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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



many theories advanced, including the 

 one advanced by Prof. A. J. Cook. 



Now, the professors at the head of 

 agricultural and scientific colleges are 

 called upon to account for a certain 

 phenomenon ; they investigate, and 

 think they have found the real cause, 

 and honestly give the results of their 

 investigations, not using any positive 

 terms. As there is no one to dispute this 

 opinion, the common people take this as 

 a positive scientific result, when the pro- 

 fessor never intended it for such. 



When this insect theory was first 

 advanced, I thought it a good one ; but 

 when I stood under trees whose leaves 

 were dripping with sweetness, and could 

 not see an insect to produce it, I became 

 skeptical. I can believe that men have 

 seen our honey-bee gathering the excre- 

 ment of some insects, but I do deny 

 that these minute insects are the origin 

 of our immense honey-dew crops. I 

 claim that when rightly investigated it 

 will prove to be of vegetable origin. 



Now, for another queen-excluder: Take 

 the broad frame containing the sections 

 4^x4^x1%, and turn it upside down. 

 Tack a strip of perforated zinc from one 

 end to the other over the holes that the 

 bees pass through, leaving one-half of 

 the zinc projecting to cover the holes in 

 the next broad frame. When the sec- 

 tions are put in, and the frames wedged 

 in the super, you have a perfect queen- 

 excluder, with half the expense of those 

 in the market, and we have only one 

 bee-space instead of two under the 

 super, causing the bees to enter sooner. 



Columbia, Mo. 



Keejiiis Bees In an Attic, 



A. C. SANFORD. 



While many a family would like to 

 keep a few bees to produce honey, but 

 very few know how to manage them 

 properly. The result generally is that 

 they are not attended to, the swarms fly 

 away; and the bees swarm when the 

 farmer is haying, and his wife, or some 

 of the hired help, or neighbors, are left 

 to attend them. All know, also, that 

 bees have stings. 



That is not always very agreeable; but 

 I have a plan by which almost any fam- 

 ily may keep a colony or two of bees 

 with very little trouble, and have plenty 

 of honey. Here it is: 



Make a small, dark, frost-proof room 

 about 4x6 feet, as may suit your own 

 convenience best, in the upper part or 

 attic of your house. Erect a scaffold 



inside this room 4 feet high, and within 

 6 inches of the side, where you wish the 

 entrances, which should be about 6 

 inches wide by M inch high. This may 

 be enlarged or contracted to suit the sea- 

 son of the year. 



These entrances should be on that side 

 of the house which is used the least, for 

 Ijjees sometimes get too familiar. Now 

 put the hives on the scaffold, about 6 

 inches from the entrance. Make a little 

 board for them to travel out and in on. 



A hive should contain about 2,000 

 cubic inches, and have holes in the bot- 

 tom. It is said that bees will seldom 

 swarijj from such a place, and will Win- 

 ter well there, even in as cold a climate 

 as Wisconsin. 



Of course further north the room must 

 be warmer. Bees will build comb under 

 their hives in large quantities, in favor- 

 able seasons, in such a room, and the 

 owners, when they want honey, may go 

 with a light placed at one side, smoke the 

 bees, and cut off what honey they want. 



This plan is not a mere "castle in the 

 air," but is a practical one. I am an ex- 

 perienced apiarist, have been in the 

 business many years, and have produced 

 tons of honey. 



Ono, Wis. 



Introicing Virgin Qneens. 



JOHN HEWITT. 



In the notice of the Punic queens I 

 sent you, Mr. Editor, on page 167, for 

 Aug. 5, you omitted to say they came 

 by post, and were virgins. 



It is pretty well believed by every bee- 

 keeper in America that old virgin queens 

 cannot be safely sent a distance, and 

 introduced in an easy and simple man- 

 ner to strange bees. Even G. M. Doo- 

 little says, in Gleanings for July 15, 

 1891, page 583: "I consider the 

 introduction of virgin queens as imprac- 

 tical." And A. I. Root says at the foot 

 of his letter: "We have several times 

 given our opinion that it did not pay to 

 buy or sell infertile queens. If one 

 could be sure of getting them the day 

 they were hatched, either in the hive or 

 some kind of nursery, they might prove 

 valuable; but when it comes to trying to 

 introduce those that are several days old, 

 our experience is exactly with you." 



Now, all bee-keepers kuow that queens 

 do not mate until several days old, yet 

 Mr. Root admits they "might prove 

 valuable" if they could be had just 

 hatched, and if valuable at one day old, 

 how much more so would they be at from 



