THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



377 



breeding, and quite heavy, and in re- 

 turning thera to the clamps we placed 

 frames about 3 inches wide under tlie 

 hives to give a little more circulation 

 of air. Tliose placed in the cellar did 

 not appear so favorable, they having 

 been rattier uneasy for some time; 

 we brought tliem out, gave them a 

 fly, and made a short examination of 

 them, but found they were quite 

 damp, with evident signs of dwind- 

 ling, and a good many tint flew out 

 died before they could return. With 

 the results of our two metliods thus 

 far, we concluded tliat it would be 

 better to put the latter in clamps, too, 

 than return them to tlie cellar, wliich 

 we did, raising them from the bottom- 

 boards and giving them plenty of air, 

 and a free passage in and out of the 

 hives. This spring we left them un- 

 til quite late, and they came out al- 

 most full of brood, stronger, I think, 

 than ttiey were last fall by a quarter 

 of their number, tliose in the box 

 hives having extended their combs 

 about 2\£ inches below the hive into 

 the frame whicli we placed under 

 tliem in February. With this success 

 in clamps, I tliink it will be some time 

 before we attempt wintering our bees 

 in the cellar again. 

 Frankford, Ont. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Theory is Not Infallible. 



GASTON 31. ALVES. 



It is thought that bees with a fertile 

 worker will not accept a queen. 

 Prof. Cook, in his " Manual," page 92, 

 says : " Yet they seeui to satisfy the 

 workers, for tliey will not brook the 

 presence of a queen when a fertile 

 worker is in the hive, nor will they 

 suffer the existence in the hive of a 

 queen cell, even though capped." I 

 quote from my note book of this year : 

 April 4tli. Forced box hive and put 

 swarm into hive No. 14 with empty 

 frames ; put box hive on stand of hive 

 No. 1, and moved No. 1 to a new 

 stand ; April S — Found new worker 

 comb and eggs in liive No. 14 (thus it 

 is certain the queen was forced with 

 the swarm from box hive). April 2o — 

 Forced box hive (see April 4th) into 

 hive No. 16, with small strips of 

 worker foundation in frames ; looked 

 for young queen, but could not tind 

 one. May 4 — Examined hive No. 16 ; 

 bees making only drone comb; one 

 drone comb contains eggs and brood ; 

 no otlier brood. May 16— Gave hive 

 No. 16 worker brood from hive No. 6, 

 to see if queen cells would be started. 

 About a week afterward (no entry 

 made of this) examined the hive and 

 found two sealed queen cells on the 

 comb given on the 16th of May, but 

 as tlie cells were constructed almost 

 horizontally, I badly bruised them in 

 lifting the frame out. I then de- 

 stroyed them and sent to Mr. J. T. 

 Moore for one of his Italian queens. 

 June 3— Received Italian queen by 

 mail of J. T. Moore, and introduced 

 her caged, in hive No. 16. Still found 

 only drone brood and eggs, and again, 

 after very careful search, could find 

 no queen. Colony considerably re- 



duced in numbers. June 4 — Liberated 

 queen in liive No. 16, and found her 

 in the after part of the day well re- 

 ceived. Now, all of tills seems to me 

 to be evidence .satisfactory of the 

 presence of a fertile worker in the 

 above hive ; and hence it follows that 

 bees will bolh construct queen cells 

 and readily accept a queen in the 

 presence of a fertile worker. We 

 may hence conchule that bees value a 

 fertile worker slightly, and are always 

 ready to accept something better ; 

 and that fertile workers are not pests 

 as generally imagined, but are simply 

 the indication of certain abnormal 

 conditions, whicli the bees will always 

 endeavor to correct if the means are 

 placed within their reach. 

 Henderson, Ky. 



[You have had jiroof almost positive 

 that a fertile worker did occupy the 

 hive, and that a queen was accepted, 

 but it is an exceptional case. — Ed.] 





WiWi£7rM 



Sweet Clover in Woods Pasture. — 



W^ill woods pasture be too shady for 

 sweet clover, to be successful for bee 

 forage V We are having cold, rainy 

 weather. Bees cannot fly more than 

 half of tlie time. I have had 2 swarms. 

 The hives are well stocked with bees, 

 but tliere is a poor prospect for honey. 

 1 shall count on bees this year as I do 

 on cliickens. I never count on 

 chickens until they are hatched and 

 the rats have one week to work at 

 them, then count the balance. 

