THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



381 



up. When looking at this picture, 

 thoughtful bee keepers carefully 

 weighed the good and bad points, and 

 struck a b;iTance; some said "the 

 Germans are the best," more said 

 " the Italians are best." Acquisitive 

 honey-producers said, " Why can't we 

 combine tlie good qualities of both 

 races ?" determined breeders said, 

 " We can and we will," and now. 

 queens bred for qualities, and not for 

 the purity of any race, are pouring 

 tlirougli tlie mails like streams 

 tlirough a desert. 



At last, in s|)ite of all mistaken and 

 interested opposition, the time has 

 come when the leading honey-pro- 

 ducers of this country can use and 

 sell tlie same stock— the bees of their 

 choice. I have private means of 

 accurately estimating the popular 

 public sentiment of to-day regarding 

 this subject; also its growth during 

 the last few years. I predict a glo- 

 rious future for the development of 

 '■ ^lp(s-^4»icn'cfnia." At last, in the 

 traffic of queens, the breeder finds 

 honesty and interest together. 



Before I close I wish to say a few 

 words regarding what kind of queens 

 are best for purchasers to buy. If 

 one is so well satistied that he has his 

 eye on the strain of bees he is going 

 to possess, I know of no way better 

 than to buy untested queens and put 

 one at the head of each colony. I 

 did tliis with 40 colonies in lS7l,and 

 paid $2 each ; but if, on the other 

 hand, the purchaser wishes to test the 

 strain before changing to it, or tor 

 any reason sees fit to rear his own 

 queens, he should by all means order 

 one. or as many more as he can afford, 

 of tested queens. They will prove 

 much the cheapest in the end, as 

 ■every breeder very well knows. The 

 idea of purcliasing one untested queen 

 to test a strain by, is preposterous in 

 itself. I am of the opinion that the 

 more tested and less untested queens 

 are purchased, the faster we shall 

 march toward that coming bee. No 

 man should ever breed from an un- 

 tested colony. 



Dowagiac, Mich., July 16, 1883. 



For tlje American Bee JoumaL 



Combs Built in Wired Frames. 



T. A. HOUGAS. 



In regard to the impraclicability of 

 wiring frames exce|)t for foundation, 

 is fully settled in my niitid. I should 

 not do so, as I consider it but a waste 

 of lime and money. This spring I 

 expeiimented on this in two ways. 



1. I placed wired frames, and frames 

 with full sheets of foundation alter- 

 nately. 



2. With nothing but wired frames 

 in the hive. 



In the former they built the combs 

 from top to bottom of the frames in 

 strips, not averaging over IJ.3 inches 

 wide. The wire was preciselv in the 

 centre of the C(unb in each and every 

 ■case. They did not seem to want to 

 unite these combs (there was two or 

 three of these combs in each frame), 

 so as to make the frame solid, but 

 would leave large openings in them. 



In the latter they seemed to be 

 bewildered. Some combs tlipy built 

 properly, while with others the wires 

 seemed to be in the way. In one 

 case they built exactly at right angles 

 witli the frames. In one case a line 

 of drone cells was built on either side 

 the wire the full length of tlie comb. 



in another instance I wired a frame 

 and lilled it with foundation just half 

 way down from the top-bar. They 

 drew out the half sheet and a full 

 sheet on the outside of a division- 

 board before they completed the half- 

 lilled frame. 



After thus experimenting, I have 

 concluded that it would be utterly 

 useless, if not more than useless to 

 wire a frame unless you lill it with 

 foundation. I agree with Mr. Iled- 

 don, that it is impractical. 



Henderson, Iowa, July 16, 1883. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Experiences of a Novice. 



BY A NOVICE. 



This article is headed thus, so that 

 old bee-keepers may skip over it. It 

 is written by a novice for novices. 



I bought a colony of bees late in 

 the spring; a strong colony. The 

 hive was called a Langstroth, or I 

 should not have bought the bees. Not 

 liking the old unpainted hive, I sold 

 it to the man who sold me the bees. 

 After a fortnight, according to agree- 

 ment, I attempted to transfer the bees 

 to a new Langstroth hive, when I 

 found the bar of the frames half an 

 inch too long to set in my hive. 1, 

 however, succeeded by putting one 

 end of the bar in its proper place, and 

 allowing the other end to rest on the 

 top of the brood-chamber. 



