187C. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



105 



Deatli of Adam (xrinini. 



A. I. ROOT, Dear Sir : — From the enclosed advertise- 

 ment, you will see that my brother Adam is dead ! He 

 died at the village of Jefferson, April 10th, of congestion of 

 the brain, his age was 52 years. 



He was born in Germany, and emigrated to this coun- 

 try in 1819. He devoted hslfof his time to bee-keeping. 

 When he was a boy and attended school in Germany, he 

 spent all his leisure hours with his bees. After emigrating 

 to this country he was more extensively engaged in this 

 business, and pursued it with great energy and love, until 

 his death. He was confined to his bed for only five days, 

 but his health has not been good during the last year, and 

 on thai account he intended to sell some of his bees. 



Last fall my brother put into the cellar over 1400 colo- 

 nies of bees, and they came out in good condition, with 

 very small loss. 



I think you can without hesitation mark him as one of 

 the pioneers in bee-culture in this country, and as one of 

 the most successful in the world. 



Adam Grimm, ray brother, has been a contributor for 

 many years to the American Bee Journal, but had to 

 (luit on account of failing health and the Banking business 

 in which he was engaged. 



Yours Respectfully, C. Grimm. 



.Tefterson, Wis., April 14th, 187(5. 



[Another of our most valued veterans is gone ; and 

 we fear, one whom it will be hard to replace. Per- 

 haps no bee-keeper in our country or any other, has 

 for so many years made the business a steady practi- 

 cal success with so large a number of stocks, as has 

 our departed friend ; and what is of still more mo- 

 ment, perhaps none among our number have held 

 more faithfully the respect and esteem of all. His 

 personal importation of the real Italians, might be 

 mentioned among his many other energetic and suc- 

 cessful ways of doing things. As we bow our heads 

 submissively to the blow tliat has fallen on ns all, can 

 we not resolve to emulate that life of rjuiet industry?] 



VARIOUS BTEinS. 



I tried making thin sheets of wax according to your 

 directions in March No. but succeeded much better by 

 (lipping the glass first in strong soap suds, then in 

 melted wax ; try it. 



I fastened some of these thin pieces about 2,'< inches 

 wide, in a Lang^troth frame and put into a hive and 

 fed the bees ; in a tew days I had a frame full of nice 

 comlj, Init they made some drone comb at each end of 

 the frame; more than 1 wanted, and the queen has 

 laid it full of eggs. My bees have gathered consider- 

 able honey the past week from frnir, blossoms and wild 

 llowers, principally the ColUnsia Vernia. I wintered 

 fifty colonies, lost one— let it starve. My neighbors 

 gave me ten starving colonies last fall that 1 transfer- 

 red and wintered successfully Ity giving frames of seal- 

 ed honey. Some of my colonies have drones sealed 

 over, and plenty of them too. The prosjiect is very 

 rtattering lor a srood honey harvest. White clover very 

 abundant and vigorous. 



J. B. Rapp ,Owensville,0. April 2t '7G. 



Plain sheets of wax can be made very rapid- 

 ly with a little practice, by either of the meth- 

 ods, but we made the most beautiful ones with 

 the soaped cloth. If yon wish them of an even 

 thickness, dip them twice and turn the top 

 edije of the p,iass downward the second time. 

 If you w"ish thicker sheets, dip several times. 

 A sheet of pretty thick glass gives the best re- 

 sults. They may be made almost as smooth 

 as the glass itself. 



In spite of the excitement about box honey 

 we are having a better demand than ever for 

 extractors. We have just shipped the r)th ma- _ 

 chine this season to W. W. Oliver, Cormn'sviile, ^ 



Tenn, and he has been a customer every season 

 since we commenced to make them. With the 

 force now at work, we expect to be able to ship 

 them generally, the day the order is received. 

 The following is just at hand on a postal. 



I received the extr. April Cth, in good condition ; and in 

 one hour after its arrival I extracted 10 lbs of honey to the 

 satisfaction of all !-eeinir it. It is all I coidd wish. I ex- 

 pect to take :-;000 lbs of honey. Have 30 colonies. Got 

 900 lbs from ten colonies last year. Express ch irges on 

 machine t2,00. H. Stevenson, l)ardenne Mo. Apr. 22, 'H\. 



Your type is large enough for me— would not lilce to do 

 with less matter. But will clieeriully submit to the de 

 cision of the majority. W. Girdwood, Allegheny, Pa. 



[Thanks friend G., you are the first one among many in 

 the matter, that has shown the spirit upon which our na- 

 tion is budded. Cannot others follow the example?] 



Case of Section boxes at hand; they do loo'c as if Ihey 

 were at last, alviost, perfect ,J. .1. Whitson, 

 Valley Mills, Marion Co., Ind. April 21., '76. 

 ^ 



TRANS POSING E««S, AIVD THE DRONE 

 THEORY. 



^Spljheye have been several apiaries started in this n.-jigh- 

 J\ borhood. Messrs Ratcliff and King have one of 200 

 hives, and bid fair to do well in the bus inei-s; also Mr 

 Samuel Irvin has about has about GO hives. I commenced 

 later and have as yet only 22 hives to work on, which I am 

 hoping to double the present summer. Dr. Hunter, my 

 nearest neighbor, has about 20. We all use movable 

 comb hives and are setting our bees Italianized as fast as 

 possible, believing the Italians to be the best moth destroy- 

 ers ; they being the most destructive enemy which bees 

 have here. In the M:trch No. I see "Grafting queen cells" 

 the honor of which discovery you give to J. L. Davis. I 

 consider it a very valuable discovery which may be the 

 means of many other developments, Leading apiarists 

 disagree in regard to the drone egg ; some contend that 

 it is an imfertilized egg, while others conclude that all 

 eggs laid bv the queen are alike; the only difference 

 being in th3 foil given th3 young larvaj. Some 

 contend that the reason that bees from a fertile worker's 

 eggs are all drones, is that the bees are anxious for their 

 fertilization. Now Mr. Editor this cm all be fully tested 

 by the grafting procsss; if drone eggs in drone comb, be 

 grafted into worker comb, and placed in a hive where thej' 

 are not over anxious for drones, and these hatch out wor- 

 ker bees, it will be conclusive evidence that the bi^os 

 make ttie difference by the quantity of food given the young 

 larv;f . On the other hand, should they come out drones, 

 it will be conclusive evidence that a drone egg and a work- 

 er e^g %re ditTerently fertilized. Now Mr. Root, you use 

 a lamp queen nursery, and I call on you to tost this mat- 

 ter, or to have it done by some progressive apiiriin. This 

 can easily be done ; after the grafting process is over, 

 place them in a hive with no other eggs, and when nearly 

 hatched, place the comb in the lamp nursery and it will 

 be very plain what kind of bees are hatched. 



I venture to predict they will be drones. Then my the- 

 ory will be, Tirigin queens and fertile workers are alike 

 fertilized by eating in the worm state, of the royal jelly 

 deposited in the queen cells ; which jelly is fertilized by 

 the drone sperm only, consequently they are only fertil- 

 ized with the power of laying drone eggs, which eggs can 

 not produce worker bees ; this will also develop another 

 idea in queen raising, if my idea is correct. You may 

 place a comb of pare Italian eggs in a hive of black bees 

 leaving none but black drones, the royal jelly used will be 

 fertilized by the blaclc drone, and although the queen may 

 mate, on coming to maturity, with a pure Italian drone, 

 her posterity so to speak, will be affected by the royal 

 jelly which was eaten by her ; especially her drone proge- 