 Villisca, Iowa. James Eenian. 



[Unless the shade is quite dense, it 

 will not be much detrimental to sweet 

 or melilot clover for bee forage.— Ed.1 



Bees are. Booming.— Bees wintered 

 splendidly,' and everything works all 

 rigiit yet. No frost to hurt fruit 

 bloom (and trees blossomed very full), 

 so bees have had a grand time. It 

 has been a little cool attimes, it is 

 true, but they have built up very 

 fast ; 2 swarms May 2.5, and 27, and 

 so on. My reccn'd says out of 40 colo- 

 nies, 35 are marked A No. 1. Our 

 prospects for fruit is grand, and if 

 nothing interferes now, we will show 

 Chicago some nice plums and peaches. 

 W. D. Markham. 



Hart, Mich., June 1,1882. 



How to Produce the Coming Bee. — 



I will suggest to tlie Dee-keep.er who 

 wislies to immortalize himself by 

 breeding for the "coining bee," ac- 

 cording to the programme of Prof. 

 Cook, in tlie article from the Rural 

 New Yorker. The best place on the 

 Continent to fertilize his queens is 

 the island of Long Point, Out., in 

 Lake Erie. It is 15 miles from the 

 Mainland, abounds in the timbers, 

 wild flowers and plants peculiar to 

 that latitude, including an unlimited 



amount of wild grape vines. The 

 boats and steamers connect it with 

 the main land twice a week, and the 

 latter place is as line a bee country as 

 any part of New York State, while 

 the climate is tempered by the waters 

 of the lake, the coast for a few miles 

 inland being tlie home of the apple, 

 peacli, plum, pear, and the liner 

 varieties of tlie cherry, etc. On this 

 island the bee-keeper can turn loose 

 his choice drones, and bring his young 

 queens tliere with a certainty as to 

 tlie result. D. P. Norton. 



Council Grove, Kans. 



From Louisiiina.— My bees are do- 

 ing very well. I have 13 colonies ; 10 

 are strong. I will extract on the 1st 

 of June. Mr. Henry Stecla is still 

 feeding ; has 140 colonies and is doub- 

 ling back. Mr. M. A. Garrett all 

 right with 35 colonies. I extracted 

 half a barrel. Our thermometer stood 

 at 84^ on tlie 2Stli and 29tli. I send 

 you by mail two specimen flowers of 

 honey plants ; the yellow tassel comes 

 from a tree which grows here in the 

 Soutli. It is said that it was intro- 

 duced from China many years ago. 

 The other I found by the road side ; 

 the bees were lighting over the nectar 

 which it contains. What are their 

 names V Chas. Sonnemann. 



New Iberia, La., May 30, 1882. 



[The yellow tassel mentioned above 

 is from the tree commonly called 

 China oak (Querctts Cliinensis]; the lat- 

 ter we have many times recommended 

 as a most desirable honey plant — 

 motherwort.— Ed.1 



Loss of (Jueen.— There are a great 

 many causes for loss of queens, but I 

 think I had an exjierience somewhat 

 different from anything read or heard 

 of. I had a smallframe of brood, 4x10 

 inches, inclosed in a small box with 

 glass sides, covered with sliding 

 panels for observation, in which I had 

 a queen hatch on the loth of last 

 August. She was large and nice, and 

 was perfectly contented with her 

 small home until the 20tli of August, 

 when at 1 o'clock she took a bridal 

 flight and was out two hours, when 

 she returned. I was standing on the 

 look-out, and saw her enter the hive, 

 and I immediately raised the panels 

 from over the glass and saw at once 

 that the bees had caught her and were 

 tearing away tlie white thread-like 

 appendage which was hanging to her 

 when she returned to the hive. I 

 watclied the proceedings until I was 

 satisfied they intended her destruc- 

 tion, as they had her by the wings and 

 legs, and were using every effort to 

 sting her, wliile the whole colony was 

 in an uproar, and by this time they 

 had taken every visible thing away 

 from lier that did not belong there, 

 yet they persisted in her destruction 

 until I had recourse to my smoker, 

 and then it was hard to make them 

 desist, until I could take her out, 

 which I did until they were quieted 

 inside the hive, wlieni returned her; 

 but the same hostility existed, and I 

 smoked the bees until they were as 

 black as a chimney sweep, and all to 



