40 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



has ever been described in any of the 

 bee papers. It is, I think, " the com- 

 ing frame"' or liive. It can be used 

 for any size or sliape frame, and soon 

 I hope to give all a chance to adopt it. 

 I have experimented a great deal, and 

 studied hard to get the best hive tliat 

 could be made tor all purposes, and I 

 think now that I liave it. 



Tlie best imidements for tlie apiary 

 are Just as necessary as tlie best bees, 

 and in a very short time Americans 

 will have the best bee house, tlie best 

 hive, the best pasturage and best sale 

 for our products of any people in tlie 

 world. Each of our leading bee- 

 keepers have some inirticular tact for 

 some one tiling, and when all pull to- 

 gether we are mighty in bee-culture. 



As this is the season of the year 

 when we should be getting our hives 

 ready for the coining season's work, I 

 think we should discuss the hive sub- 

 ject. Persons that have never used 

 but one style of hive, cannot imagine 

 the difference there is ni working 

 them. Don't let us say this or that 

 hive is good enough. While some are 

 improving the bee in order to get the 

 very best, let others try to iniiirove 

 the hive, so as to have the best liee in 

 the best hive, and then we can do 

 wonders in aiiieiiUiire. 



Eminence, Ky. 



Fur till' .VnierU-an Hoc .lournnl. 



Troubles of a Beginner, etc. 



A. I'. FLETCHEK. 



Some 2 years ago, 1 became in- 

 terested in bee-culture (having pre- 

 viously known but very little about 

 bees), by a circular from Mrs. Lizzie 

 E. Cotton, West Goiham, Me., and 

 about the same time Gleaningx in Jiee- 

 Culture, by A. I. Hoot. Medina, O., 

 fell into my hands, which I subscribed 

 for, also Root's A B (', together with 

 Langstroth, Qiiinliy, Cook, and Mrs. 

 Lizzie Cotton's book on bee-culture, 

 all of which I have pretty thoroughly 

 read during the past two years. Have 

 had a little experience in transferring, 

 and introducing queens, hiving, etc. 



JIBS, cotton's fkauds. 



I very much admire all the aliove 

 works, except Mrs. Cotton's. She is a 

 contemptible swindler. Her book 

 contains only 12-'5 pages, for which she 

 asks $L00. iVIrs. C. says, in her circu- 

 lar, " send me four dollars and I will 

 send you one sample t^ontrollable bee 

 hive, one sample glass honey box. one 

 sample feeder, receipt for feed, with 

 complete printed directions how to 

 manage bees on my plan." I sent $4 

 and received nothing but a roughly 

 made model of what she termed her 

 controllable bee hive— a thing of no 

 practical use. Express charges !i.5c. 



A lady, in thisneighborhood, bought 

 a colony of Italian bees of her, Mrs. 

 C, for which she paid §20, and they 

 are all dead. The hive contained only 

 ■% frames, which I suppose is properly 

 termed a nucleus. I was informed 

 there were only a handful of bees in 

 the hive when received. 



In addition to the S20, the express 

 charges were ^3.52. A practical bee- 



keeper in this neighborhood, called on 



the lady soon after her purchase, and 

 ascertained tliattlie queen was worth- 

 less, and advised her to send immedi- 

 ately for another queen, wliich Mrs. 

 Cotton promised should be shipped 

 about the 25tli of .luly, but it has not 

 made its ai)pearance." Now that the 

 bees have all died, the ])oor woman 

 has nothing left for her S2:'...")2, l)utoiie 

 " controllable bee-hive " and Mrs. C's 

 famous hooh oti hee-cuUiire, with her 

 photograph inserted on the lirst lly 

 leaf. What a boon! The lady re- 

 ferred too is Miss Lovina Ewing, 

 West Berkshire, Vt. 



CHANGING SEX OF THE J)KONE. 



Mr. Gordon Bishop, a bee-keeper of 

 Woodville, Wis., informed me that 

 "when bees are in want of a queen, 

 and have no other means of oblaiiiing 

 one, they make a queen out of a 

 drone." "I know, by reading, of only 

 two kinds of layers, viz: a queen and 

 a fertile worker". Mr. B., when asked 

 how they did it, said he ■' did not 

 know : biit they did it !" Can you tell 

 me liow they do it V 



In a certain village in Michigan, a 

 notice for school meeting was posted 

 on the district school house door, one 

 of the articles of which read, "To 

 see if the district will vole to chatujc 

 the sex of the teacher." The real mean- 

 ing of the aiticle was, to see if the 

 district would vote to hire the man 

 who had taught the winter term, to 

 teach the foUowiug summer term 

 also, instead of hiring a lady. Is 

 there any way to " change the sex " of 

 the drone to that of the queen ? Mr. 

