218 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



More About Mrs. Cotton's Trans- 

 actions.— I have been waiting pa- 

 tiently since tlie publication of my 

 letter of Dec. 9, in the Bee Journal. 

 page 40, of this year, in which I of- 

 t'ered $5 for proof that any person had 

 ever sent Mrs. Cotton money for 

 goods and had neither received the 

 goods nor the return of the money — 

 for some person to step forward and 

 claim the money. As yet not a person 

 has intimated to me directly or indi- 

 rectly that they have any claim on my 

 money, nor did 1 suppose there would, 

 for I have made a very careful inves- 

 tigation of Mrs. Cotton's affairs and 

 way of doing business, and had be- 

 come thoroughly s;ttistied that she was 

 trying to do an honest and legitimate 

 business. The only " peep " 1 have 

 heard from any one is the query on 

 page 91 of the Bee Journal, by J. 

 W. Merrilield, if I regard a certain 

 transaction described by Mr. Fletcher 

 " as straight." The transaction with 

 Mr. Fletcher is not published, but one 

 with his mother (apparently the same) 

 is published. Mrs. Cotton advertised 

 a '■ sample " liive for $4, and, through 

 ignorance, sent a "model" hive in- 

 stead of a " sample "" one. In my in- 

 vestigations, I came across trailsac- 

 tions of this kind, but also ascertained 

 that as soon as the difference between 

 " sample '' and '■ model" was pointed 

 out to Mrs. Cotton, she furnished a 

 full-sized hive, and has sent no more 

 " models," nor advertised any more 

 "samples" since. If one will exam- 

 ine the dictionaries for the difference 

 of meaning between the words " sam- 

 ple " and " model," they will lind that 

 it is more in the common use of tlie 

 words than in the actual meaning. 

 Now as to her " model " I make this 

 statement: If a box-hive man should 

 pay for a model, and by it be led to 

 use any movable franie'hive, he would 

 be amply repaid, even if he had to pay 

 95 cents express charges. The trans- 

 action was not intended as a swindle, 

 andl think was not. 



R. E. Holmes. 



West Winsted, Conn., March 27. 



[VTe have not tlie .slightest desire to 

 hinder any one from doing an honest 

 business, but until Mrs. Cotton ad- 

 justs the many complaints against 

 her method of doing business, she 

 certainly has no claim to be reckoned 

 among honorable dealers. She has 

 recently published a vindication In 

 the Farm and Woikshop, in which she 

 . says : 



" I have learned that many of the 

 bee journals and lieekeepers' asso- 

 ci;> ions are conducted wholly in the 

 intt^rests of some individual "or com- 

 pany of men for the sole p\irpose of 

 making money for the sale of some 

 particular, and often worthless, bee 

 hive or fixture, without regard to its 

 real merit or value to the practical 

 bee-keeper. The country is full of 

 this class, and they always combine 

 to crush out real merit in anything 



•pertaining to bee-culture brought be- 

 fore the i)ublic by individual bee- 



ikeepers. The greater the merit of 



the invention, the greater the effort 

 to crush it." 



This is a bare-faced falsehood ; she 

 has been doing business in such, a 

 manner that her customers complain, 

 and the bee papers, much against 

 their inclination, have given place to 

 the facts as stated by their corre- 

 spondents, simply ill the interests of 

 honest dealing, and to protect the in- 

 nocent from being imposed upon. 

 When she has satislied her complain- 

 ants will be quite time enough to at- 

 tack the bee periodicals, until then, 

 she must expect adverse criticisms. — 

 Ed.] 



Queens Beliind Division Boards. — By 



answering the following questions you 

 will very greatly oblige : 1. Are 

 queens often fouiid to lay behind the 

 division board V While preparing 7 

 colonies in American frames last fall, 

 I placed a comb behind the division 

 board in each hive, with the hope that 

 the bees would carry the honey for- 

 ward. They were not crowded for 

 room in front. On examination, two 

 days later, I found all the vacant cells 

 had been used in these combs by the 

 queens — an egg in each. This hap- 

 pened in 5 out of the 7 colonies. It 

 was the end of November. The queens 

 are liybrids. All the combs in the 

 body of the hives contained brood. I 

 put this forward also. Examined the 

 bees early this month and found many 

 very young ones among them. They 

 were all packed in a straw clamp in a. 

 sheltered position. 2. Are the queens 

 likely prolific V 3. What amount of 

 honey can be put into 1 lb. of comb V 

 4. How do the Arkansas brown bees 

 compare with the blacks in essential 

 qualities ; and the albinos with the 

 Italians y 5. I lind there are 2 sizes 

 of Langstroth frames used — the one 

 about 3^3 inch shorter than the other. 

