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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE 



is a problem more difficult to solve than the 

 transmuting of thirteen stocks of blacks and 

 six stocks of hybrids into pure Italians, from 

 one mother, in one season. 



The reader, moreover, need not be told that 

 I had no use for a " scientific lioney-takef this 

 year. Alsatius. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Latent Patents! 



Mr. Editor : I noticed an article in your 

 last number from Mr. Langstroth in relation to 

 my " circular" and patent of April, 5, 1864. 

 While admitting that said patent covers the 

 "mechanical devices" describe:!, he egregiously 

 asserts that I claimed the manipulations of the 

 "circular" as a "process" of \X?<%\.i patented. 

 That is a mistake. I claim the combination of 

 the "devices," "when constructed and operated 

 as described," as granted, whether used in my 

 hive or any other; and Mr. L. ought to see the 

 propriety of marking patents (with dates, &c.) 

 as such. 



Since Mr. Langstroth has been so kind as to 

 attempt to "ventilate" my patents, it might ap- 

 pear quite as well to modify his claims to 

 "Patented Movable Comb Frames," since, by 

 reading his advertisements, the public are led to 

 believe that his extended patent is granted on 

 "Movable Comb Frames," instead of his im- 

 proved '■'■features''' in the use and arrangement 

 of such frames. I am aware that "mistakes 

 happen in the best families." 



W. A. Flanders. 



Shelby, Ohio, Jan. 3, 1867. 



[From the (London) Journal of Horticulture.] 



Apiarian Varieties. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Barren Queen. 



To make a journal of this kind interesting, 

 we need a variety of topics. For this reason I 

 present to its readers the following incident 

 which came under my observation during the 

 past summer. It is this — a fertile queen, to all 

 appearances, incapable of laying eggs. 



On account of the beautiful color of this 

 queen, (Italian,) I felt choice of her, and was 

 very anxious to have her become fertile. 



She was betAveen two and three weeks old 

 before she showed signs of fertility, but as she 

 did not commence to lay eggs in the nucleus, I 

 transferred her to a full swarm, and still she 

 remained unfruitful. I often examined the 

 combs, but never saw an egg while she 

 remained. I often saw her with her abdomen 

 in the cells, to all appearances ovipositing. I 

 made an examination of the cells as soon as 

 she left them, but never discovered any eggs. 



To all outward appearance she was a perfect 

 C[ueen; large in size, and moved among the 

 bees as a fertile queen. I think it is evident 

 that there was a defect in her organs or muscles 

 for depositing eggs. Perhaps this is a frequent 

 occurrence with many, but it is entirely new 

 with me. 



C. B. BiGLOW. 



Perkins viLLB, Vt., Dec, 1867. 



The following extracts are taken from an 

 article written by the great German apiarian 

 Dzierzon during the spring of the present year. 

 For the convenience of English readers I have 

 thought it better to alter the thermometrical 

 readings from Reaumur's scale to that of Fah- 

 renheit. — A Devonshire Bee-Keeper. 



Early Breeding. — As we Ivnow that strong 

 stocks of bees often begin breeding in January, 

 we find that in former years, when a little mild 

 weather has occurred during that month, a 

 tolerably large quantity of brood has been 

 destroyed by severe weather in the beginning 

 of February, owing to the bees being compelled 

 to cluster together and betake themselves to the 

 combs which contain honey, leaving the brood 

 exposed to the cold. It was, therefore, to be 

 expected that during the winter of 1865-6, which 

 was ibr the most part exceedingly mild, egg- 

 laying would have commenced earlier, and have 

 been more extensive than usual, but this has 

 been by no means the case. During an exam- 

 ination of strong stocks well provided with pol- 

 len, which I undertook after the middle of 

 February, I found either no brood at all, or else 

 much less than existed three weeks earlier in 

 former years, and in much weaker stocks. How, 

 then, is this phenomenon to be explained ? 

 Many would, perhaps, believe that the bees, 

 taught by instinct, foresaw a-still greater degree 

 of cold during a second winter; but, if so, why 

 did they not foresee the same in former years ? 

 Evidently something remains to be explained. 

 Moisture, of which we are aware bees have 

 great need in the preparation of food for their 

 young, will, it is well known, promote breed- 

 ing, whilst its absence, during even a higher 

 temperature, will restrict and hinder it; but 

 with a mild atmosphere, when the temperature 

 outside and inside the hives differs but slightly, 

 it is natural that little or no moisture should be 

 condensed in their interior.* Then, also, dur- 

 ing mild weather the bees remain much quieter, 

 as they require to make no great exertion to 

 supply the loss of heat, whilst the temperature 

 in the centre of tlie hive may even fall lower 

 than usual without danger of the bees on the 

 outside of the cluster becoming chilled, just as 

 an oven in a mild atmosphere needs not so 

 much fuel as during severe cold. The queen 

 and nurses, therefore, which dwell in the centre 

 of the cluster, derive from it a greater degree of 

 warmth during cold than in mild weather, and 

 may in this way be impelled to the deposit of 

 eggs, and to the nurture of brood. 



* Owinfj, probably, to their distance from the sea, and 

 the air being denuded of its moisture during its passage over 

 the vast sandy plains of the Continent, there appears no 

 reason to doubt that the atmosphere of many parts of Ger- 

 many is much drier than that of England. For this reason, 

 and in order to supply the bees with water, without com- 

 pelling them to seek for it in the open air during cold 

 weather, German apiarians endeavor to promote the con- 

 densation of a certain amount of moisture within the hive 

 itself, thus reversing the practice ofEnglish bec-kcepers,who 

 generally regard the presence of internal moisture as an un- 

 mitigated evil, and one that is by all means to be avoided. 

 — A Devonshire Beb-keefeb, 