 B. is a pupil of one Mitchell, who, ac- 

 cording to Hoot, does not always furn- 

 ish all that is ordered from liiiu, after 

 receiving the money. 



Do bees make comb exclnsively 

 from honey V And if so, do they 

 elaborate the wax .scales while in the 

 held V 



Eranklin, Vt. 



[We do not think there is any way 

 to change the sex of a drone or male 

 larva to that of a. ijueen or female, and 

 this conclusion was arrived at after 

 several experiments, when the trans- 

 formation would have been likely to 

 take place if it bad been possible. 

 Bees undoubtedly make wax from 

 honey or its equivalent, such as sugar, 

 syrup, and, perliiips crude Juices or 

 saps, which first, however, are ren- 

 dered into honey, and its elaboration 

 in scales from the wax-segments takes 

 place in the hive, hence tlie lianging 

 clusters always found in empty frames 

 when comb building is in progress. 



Since tlie foregoing article was re- 

 ceived we have tlie following, sent for 

 publication, which gives the other .side 

 of the question, and in order to do ex- 

 act Justice we will give itentire. — En.] 



West Winsted, Conn., Dec. i». 18S1. 



I am a constant reader of the Weekly 



Bee .Jgt'un.vl, and like it very much. 



I think it is a little the best bee paper 



out, and 1 have seen some others. I 



notice that you are still severe on Mrs. 

 Lizzie E. Cotton, and give you credit 

 for being honestly impressed with the 

 belief that you are doing the public 

 a good tarn liy your articles about 

 her. I, nevertheless, believe you are 

 mistaken. I am indebted to her for 

 my lirst lessons in bee-keeping, and 

 have found her to be honest and re- 

 liable so far. 1 know that she is not 

 a brilliant business woman, but I be- 

 lieve she does the bestslie knows how, 

 and does not swindle anyone. 



I have written you before about 

 her. I offered through Oleaninc/s (A. 

 I. Boot's) 1?.5 for proof that aiiy per- 

 son liad ever sent her money for goods 

 and had neither received the goods 

 nor the return of- the money. Mr. 

 Root sent me the names of two or 

 three persons who had claimed such a 

 state of facts. Mrs. Cotton sent me 

 letters from the same parties acknowl- 

 edging the receipt of the same goods. 

 I have investigated her very carefully, 

 both among lier neighbors, and amoiig 

 those who liave dealt with her, have 

 seen a number who have ordered 

 goods and bees of her and have got 

 wliat they ord(>red of her. I have 

 corresponded witli those who liave 

 been there, and have been shown wliat 

 there was to be seen by Mrs. Cotton 

 herself. I am not paid for writing 

 this article, but I tliink you have no 

 right to say what you do about her 

 unless you are ready to prove several 

 instances of what you claim. I make 

 the same offer to you. I will give $■"> 

 for proof of money sent to her, and 

 received, without returns being made. 

 If she is a swindler 1 Wiint to know it, 

 and will then denounce her. I do not: 

 claim that her husband has always 

 been solvent or honest. But I do 

 claim that since the business has been 

 done in Mrs. Cotton's name that it 

 has been done straiglit. I believe 

 Mrs. Cotton to be trying to get an 

 lionest living in a legitimate business, 

 doing it in an honest way, and that 

 she is trying with the help "of her lius- 

 baiid to bring up a large family of 

 children in t\w. best way she knows 

 how. I don't think you have any right 

 to advertise her as a swindler unless 

 you are ready to prove it, and I assert 

 you cannot. 



Some time 1 may w;int to offer to 

 the bee-keeping fraternity free, 

 through the Bee Journal, a, new 

 kind of hive, not to sell it, but to 

 give the fuiiteruity the benelit of my 

 experience. I built last fall four 

 hives of brick. They bid fair now to 

 winter bees on about Id lbs. of honey, 

 out-doors, and to keep dry and bring 

 the bees out linely in the spring. I 

 never heard of a "brick hive, I have 

 thought several large volumes about 

 bees and bee-keeping, and the brick 

 hive is a part of the results. They 

 cost a little more, yes, quite a little 

 more, but if they will save 10 to 1.5 lbs. 

 a year, of honey, and be warm and 

 dry in winter, and cool and dry in 

 summer, and save putting in the' cel- 

 lar, they will be a good thing. I think 

 bees will be much less likely to swarm 

 from them than from the orilinary 

 hive. I ;iin only ;m amateur, iiiid only 

 have 20 colonies of bees. If after 

 trying my brick liives through a season 



