344 



THE AilERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



tlie ends of tlie alighting-boards ; also 

 shallow pans with combs tilled with 

 slightly- salted water. A little judi- 

 cious feeding stimulates and encoura- 

 ge s the bees, and prevents their flying 

 so far from home iu the cold, spring 

 air, to flour and sawmills, where some- 

 times whole colonies are killed by the 

 flour and sawdust. Good wintering 

 and spring care will prevent " spring 

 dwindling." Keep the bees always on 

 the same stands in winter and sum- 

 mer ; put up good water-proof sheds 

 fronting to the South or East, tightly 

 l3oarded up on the back, eave troughs 

 to carry off the rain at the back, and 

 a wide" hoard nailed across the front, 

 to prevent the rain and snow from 

 blowing in on the hives ; and see that 

 the earth or flooring under jthe hives 

 is perfectly dry. 



The advantage in keeping bees in 

 one place is, that they are more gen- 

 tle, and in' swarming they rarely fly 

 but a few feet from the shed, and set- 

 tle on the first shrub or plant, and of- 

 ten on the corner of the same hive. 

 As soon as they are hived, I lift them 

 up and set them by the side of the 

 hive from which they issued. If in 

 rows near together, they are more 

 friendly, and are not given to robbing. 

 As to disease among bees : I have 

 not a doubt but that it is bred from 

 dampness, mold, bad air, cold, and 

 want of sunlight. One diseased colony 

 might contaminate a neighborhood. 

 Shut one family of children in dark, 

 damp, and moldy rooms or basements, 

 deprived of fresh air, sunlight, and ex- 

 ercise, and they may generate scarlet 

 fever so deadly, as to deprive a health- 

 ful city of its inmates. 



You do not want your houses filled 

 with crevices, broken windows, and 

 boles in the ceilings, in order to have 

 "ventilation;" neither do your bees. 

 They can fan in and out, with their 

 wings, all the fresh air they want. 

 Always have a sort of entrance bailor 

 close portico in front of the hives. It 

 shields the bees from cold blasts and 

 sudden changes. 



If the sun shines too warm on the 

 fronts of the hives, and there is snow 

 on the ground, stand up a shingle or 

 board to shade the entrance, thus pre- 

 venting their flying into the snow. 

 Try this method of "management. It 

 has been a perfect success with my 

 bees. 

 Vincennes, Ind. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Clipping the ftueen's Wiag. 



W. II. STEWART. 



On page 6112 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1883, 1 read the following : 



On page .57(1 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1S8.S, I fi)id an article by Ur. W. 

 II. Stewart, entitled, " Shall we Clip 

 our Queens' Wings V" at the close of 

 which he says : " If I were offering 

 queens for "sale as superior stock, I 

 would compel the brood mothers to 

 fly often, even if I had to toss them 

 up to give them a start." I wish to 

 ask him a question to illustrate the 

 matter in a different light. Suppose 



that he had a brood- mare from which 

 he wished to rear colts noted for 

 speed, would he consider it necessary 

 or advisable, during foal, that she be 

 driven at a high rate of speed, with a 

 view of transmitting that quality to 

 the offspring V W. N. Howard. 

 Derby, Vt. 



I regret that he did not put the 

 question differently. If by the vi'ord 

 foal, he means the period during 

 gestation, I would say that I think it 

 would be very wrongto treat the mare 

 as some bee-keepers are treating their 

 queens, viz : placing them in a close, 

 dark hive, and depriving them of their 

 organs of locomotion. To treat the 

 mine in like manner, would l)e to con- 

 fine her in a close, dark stable, and cut 

 her legs off. 



I hold that it would be very neces- 

 sary and advisalile, to drive the brood 

 mare every day at as high speed as 

 sound judgment would dictate, with 

 a view of keeping her organs of loco- 

 motion in a strong and healthy condi- 

 tion, for the purpose that she might be 

 able to transmit that condition to her 

 offspring. 



I know not what Mr. Howard would 

 have me understand by the term ■' a 

 high rate of speed." Some horses are 

 able to trot a mile in much less than 

 3 minutes, while it would overtax and 

 injure others to travel half as fast. 



In my article on, " Shall we Clip the 

 Queens' Wings," I stated that " over- 

 work or excessive strain, would injure 

 any member of the bee or other ani- 

 mal." If any member of a horse or 

 bee is overtaxed, then it becomes weak 

 and diseased ; and I stated that a 

 " condition of weakness may be trans- 

 mitted to the offspring." 



