hatch the eggs. But 

 a swarm of bees that had been feeding young, 

 might have prepared food enough in their 

 stomachs to raise a large number of bees, if 

 confined to a hive that has no pollen in it. If 

 pollen is not necessary, what fools the bees 

 are for collecting it. 



RECIPE FOR FOUL BROOD. 



We noticed in the Journal for Novembei-, 

 a sure cure for foul brood, which being a 

 compound of some nine difterent ingredients, 

 we think would either kill or cure; but it 

 looked to us as though there must be some 

 mistake. Three of the ingredients amounted 

 to eighteen pounds, which, with the rest, were 

 to be pulverized and put in a flask, with a quart 

 of brand, but it would take a pretty large flask 

 — at least one that would hold four gallons, 

 and then a quart of l^randy would not moisten 

 the compound; in fact, we think it would 



