THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



93 



Ike one ruler, yet it seems that it was not 

 known at this time that the ruler was a 

 female, and that she laid all the eggs. In- 

 deed, his ideas of their reproduction is 

 exceedingly amusing, 



" But (whal'8 more strantji') their modest appotitee 



Averse fr(>m Venus, fly the nuptial rites, 



No lu8t enervates their heroic mind. 



Nor waste their stron-ith on wanton woman kind; 



But in their mouths rcsidi- tlieir i;enial powers; 



They gatherchildren from the leaves and tlovvVs." 



In describing their sting, lie saj's: 

 "And through the purple veins a passage linds: 

 There tix their stings and leave tlieir souls behind." 



There is much more exceedingly inter- 

 esting and amusing in his descriptions, but 

 we close with a bit of advice that we all 

 may take. Line 365, 



" But since they share with man one common 



fate. 

 In health and in sickness, and in turns of state 

 Observe the symptoms." 



What bee keeper who has listened for 

 the sound of a hive which has run down 

 and become weak, will not at once recog- 

 nize the following: 



" Soft whispers then, and broken sounds are heard, 

 As when the woods by gentle winds are stirred. 

 Such stifled noise as tlie closed furnace hides, 

 Or dying murmurs of departing tides." 



He thinks honey, then, should be in- 

 fused into the hives by hollow reeds, and 

 gives a recipe for a sick colony, consisting 

 of wine, raisins and a certain yellow 

 flower. 



If others find half as much amusement 

 as I, they will be well repaid in reading 

 the whofe book, Dryden's Virgil Georgics 

 iv. S. S. Weatherby. 



Baldwin City, Kan. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 How to obtain the largest yields of 

 Honey. 



In this short article, I will have to omit 

 many items of considerable importance. 

 In the first place, the bees must be well 

 wintered, and have plenty of stores to last 

 till honey comes again. Bees that are 

 badly wintered, and sick, will not give 

 satisfaction. Secondly, we must have 

 good colonies to winter, and in the best 

 condition possible. On this I might 

 devote an entire chapter, but will have to 

 omit it for the present, and pass to the 

 most important subject, that of improving 

 our bees. They are as suscepiil)le of 

 improvement as any other stock, and j^et 

 most sadly neglected. The chief object 

 aimed at, has usually been to produce 

 three-banded yellow bees, under the im- 

 pression that nothing more was needed. 

 Who has not noticed that one hive, or 

 a few hives, would far outstrip — often 

 double and even quadruple the rest? It 

 is not uncommon to hear of single 

 hives often producing three hundred, five 

 hundred, and even seven hundred pounds 

 in one season. Who would not give quite 



a round sum to have all of his colonies as 

 good as the best? I have been able to get 

 an average of nearly three-fourths as much 

 clear through the apiary, as the best hive 

 would produce, and witliout losing a sin- 

 gle colony, either during winter or spring. 

 The most important part is queen rear- 

 ing. Most apiarists know how to rear 

 queens; but good ones are the object to be 

 aimed at. To rear the best queens, plenty 

 of honey and pollen, and enough bees 

 of all ages, are necessary; but above 

 all things, select your queen to breed 

 from, and one which has given the best 

 satisfaction the previous season. Always 

 bear in mind that " like produces like," in 

 bees as well as animals, there being 

 but few exceptions ; and by breeding care- 

 fully from the best stock, for a few genera- 

 tions, the careful breeder can produce- 

 exactly what he desires. It is of almost 

 equal importance to use drones from none 

 but the best colonies, allowing no drones 

 to be reared, except in the choicest col- 

 onies. The apiarist should remember 

 that infinitely more depends on a judi- 

 cious selection of stock, and carefully ex- 

 cluding all others, than on any particular 

 method of queen rearing. It is needless 

 to say that if every colony has a queen as 

 good as the best, and not too old, enough 

 bees, and plenty of stores, and all 

 other necessary conditions carefully at- 

 tended to, the result cannot fail to be sat- 

 isfactory. 



E. C. L. Larch, M. D. 

 Boone Co., Mo. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Experience of " Six." 



Apiculture is on the back-ground here ; 

 from the questions asked one would sup- 

 pose they never saw bees. Mr. C. Par- 

 lange is still going ahead. July 30th he 

 had 40 barrels of honey, which would 

 average 43 gallons per barrel. I let my 

 101 alone (except the six swarms I have 

 here) until June 27, when my machine ar- 

 rived, (the Queen City Extractor, and 

 there is no better or more convenient in 

 use, and I do not except any), I was 

 three days in getting started. I extracted 

 78 hives and obtained 318 gallons of fine 

 honey. The rest of the hives were in bad 

 condition, and the old box hives, too. I 

 took a swarm from each one. As soon as 

 I had once extracted, I went over them 

 again, and up to July 20th, had taken 470 

 gallons. 



My bees are all black and most miser- 

 ably cross and mean, but I will try and 

 have all Italianized in October. I am on 

 a stand whether to buy dollar queens or 

 rear them. I want 250, and it will require 

 some help, and I cannot get it here, and 

 owing to the state of society Northerners 

 do not like to venture. I can raise queens 



