THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



809 



bees." Again, on page .550. he says 

 that " Dame Nature either forgot to 

 einUnv tliein with it, or did not care 

 for their failine, or herself made <i 

 faihne; for they (hi not at all times 

 succeed any better than the tender 

 pUmt against the drouth, the beauti- 

 ful shriib against the frost of winter, 

 the sparrow against the hawk, the 

 minnow against the shark, etc."" 

 Now, with all due respect for ilr. II., 

 I wish to be allowed to express my 

 objection to his assertions, for therein 

 appears to be a grave charge against 

 the Creator, in that Mr, II. accuses 

 Him of indilference about his works, 

 or of failure to accomplish what lie 

 intended. 



Let us examine this matter a little 

 before we accept it. JMr. II. may be 

 fully convinced in his own mind that 

 he knows better than the bees what 

 they need ; but has he demonstrated 

 it sntliciently clear to convince others 

 that such is really a fact 'i We, of 

 course, leave every one to be his own 

 judge about that ; but in regard to the 

 reasons which he offers in support of 

 his assertion, that bees are deticient 

 in instinct, I wish to say : 1. I am 

 not aware that plants and shrubs have 

 any instinct at all, or any powers of 

 volition whatever, and, therefore, can 

 see no similitude in the comparison ; 

 and so far as tlie sparrow, minnows, 

 etc., are concerned, when they are 

 pursued, overtaken and devoured by 

 predatory animals stronger than 

 themselves, it is no indication that 

 they are deticient in instinctive knowl- 

 edge for self-preservation, but only 

 that they are compelled to succumb 

 to powers- greater than their own ; 

 simply the weaker is overcome by the 

 stronger. I believe, and, no doubt, 

 Mr. n. will concur with me in this, 

 that if the sparrow, minnow, and all 

 others of the weaker creatures of crea- 

 tion could only receive sncli assistance 

 as woald enable them to carry out their 

 instinctive impulses for self-preserva- 

 tion, that they wouNi never allow 

 themselves to fall a prey to the de- 

 stroyer ; and, no doubr, tiiis principle 

 will hold good with bees as well as 

 with anytliing else. Therefore, it is 

 clear to mv mind that in order to 

 secure the best results, we should not 

 try to controvert or in any way inter- 

 rupt the plans which the bees devise 

 for their own preservation : but when 

 we can render them such assistance as 

 will enable them to consummate those 

 plans, then, and not till then, do I be- 

 lieve that this winternig difhculty 

 will be successfully overcome. I am 

 slow to believe that instinct ever leads 

 astray or guides in the wrong direc- 

 tion. 



"And reason raise o'er !n8tin''t as you can, 

 In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man." 



The Tree-Trunk Principle.— It 

 is not in my nature to accept any 

 theory or believe any statement simply 

 because some certain person has said 

 it is so, unless that person can pro- 

 duce some evidence or argument 

 which will appeal to my understand- 

 ing or in some way accord with my 

 own experience ; but I am quite in- 

 clined to think that Messrs. \Vm. F. 

 Clarke and A. II. Button are leading 

 off in the right direction on this win- 



tering question ; and as a reason for 

 this belief, allow me to give a little 

 item of my own experience. 



Some o.'i'or t(l years ago, when I was 

 a mere lad, my father set me to work 

 to make a bee-hive on the following 

 plan : A box-hive 2f) inches high by 

 liixl2 inches, and in the lower part of 

 this box-hive were fixed three honey 

 drawers on each side, t;xGxl2 inches, 

 thus leaving an open space between 

 them of about 4x12 inches, and IS 

 inches high. Over these drawers was 

 placed a iloor or bottom-board with a 

 slot or passage-way 1x12 inches in the 

 centre, and above "this was the brood- 

 chamber, 16x12x8 inches, then a top 

 board or cover was put on and nailed 

 down tight, and a door upon the back 

 side to exclude liglit from the drawers 

 and to make all snug, completed the 

 hive. (I write this from memory, 

 and the dimensions may not be ex- 

 actly correct, but I think that they are 

 nearly so ; the principle is the same 

 anyhow.) 



A swarm of bees was put into this 

 hive, and the whole thing was put 

 upon a bench about If inches high, 

 with blocks placed under each corner 

 of the hive to raise it about % of an 

 inch, and there it stood just in that 

 position during summer and winter. 

