THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



267 



thing and was jjoing to make some of them, 

 but desisted on my advice. Now 1 tliought 

 it would have beeii mucli better if Mr. Wag- 

 ner had tohl the writer in a kind way liow 

 far lie was l)ehind tlie times, and tiiat tlie 

 moth wasn't tlie tcrril)le enemy now it once 

 was. In fact, if it wasn't tliat I am asked 

 so often, "don't the moth botlier you.'' 1 

 would iiardly think of them. Tlien tliey 

 tell how their father or grandfather used to 

 go every morning and raise the hives and 

 brush around them, and advise me to do 

 likewise, as it must be a good thing." 



R. L. CuitUY. 



Outagamie Co., Wis., Aug. 8, 187(1.— "My 

 bees are doing well. Have increased froin 

 10 to 28 colonies. Have extracted nearly 300 

 tts. Bees are now at work in boxes." 



J. P. Whitk. 



Wayne Co., N. Y., Aug. 1, 187(5.— " Bees 

 are not doing well here. It is too wet. 

 There is but little surplus." 



J. I. JOIIXSON. 



Melrose, \'a.. Aug. 3, 187(1— " Bees have 

 done well this year so far; uot many 

 swarms l)ut al)undance of honey. I liave 2 

 (lueens— mother and daughter — living peace- 

 ably together for two months: one produc- 

 ing hyiirids, the other pure Italians. The 

 old mother only laying a few eggs. She 

 will play out soon. I Jiave frequently had 

 them live in this way. but not so long as 

 these. The mother and daughter never dis- 

 turb each other when siiperseding queen." 

 K. W. Harrison. 



Sauk Co., Wis., Auo-. 18, 187(5.— "Bees are 

 gathering tolerably, but are swarming the 

 second time. Aug. 1st they had the swarm- 

 ing fever as bad as ever, and as cpiick as 

 they were strong enough to w^ork in boxes 

 they would swarm; quite a lunnber have 

 gone to tlie woods. One swarm, whose 

 queen liad a clii)ped wing, started for a tree 

 ?0 rods distant, and then returned. A few 

 days ago I listened for the piping of a young 

 queen, found they were bound to swarm, so 

 I shook all the bees into another hive, and 

 was picking out the queen cells, when all 

 at once they swarmed from the hive I had 

 shook them into. No liasswood lioney tiiis 

 year, in this section." W. Porter. 



Chillicothe, Mo., Aug. 25, 1876.—" You re- 

 quest bee-keejiers to send you samples of 

 such articles as they may think of interest 

 to the fraternity. I send to-day what I 

 think to be the best frame in use and as 

 simple and cheap as any other. The under- 

 side of the top bar is beveled the entire 

 length, giving it two important advantages: 

 — First, the bevel edge, especially if rubbed 

 with a piece of bees wax, makes a good 

 comb guide. Second, when the projections 

 are hung on hoop iron witli saw-tooth 

 notches the comb will be the exact distance 

 desired from centre to centre, not only at 

 the top but at the bottom also, for the bot- 

 tom 01 the frame is held in its place by 

 small wire staples in the end of the hive. 

 The lower end of the upright stiles being 

 tapering allows the frame to slip down be- 

 tween the staples without jogging. The 

 inner bar being strong {%x%) makes it 

 right for the use of tlie zig-zag transfering 

 wire which accompanies the frame. The 

 object in the zig-zag of the wire is to give it 



spring so that any number may be used 

 without loosening others; also to enable 

 one wire to hold the edges of two pieces of 

 comb. In using these zig-zag transferring 

 wires it is not necessarv to lift out the 

 frames to tak(> them off. Take the top end 

 between the thumb and index finger, give it 

 one-fourth turn and lift the wire out. I 

 have tried «'very contrivance I have ever 

 heard of and never found anything to give 

 complete satisfaction in holding comb until 

 I used this wire, and it was not satisfactory 

 until I invented the zig-zag to it some live 

 years ago." J. W. Grkene. 



[Tastes differ very much and there are 

 perhaps not a majority who would prefer 

 frames at fixed distances. If comb founda- 

 tion comes into general use the underside 

 of the top bar will be flat.— En.] 



Winthrop, Iowa, Aug. 30, 1870.— "As there 

 seems to be considerable discussion in re- 

 gard to "fertile workers," I will give you 

 ray experience. In hive No. 1, 1 had failed 

 in introducing a queen, and the bees started 

 queen cells from larva?, there being no eggs 

 in the hive. These cells (three in number) 

 soon hatched, and a few days after I found 

 the hive under the managenient of a "fertile 

 worker.'' My idea is that the larvaj being 

 too far advanced to raise a perfect queen, 

 nevertheless by means of royal jellv, etc.. 

 raised a fertile worker. In hive No. 2. 1 

 had introduced a queen which proved to be 

 a drone layer, who soon swarmed leaving in 

 ! the hive a great many queen cells of which 

 I I destroyed all but two of the finest. Short- 

 ly after these hatched, the hive was in pos- 

 session of a fertile worker. Would like to 

 hear the experience of others through the 

 columns of the American Bee Journal." 

 C. A. Frederick. 

 [ We never before heard of a colony 

 swarming which had a drone layer. Is 

 there no possibility of mistake?— Ed.] 



McHeury Co., 111., Sept. 1, 1876.-" I be- 

 lieve I have never written anything for the 

 American Bee Journal. I have read a 

 great deal of the writings of others in it, and 

 nave given nothing in return. I have kept 

 more or less bees for ten years. I com- 

 menced last spring with .38 stocks and now 

 I have 85, all in tine condition, excepting 

 one. This has been an exceptionally good 

 season, both for bees and honey. T allow 

 natural swarming altogether, but I doubled 

 a great many of my smaller swarms and put 

 back a good manv more. Have taken over 

 1,100 fts. of box honey, and shall get 300 or 

 400 Bjs. more, all put up in boxes (5x6x23^ 

 in., glass on both sides, and each box hold- 

 ing a comb of 23^ fcs. weight. I winter my 

 bees in the cellar, in tiers on shelves one 

 above the other, and they do well in that 

 shape and occupy less room than if spread 

 out. Will you, or some of your correspon- 

 dents tell me how many stocks are kept in 

 one place, and can be kept with profit?" 

 J. L. Anderson. 



[The number of stocks that will do well 

 in one apiary depends of course somewhat 

 on the locality. Adam Grimm kept about 

 100 in each of his apiaries, and perhaps in 

 most cases that will not be far out of the 

 way as a limit.— Ed.] 



