THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



205 



of Italian bees at the time a heavy cokimn of 

 drones is passing out and in, and then let the 

 captive queen fly among them. It seems prob- 

 able that she would soon attract the attention 

 otone or more of them. 



When the intended process is completed, the 

 knot in the tissue may be cut with a sharp- 

 pointed pair of surgeon's scissors, and she be 

 returned to a colony. 



A suggestion is often mistaken for an asser- 

 tion. The reader will do me the justice to con- 

 sider this as only a suggestion. Who will test 

 it by trial ? If health and circumstances per- 

 mit, I purpose to be one of the number. 



Jared p. Kirtland. 



Cleveland, Ohio, March 27, 1867. 



For the American Bee Journal and Gazette. 



Dear Bee Journal: Two things which I find 

 upon the pages of your issue of March make 

 me bold to write to you. One is a kind invita- 

 ti'on, by your worthy Editor, extended to all 

 practical bee-keepers, to write to you once in 

 a while. Now, I claim to be a practical bee- 

 keeper, although I am older in theory than in 

 pi'actice, having read all the works on bees that 

 I could find, (and just here let me say I think 

 *' Langstroth on the Honey-Bee" is the mostin- 

 teresting and instructive work on bees that I 

 have ever read. Still, I have had some prac- 

 tice, and hope to have more. 



Another incentive to write to you is a state- 

 ment which I read in March number. That to 

 which I refer reads as follows, viz : 



'* Experience has taught us that winter-feed- 

 ing, if the colony is feeble, is not only trouble- 

 some and expensive, but rarely of any use, be- 

 cause, if such do not at last perish in the spring, 

 it will require continual nursing during the en- 

 suing summer, and prove to be a source of vex- 

 ation instead of pleasure." 



Now, I very much dislike to disagree with 

 older people than myself, yet my experience has 

 been different, and I will give you one instance 

 as an example. 



One pleasant day in February, 1862, 1 thought 

 I would take a look at my bees. Everything 

 seemed satisfactory, excepting one swarm, 

 which I had in a Quinby hive. I went a little 

 nearer, but still saw no stir. Then 1 rapped 

 gently as any gentleman would before entering 

 the house of an honest man; but I received no 

 reply to my call. Thinking, perhaps, the sen- 

 tinels might be sleeping, I knocked again, and 

 louder than before. Still I received no answer. 

 Surely, thought I, they have all perished; and 

 so, like a giant, I rudely turned their domicile 

 bottom-side up, and gazed in amongst the 

 combs. Contrarj'^ to my expectations, I found 

 a very few bees; not more than a handful. Two 

 or three came languidly down to see what I 

 wanted. Recognizing in me a friend doubtless, 

 they told me, as well as they could, that the rest 

 of their comrades had perished from hunger, 

 but that they had preserved their queen. The 

 poor fellows seemed so downcast and sorrowful 

 that it filled my heart with compassion and 

 pity. I immediately moved them to a conve- 

 nient room, which I subsequently made dark. 



I then turned some diluted honey in amongst 

 them, that they might get a taste, and so I 

 coaxed them to the top of the hive, where I 

 placed some empty comb, with some of my 

 diluted honey sprinkled over it. After I had 

 fairly got them to eating, I covered the top of 

 the hive with what Mr. Quinby calls "the cap," 

 and went away and left them. 



The next morning I fed them again, and I 

 could see that they were much more lively than 

 they were the day before. I kept feeding them 

 every day a little— not very much at a time — 

 for about two weeks, and then I became a little 

 more irregular, feeding them perhaps twice dur- 

 ing the week. It did not take me any longer 

 to feed them than it did my chickens, and the 

 little fellows became so accustomed to it, that 

 they would meet me as readily as my chickens, 

 when I came to feed them. Thus weeks passed 

 away, and in due course of time nature began 

 to furnish supplies for the industrious bees, and 

 I set this poor, weak stock (now considerably 

 stronger than when I began to feed them) upon 

 their summer-stand. Instead of their "requiring 

 continual nursing during the ensuing summer," 

 I did not feed them at all after placing them 

 upon their summer-stand, and instead of prov- 

 ing themselves a source of "vexation," they 

 proved to be a source of real "pleasure." They 

 succeeded, during the honey harvest, infilling 

 their hive with honey, and made me about tioelve 

 pounds of surplus honey. Now, was not this a 

 source of "pleasure" as well as profit ? What 

 an example of undaunted courage and untiring 

 perseverance they set me ! 



I do not know that I have written anything 

 which will interest any one of your numerous 

 readers; but if, after reading this, any bee- 

 keeper is persuaded to look at his bees, and 

 finds only one swarm in circumstances similar 

 to the one I have cited, find is influenced to feed 

 them and save their innocent lives, I shall be 

 fully paid in this feeble attempt at writing to 

 you. 



But, Mr. Editor, should you see nothing 

 worth publishing, you are at liberty to consign 

 my letter to the waste-basket. 

 Yours truly, 



C. Palmer. 



Windham, Ohio, March 16, 1867. 



■ I m e t I m 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preveniion of Bobbing. 



As I see something said in the Journal with 

 regard to preventing bees from robbing, I will 

 give you my method, which I have never known 

 to fail of success. 



When my own or my neighbors' bees are 

 found robbing, I cut out one or two pieces of 

 comb containing honey from the hive that is 

 robbing; and when they discover such whole- 

 sale depredation committed on their stores, they 

 will all turn their attention to the protection of 

 their own household, and the repairing of 

 damages, and seem to conclude it is better 

 policy to take care of what they have lawfully 

 obtained, than to be committing such unlawful 

 acts on their neighbors. A. Stiles. 



Genoa. Ills. 