.The combs were very thick and 

 irregular, and were half full of honey. 

 After a while the hive became too 

 full of bees, and not being able to 

 secure an experienced hand to divide 

 them, I placed a new hive about 8 

 feet from the full colony, and then 

 exchanged their places. Took tvi'o 

 thick-combed frames of bees from the 

 full colony and put them into the new 

 witli a frame of foundation on each 

 side, and a division-board. I could 

 not lind the old queen, so I chose a 

 frame with a queen-cell, and left in 

 the other hive a queen-cell. 



In a few weeks the old colony 

 seemed again to be in need of being 

 divided. I had replaced foundation 

 frames where I had taken the frames 

 of bees. These had cells, and were 

 covered with bees. This time I 

 secured the services of an experienced 

 bee-keeper. He took the full hive 

 about '2^i rods away, and put the new 

 hive where the old one had stood, and 

 put with it two frames of bees, and a 

 frame of foundation on each side; 

 but he could lind no queen. The next 

 day not more than 200 bees remained 

 In the new hive, the rest returned, I 

 think, to the old one, so now I propo.se 

 to put the two new colonies together. 

 VVIieu the last division was made, I 

 found the honey all gone, and com- 

 menced feeding tliern, near the en- 

 trance, with syrup from granulated 



sugar, but the flies took half of it. 



On inquiry I found a better way was 

 to soak a slice of corn bread in the 

 syrup and put it on the frames under 

 the cloth and cap. Yesterday, I tiied 

 the plan, and with such benevolent 

 intentions I thought I need not take 

 the veil nor smoker, but I carelessly 

 irritated the bees, and three of them 

 felt called upon to teach me to be 

 more gentle. I had, before this time, 

 put into my vest pocket a vial of 

 carbonic ammonia, and was now 

 anxious to try its virtues. I did so, 

 but this morning I have a very large 

 fat hand. I am now ready" to try 

 another prescription. The veil and 

 smoker soon set things all right. 



By the way, 1 had prepared 40 

 sheets of paper with nitre, and rolled 

 up with one sheet some cotton rags 

 and wood, put it into the smoker and 

 lit it with a match, but being in a 

 hurry my match fell down upon the 

 rest of the paper, which I threw upon 

 the ground to stamp out the tire, but 

 did not succeed. I have since pre- 

 pared more, and thank Mr. lligbee 

 for his information in the Weekly 

 Bee JouiiNAL. These experiments 

 have taught me several things : 



1. Always treat the honey bee gently 

 and respectfully. 



2. Always use a smoker and veil 

 when handling bees. 



3. Prepare the smoker as recom- 

 mended by D. lligbee. 



4. Never depend on powdered car- 

 bonic ammonia. 



Steele City. 



For the Amerlcau Boe JournaL 



Bees in "Washington Territory. 



• C. THEILMANN. 



I have just come home a trip from 

 Medical Lake, Washington Territory, 

 the great bathing resort of Spokane 

 county, where hundreds of people 

 have restored their health by the 

 waters of Medical Lake, of which lam 

 one that was cured of many years' 

 billiousness. 



Traveling considerably in the Ter- 

 ritory, I have only found bees in the 

 vicinity of Walla Walla. They seem 

 to do siilendidlv, and are gathering a 

 good deal of honey there, but the 

 bee-keepers do not manage them very 

 well. I only saw one (an Iowa man) 

 that had some kind of movable frames 

 in his hives, though very poorly gotten 

 up. All the rest tliat 1 saw, had their 

 bees in box hives, and did not know 

 how to get any honey, unless they 

 brimstoned the"bees in the fall. 



Walla Walla vallev seems to be well 

 adopted for bee-keeping,asthey hardly 

 ever lose any colonies in winter, for 

 the winters are generally very mild. 



I purcliased 2 colonies, the only two 

 the man had whicli would not offer to 

 sting in handlins;. and transferred 

 them 150 miles North, to the lake 

 above mentioned , and are the lirsl bees 

 that have ever lieeu taken North of 

 Snake river; they are gray-looking 

 bees, different from the rest I saw 

 around Walla Walla, but I saw such 

 bees last year while traveling through 

 Arizona. How those gray bees reached 