 The bees tilled it with comb clear 

 down to the bottom of the hive ; but 

 in winter they would all cluster in 

 this upper chamber, thus leaving an 

 air-space below them, 12x-l and IS 

 inches high, except what space the 

 comb occupied. In this condition they 

 lived 15 years in succession without 

 once being winter-killed. 



When Mr. Clarke announced his 

 new theory, it at once recalled to my 

 mind the above-mentioned facts, anil 

 I felt quite inclined to believe that 

 his idea might be correct, and, if it 

 does not entirely solve the difficulty, 

 it may prove to be a very important; 

 principle, and, therefore, a step in the 

 right direction. 



Seymour, 0+ Wis., Dec. 6, 1884. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



First Queen by Mail from Jerusalem, 



ANDREW H. DIVEN. 



I would say to the bee-keepers gen- 

 erally, that on .June 23, 1h,S4, I re- 

 ceived a Palestine queen from Puilip 

 T. Baldensperger, of Jerusalem, Pal- 

 estine, direct by mail, the cage being 

 post- marked at Jerusalem on "May 28, 

 1884. 



The queen came through in good 

 condition, no evidence of having suf- 

 fered from conlinement. About one- 

 half of her attendant bees were dead. 

 She began laying in less than a week 

 after her arrival, and is now in winter 

 quarters with a full colony of Pales- 

 tines. Mr. B. and myself think that 

 this is the first queen sent direct by 

 mail from Palestine to the United 

 States. If we are correct, we mod- 

 estly ask that it be so placed on record; 

 if we are in error, we invite correc- 

 tion. 



Mr. Baldensperger wrote me as fol- 

 lows on Aug. 6, 18s4, dated Jerusa- 

 lem : " I am very glad to know that 



the first queen mailed from Palestine 

 to the United States arrived safely, 

 and that stie began to lay, too. It is 

 a great satisfaction to know that the 

 confinement of 2() days did not injure 

 her. In the lirilinh Bee Journal of 

 Sept. 1, 1SS4, is a notice of an Ameri- 

 can queen which crossed the Atlantic, 

 and the correspondent says, " Proba- 

 bly this is the tirst queen which 

 crossed the Atlantic." I think that 

 he refers to the " golden queens " as 

 being the first; for Messrs. Benton, 

 I). A. Jones and others occasionally 

 mailed queens from Syria and Cyprus 

 to England first, and after some rest 

 they were sent on to America ; but 

 the queen which I sent you went 

 through from Bethlehem via Jeru- 

 salem to the United States in 26 

 days." 



The cage in which the queen came, 

 I send to be placed in the Museum. 



Seneca, ~o Pa , Dec. 9, 1884. 



[The cage is placed in the Museum, 

 as requested. — Ed.] 



Home Form. 



To Beginners— Manipulation. 



.7. E. POND, JR. 



I have been asked why some one of 

 experience does not write a chapter 

 upon manipulation. I presume the 

 reason is that no one has thought that 

 there was any necessity for so doing, 

 as it was supposed that every one 

 knew just how to do this simple work ; 

 the question having been asked, leads 

 me to think tliat an article on the 

 subject might prove of some interest — 

 to the novice if to no one else. 



In the tirst place, it should be well 

 understood that a colony of bees 

 should not be examined or manipula- 

 ted unless for a purpose. The pro- 

 miscuous opening of hives, pulling 

 out the combs and disturbing the clus- 

 ter in the spring, or the busy worker 

 in warm weather, has worked much 

 harm, and the novice will do far bet- 

 ter in his work when his apiary 

 becomes so large that he cannot sub- 

 ject his colonies to a daily overhauling. 



Again, colonies should not be exam- 

 ined at all save to perform some 

 actually needed work, (such for in- 

 stance as an introduction of a queen 

 or something of the kind), except in 

 pleasant weather, and when it is 

 warm enough for the bees to tly safely. 

 The beginner who has it all to learn 

 in the way of practical work in the 

 apiary may, however, take some par- 

 ticular colony and experiment with 

 tliat alone, by opening and examining 

 it until he gains that confidence and 

 expertuess which comes from practice 

 alone ; for this is a part of his appren- 

 ticeship, but it should be discontinued 

 as soon as he is able to perform the 

 work expertly. 



To examine a colony, the first thing 

 to be done is to blow a little smoke 

 in at the entrance, and, by the way, 

 at no other time save when usin^ 

 smoke should one stand in front ot 

 his hives — all operations should be 

 performed from the rear. In using 

 smoke there is no necessity of blow- 

 ing in a large amount, the smallest 