I do not propose to write articles for 

 the Bee Journal on the subject of 

 breeding fast horses ; but I would hke 

 to have some fast bees. In one sense, 

 the liorse- question has nothing to do 

 with modern bee culture ; but in the 

 sense that I infer Mr. H. intended the 

 question, it has very much to do with 

 it. 



In mv article on page 54, 1 stated 

 that " i hold that all animal life is 

 governed by the same universal law, 

 from which there is no divorce." When 

 we have learned that temperate labor, 

 in any class of animals, whether run- 

 ning." trotting, walking or flying, is 

 healthful, and that its tendency is the 

 development of vigor, then we have 

 solved the question in regard to all 

 other classes of animals. 



We often hear of brood-mares work- 

 ing before the plow up to within l-i 

 minutes of the birth of their colts, and 

 yet both mares and colts remained in 

 good health ; yet if the mares had been 

 worked or driven to excess, both would 

 most likely have died. 



I did not state that I would compel 

 queens to fly until their strength was 

 exhausted, or enough to do them a 

 physical injury; but that "I would 

 compel them to fly often." 



We often see queens fly from the 

 combs while being handled ; they are 

 gone for a short time, and then return 

 to their hive all right, and appear as 

 though they had enjoyed the fly first- 

 rate; and, as work goes on in the brood 

 department as regularly as before, 



we conclude that the fly did them no 

 injury. Birds seem to fly just as 

 easily and safely, and seem to enjoy it 

 just as well while they are producing 

 eggs, as at other seasons of the year. 



We have often opened the hive, after 

 the queen and her young swarm had 

 just left it, and we judged, from the 

 abundance of fresh eggs found in the 

 combs, that she has been busy depos- 

 iting eggs up to the time when she 

 started out with the swarm. 



Again, when we have put the queen 

 and the young swarm in a new hive on 

 empty combs, the work of depositmg 

 eggs has been resumed in a few min- 

 utes, and, as tlie work goes briskly on, 

 we know that the fly in swarming did 

 her no harm. Some queens fly severqj 

 times during the swarming season, 

 and, when they leave for the woods, 

 we find that they are able to fly long 

 distances, and very swiftly, too. 



None of us know how many times a 

 queen with wing not clipped, leaves 

 the hive during the warm season, for 

 a healthful fly in the open sunshine ; 

 and we know not the pleasure and de- 

 light that they experience during those 

 aerial excursions ; nor yet do we know 

 how important, and lasting impres- 

 sions, both mental and physical, are 

 being transmitted to the tiny egg- 

 germs during the happy flight, because 

 of the mental ecstasy of the mother. 



Who can depict the power of mind 

 over matter? The mind of man 

 drives the " iron monsters across 

 oceans and continents, and along the 

 many rivers that thread the bosom of 

 mother earth, and takes control of the 

 lower forms of the animal kingdom." 

 Who can tell what the mind of man 

 may yet do with and for the honey 

 bee" ? 



I would iinswer Mr. Howard's ques- 

 tion, by asking a few more questions, 

 for the purpose of reminding him of 

 truths with which he must already be' 

 somewhat familiar. Is he not aware 

 that a scare, or other mental excite- 

 ment of a disagreeable nature, often 

 makes strange and woeful impres- 

 sions, both mental and physical, upon 

 the eml)ryo, even in the human race ? 

 That certain mental conditions often 

 make sad inroads upon our health, 

 and at other times restore health af- 

 ter it is once broken '? That the most 

 successful physician is the one that 

 has the happy faculty of approaching 

 a sick person with a pleasing smile 

 that awakens hope and confidence in 

 the weak and nervous sufferer V That 

 these manifestations are the expres- 

 sions of one of nature's laws that em- 

 braces all animal life V 



In his question, he " supposes that I 

 have a brood-mare from which I wish 

 to rear colts noted for speed, etc.'' 

 Here I will " suppose " that the 

 mare is able to travel at a " high rate 

 of speed," and that her members of 

 locomotion are well developed and 

 hardened by practice ; that her mental 

 faculties have been well schooled on 

 the race-course ; that she, like many 

 other sporting horses, is quiet and 

 easily handled until she is led up to 

 the well-known race- track, and hitched 

 before a sporting sulky ; that she sees 

 and understands at that moment what 

 is at hand, and at once becomes so ex- 



