“ NOVICE’S ” GLEANINOS IN BEE CULTURE. 55 
may yet succeed and turn the past experi- 
ence to a good account at last. In con- 
clusion I would say to every beginner, 
)iusl up, and thoroughly, too ; get. one or 
more ot’ the best text boohs published, al- 
so one or more of the best bee journals. 
Remember that knowledge is power, and 
with this and proper care you will succeed. 
Annie Larch, Ashland, Mo. 
As to why bees at times refuse to rear 
queens from brood, it is hard to decide. 
In some of our earlier experiments this 
was often the case, yet for some reason 
or other we have no such failures now. 
We have known a queen with bad wings 
to prevent cells being started time and 
again, and thus threaten the ruin of the 
colony until she was hunted out and 
killed. Miss Annie’s example of perse- 
verence is quite commendable, and well 
may she add "knowledge is power” in bee- 
keeping. By the way, we imagine her 
sex is as fond of power — i. c . , the power 
to command success — as the "lords of 
creation, even. 
A coon WAY TO HITE A SWARM. 
4M|L1P the queen's wings; attach a 
Quinby queen-yard to the hive, and 
when they' swarm the queen will usu- 
ally be found moving about on the bottom 
of the queen-yard. Sometimes she will 
be surrounded by a cluster ol bees. Cage 
the queen and place her at the entrance 
of the new hive, which must be placed as 
near the other as convenient. When the 
swarm is all out, lay a cloth over the 
queen-yard to prevent the hoes from re- 
turning to the old hive, which you can 
place where you wish to have it remain, 
and liberate the queen. .1. Pratt, 
Mallet Creek, Medina Co., 0. 
Quinby's queen-yards for an apiary of 
fifty hives or more would be quite an ex- 
pense, and itill more of a bother, it seems 
to us. If the ground is kept clean around 
the hive, as we have directed, the queen 
can be found generally with little trouble, 
without a queen-yard or anything of the 
kind. 
Hives, extractors, etc., etc., can, of 
course be sent cheaper as freight, but 
many do not seem to recognize that it 
is cpiite uncertain as far as time of tran- 
sit is concerned. For instance, we should 
expect to get a bee hive from New York 
by express in at least three days, but if 
we ordered it sent as freight it might 
come in a week, but if it should take three 
weeks we should think it nothing very 
strange. Hither way is safe, although we 
must expect that goods by the latter way 
may be exposed to rough handling and 
rough weather too, perhaps, and so they 
should be more carefully packed. 
Where there is no immediate need of 
the articles, and they exceed 20 or 2."> lbs., 
in weight, we should advise via freight 
SHAM, WE EXTRACT FROM THE 
IIROOO COMBS ? 
DfjMjHAT Mrs. Tupper, and in fact the. 
ssii entire National Convention fell into 
a grievous error in supposing the extract- 
or injured the brood, admits of no ques- 
tion, but Mrs. T’s further suggestion that 
nothing be gained by extracting combs 
containing brood is a point that might be 
[ considered. A case to the point has just 
j occurred during the late dry weather. 
Our index scales have shown a daily in- 
crease of two or two and a half lbs. per 
day, and Novice argued that spreading 
the combs by placing an empty one be- 
tween them would secure all the honey 
until they were storing in the upper stor- 
l| ies. 
Recollect we were so fortunate as to 
have plenty ot extra combs which is not 
always the case, but "P. G.” strongly in- 
sisted that the better way was to go “right 
through" and extract them all in regular 
order or at least to commence in that way 
and slop whenever it seemed advisable. 
The result was that we obtained nearly 
two barrels as lias been slated elsewhere 
and the brood combs were found so tilled 
with honey that it was utterly impossible 
for the queen to deposit eggs with any 
kind of convenience, lor even the empty 
combs placed in the middle were gener 
ally tilled with honey and pollen. 
The honey was found principally in 
bulged or lengthened cells around near the 
brqpd, and had evidently been stored and 
capped in a manner that was certainly 
poorer economy of both wax and labor 
than would have been the ease had it been 
stored over the surface of whole combs. 
That the latter result can be secured, was 
shown by two hives that had been extract- 
ed about a week previously, and further 
still the index scales showed a gain of 
three and throe-fourth lbs. instead of two 
the day after they had been extracted. 
Was not "P. G.” right? 
Again our friend G. W. Dean of River 
Styx this county, contends that a single 
story Gallup hive of eighteen frames will 
give as much surplus honey as two or 
more stories, and were it not for the fact 
that Mr. D. gets about as much honey pet- 
hive as any of us, we might feel surer that 
he had gone to another extreme. In 1870 
he took 5)00 lbs. from the six hives that 
comprised his apiary, besides making sev- 
eral artificial swarms. He obliges his 
bees to build all worker combs by remov- 
ing their brood to weaker hives wlien they 
try to build drone comb, and altogether 
he gets a line lot of honey with but few, 
simple appliances and little labor; and 
now we have just got to the point, for he 
gets all his honey stored around the brood 
and makes it a point to have brood in 
every frame during the honey harvest. 
Mrs. Tupper speaks of natural swarm- 
ing at times when the bees were not stor- 
ing honey or as she expresses it "when 
, i there is literally no hopey to be expect- 
