THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 



For the American Bee Journal. 



I was much pleased to learn that the B^'z, 

 Journal has been resumed. I have been anx- 

 iously waiting for it a long while. I expect a 

 treat eyery month. It is mentioned on page 11 

 of the July number, that there is only one -in- 

 stance on record of a yoiing queen leading off a 

 first swarm, leaving the old one in possession 

 of the hive. I think that is oftener the case 

 than is generally supposed. I had one instance 

 this summer. An Italian swarm of last year, 

 with the queen's wing clipped, swarmed last 

 July. The queen had been purely impregnated. 

 On opening the hive a few days after, to des- 

 troy the queen cells and introduce a pure queen, 

 to my surprise I found plenty of newly laid 

 eggs in the first comb I examined. On looking 

 further I discovered a cell from which a queen 

 had emerged in the natural way, and others, 

 the inmates of which had been destroyed; and 

 finally the identical queen I introduced the year 

 before, Avith her clipped wing. I killed her and 

 introduced the pure one in a cage which my 

 wife held in her hand at the time. In two days 

 after, when I opened the hive to liberate her, I 

 found her dead, having apparently been stung 

 to death through the meshes of the cage, which 

 were too large. The cage I received from Mr. 

 Langstroth a few days before. This is the only 

 instance of want of success I have had, and I 

 have introduced quite a number. I should have 

 waited a few hours after removing the old one. 



I have very poor success in having my Italian 

 queens purely impregnated; not more than one 

 in four, although the Italian drones arc the most 

 numerous in my apiary. Either the ciueens or 

 drones fly to great distances from home; for 

 my drones impregnate my neighbor's black 

 queens, though their apiaries are two and a half 

 miles from mine; and I suppose theirs return the 

 compliment to me. G. Smith. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



In Italianizing my stocks, I have found the 

 old queen and a young laying queen, at the 

 same time, in five hives. These hives had hot 

 swarmed for three years. One old ciucen was 

 in a cluster of bees on the bottom board, being 

 worried to death. One in five was renewed at 

 the swarming time. Three were cases of a re- 

 newal of young or this year's queens. There 

 seems to have been a perfect mania among the 

 bees to get rid of these old queens, as some of 

 them have done so since killing their drones. 



J. M. M. 



na t o » — 



It is a common in'acticc to rub the inside of a 

 hive with aromatic herbs, a solution of salt, or 

 other substance, with a view of making the hive 

 more acceptable to the expected swarm. But 

 the most experienced and observant bee-mas- 

 ters deem this altogether unnecessary, if not 

 injurious. 



The honey harvest, like that of grain and 

 fruit, is early or later, more abundant or scarce, 

 in different years, according to season,- and va- 

 riety of climate or situation. 



A Home in a Scythe Sned. — "The foxes 

 have holes, and the birds of the air have nests," 

 and every living thing which the Almighty has 

 created has a home of some kind, where it may 

 repose its weary head, and find temporary rest 

 from the pursuits by which it lives. A curious 

 instance of this fact was shown some time ago, 

 in Windsor township, this county, which, al- 

 though simple in its character, is nevertheless 

 singularly characteristic of this truth. Mr. iTohn 

 Menges while mowing with a scythe in the field 

 about a mile from home, was attracted by a 

 continual buzzing or singing of some kind, 

 which he was unable at that time to explain. 

 It continued all the time he was at work, and 

 about the time he had finished, a bee came out 

 of a hole in the sued which he had not discov- 

 ered before, and flew aAvay. He returned home, 

 and while standing with his scythe in his hand, 

 the buzzing insect which had followed him, and 

 was resolved that it would not be ejected from 

 its habitation, flew up and crept back into the 

 hole which it had left but a short time before. 

 This is a simple fact, but is significant never- 

 theless, of the care which the Almighty enter- 

 tains for all living things. The bee still has its 

 home in the scythe sned, now hanging doubt- 

 less upon the wall, for who could be so cruel to 

 remove it, or envy it the unobtrusive comforts 

 it enjoys? — York (Pa.,) Democrat, Sept. 4, 1866. 



Bromwich, an intelligent writer, states that 

 he had three straw hives of bees standing sep- 

 arately in an enclosed shed. These happened 

 to be blown down by a violent wind in the Avin- 

 ter. The Aveather, being very cold, prevented 

 the bees from flying much abroad; but from the 

 position in which tliey fell, they all accident- 

 ally united themselves into one hive, without 

 the loss of a single bee. He immediately raised 

 them on a large tlat-toped hive, in order to give 

 them room, Avhich answered the desired pur- 

 pose beyond expectation. They continued to 

 live in harmony and friendship, and produced 

 next season more than double the usual profit. 



We know that both care and expense are re- 

 quired to establish an apiary; but the cost after 

 the first disbursement is trifling. Neatness and 

 vigilance, however, are coustantly in requisi- 

 tion; and the care of bees, like any other profit- 

 able business, cannot be pursued to advantage, 

 unless it receive daily and minute attention. 

 Why should it be otherwise? Why should we 

 expect our bees to thrive under neglect, any 

 more than our pigs, poultry, sheep, or neat cat- 

 tle? All the laUer require attention, shelter 

 and food — while the bees supply their own pro- 

 vender, and yield a surplus to their owner. 



The garden in Aviiich an apiary is situated, 

 especially in front and about it, should be well 

 stocked with low shrubs, or espaliers, at a con- 

 venient disrauce, backed, if possible, with tal- 

 ler trees. These arc of course requisite to, al- 

 lure the bees at SAvarming time to settle near 

 home, for convenience of living, instead of 

 wandering off, as they arc very apt to do when 

 the coast is clear, nobody knows Avhither. 