 The former will just contain S 4I4X4I4 

 section boxes, ("an you tell me which 

 size is the miu'e used V Spring seems 

 rather behind this year, nothing bud- 

 ded yet and the we'ather cold ; but to- 

 day we are having warm showers. 

 Bees have wintered well so far. 



G. B. Jones. 

 Berlin, Out., Marcli 27, 18S2. 



[1. Very seldom, and then only 

 when the passage-ways are large and 

 the brood chamber crowded. 



2. Yes ; they had been packed away 

 quite warmly, and the winter being 

 unusually open toward the latter part, 

 young bees had an opportunity to ar- 

 rive at maturity. 



•S. We do not know. 



4. They are said to be larger, are 

 straighterandmore rapid comb-build- 

 ers, remarkably docile in disposition, 

 and of strong flight. They do not run 

 down and drop from the combs as do 

 the blacks, unless persistently smoked. 

 We cannot answer your interrogatory 

 regarding albinos, as our knowledge 



regarding them has been derived 

 from our columns. We suppose, how- 

 ever, inasmuch as they are Italians, 

 their habits in many respects are simi- 

 lar. Probably their 'jioints of super- 

 iority, if any, have been developed by 

 a careful and judicious breeding. 



5. The standard Langstroth frame 

 is 91^x17?^ inches, outside measure ; 

 the top-bar being 193^ from end to 

 end. This holds 8 41^x414 sections. 

 This size is mostly used.— Ed.] 



How I Use tlie Bee Journal. — The 



binder for the Bee Journal is just 

 the right thing. I have all the num- 

 bers, so far, for l.s,s2, put in tight and 

 nice. It is so handy, when one writer 

 refers to another, to turn back and 

 see what he has said. In this way we 

 get the ideas of different ones on the 

 same subjects. Bees have wintered 

 well and are strong ; drones were fly- 

 ing from my large palace hive ou 

 March 20. I predict a large tlow of 

 honey this season. 



Aaron Benedict. 

 Bennington, O., March 23, 1882. 



My Misfortunes.— Two years ago I 

 bought 5 untested or dollar queens 

 from a noted queen breeder, whose 

 name I will withhold at present; 4 

 out of the 5 produced hybrid workers. 

 Last spring I purchased a $3 tested 

 queen from another big bee man in 

 good standing. She laid eggs 4 weeks 

 and died of old age. For fear some 

 one will ask how you know she died 

 of old age, I will state, lirst, I claim 

 a judge of bees can tell an old bee or 

 queen at a glimpse; second, an old 

 queen does not kee)) lier hive well 

 stocked with bees. This is the best 

 proof of an old (pieen I can give. In 

 July I purchased another tested queen 

 of the same man; she kept her hive 

 fairly stocked until October, when she 

 failed. On examining tliis spring, I 

 find she is worthless. The worker 

 larva^ is verv scarce, and there is 

 about half a frame of drone larvte in 

 the hive, while all my other colonies 

 have from 4 to 6 frames of brood. 

 Now. I would like for some one to tell 

 us what we are to do to avoid being 

 swindled. When one wishes to Ital- 

 ianize his apiary it will not do to buy 

 untested or dollar queens. My expe- 

 rience in the five above mentioned, 4 

 were worthless, making the good one 

 cost me $5, and the majority of the 

 tested ones are so old they are ready 

 to die when we get them. Fortu- 

 natel}', I have a good strain, and cau 

 rear my own queens hereafter. 



Poseyville, Ind. J. F. Kight. 



[It is easy to understand how your 

 first tested queen might have been 

 old, as, having been purchased quite 

 early in the season, the party from 

 whom she was purchased had win- 

 tered her over and forgotten her age, 

 and, not having time or nef;lei'tiug to 

 test her anew, took it for granted she 

 was all right. With an " Apiary Reg- 



