GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
1874 
88 
I cannot understand what you mean by “doorstep," 
♦•common sense entrance." It is not’ described in 
OLKANiNiirt satisfactorily. You presume we have all 
.read the A . H- a number of us wish we had. I see 
you or some writer in (.leanings refers to your de- 
scription of it as given there. Name lost. 
We presume the explanation in our circu- 
lar for was sufficiently explicit, if not, we 
w ill try again. 
Let A, represent the front, and B, the hack 
«(' a one story Simplicity hive, ami C I), the 
bottom hoard made just like the cover, as we 
have so often explained, and let the dotted line 
represent the ground. By letting the hive pro- 
ject as represented, we have the entrance just 
hclow A, hut without the slanting I ward E, 
for a door-step, the bees would have to climb 
the perpendicular front of the Itottom board, 
which is very dillicult when loaded. Now 
with one edge of E, on the ground, and the 
other, whieh is beveled sharp, resting against 
the bottom board, nearly letlel with its upper 
surface, they have every facility for access. 
Now E, would soon slip down out of place, so 
we fasten it by driving a staple of galvanized 
wire, F, one leg into the end of E, and the oth- 
er Into C I), with another similar one at the 
opposite end of E. 
We have given this illustration for the ben- 
efit of those having the Simplicity hives al- 
ready in use, for the Standard hive having a 
1 ermanent bottom board, has also a permanent 
iloor-step. We are perfectly satisfied now that 
the Standard lias every advantage of the two 
story hives and as it is much less labor to ex- 
tract the honey from it, we would earnestly 
advise all who can, to adopt it in preference, 
whenever an opportunity will permit, without 
too great an expense. 
The following is taken from a letter just rec’d 
from Mr. Nunn, the friend we mentioned who 
brought our imported Queen from Italy. 
Do not represent thint ns bripht. for they are dark, 
and l do not wish any one disappointed. Their work- 
' rs are not as bright as many we lia\ e oi home reared 
Queens, but their disposition seems remarkably kind, 
.-t me of theQtieens hove almost idled their hive with 
their own progeny. 
The Queens mine from Milan (SartoiTs apiary) and 
he said were pirkvd nit in several diileretlt parts with- 
in ubout tilty mites ot tin re. None of them from tin* 
south, where Dadntit got most ot bis. 1 prelcr bees 
front tlie North tor my own use. even if they are dark. 
I enuldut see tmieh diflereneo between the bees of 
Milan and those on the Jatl.es. North, ibey claim at 
Milan their bees to lie larger, brighter, amt inure pro- 
fitie than those of the higher ci untry North. 
Tlte inclosed ratal is of a celebrity of Milan, who 
knows yon well through tin* .-1. B. J. and has transla- 
ted some of your writings, lie suit! perhaps 1 would 
have an oppbrtiinltv to hand it to you. E. T. Ness. 
Oherlln.fi. JuneTiith. 1S74. 
We would refer such of our friends ns cure to 
investso much, to Mr. N's advertisement. We 
can assure them that whatever he states can 
he implicitly relied on. ami we have been very 
agreeably surprised at ilmiing our own Queen, 
fully equal in every resjiect to any Queen we 
ever owned, notwithstanding we have been so 
frequently told. Imported Queens were inferior 
• o home bred ones. Tis true she is dark, but 
her workers are all we could desire, and so 
diligent is she in her duties that site is al- 
most invariably found depositing eggs, and 
unlike our other Queens she alwnyx continues 
to do so, even when the cotab containing her 
is held up for the inspection of visitors. On 
one occasion when we had omitted to give her 
the requisite “elbow room,’’ she went over her 
ground the second time putting two eggs 
regularly in a ceil. 
MESSRS NOVICE & Co.:— I desire to consult tlte 
■‘Wind-mill” upon a lew points, wlth-h 1 should be 
thankful to have removed outside of the mist which 
surrounds them. 
1. lu hybrid stocks, we have workers some with 
three, some wilh two, some with title yellow baud, amt 
others again with long slim black bodies without any 
yellow band, would there lie any difference in the 
value of Queens retired from these eggs, which if 
suffered to produce workers would hutch out the /our 
differently marked bees as above.* 
In a word, would not a Queen roared from an egg 
which would have produced a three banded worker, 
be nearer pure, ami every wav better than a Queen 
reared from an egg that wouid nave produced a single 
banded, ora full dark colored worker 1* 
2. In the new style of hive, I have the broadside of 
one sheet of comb exposed to view through the glass 
In rear. 1 notice some of the bees rapidly running 
over the comb, frequently turning around and shaking 
their bodies most violently and a few bees following 
them around in their wild movements. The books 
toll us that these are young bees, (wax producers) and 
that they thus give notice to others, that they have a 
crop of wax scales ready for use. This may be so; 
but I notice that there are others just in Horn the 
ilelds, legs loaded wilh pollen that go through tin*, 
same wild Quaker actions. Ilooks further inform us 
that the wax producers cat largely of honey and 
remalu in a quiescent state whilc’sccrctioa ’is go- 
ing on. Let this suffice for the present, will consult 
the Wind-mill on other points some other time. 
Respcctlully yours, J. II. W l lsi t.N, Sj:n, 
Lexington, Texas. May 30th, 1874. 
We hardly see how one can answer the first, 
because we cannot tell whether an egg that we 
use to rear a Queen lie one that would produce 
a Black or an Italian worker; we do know 
however that Queens reared from a hybrid 
mother, vary greatly in color, and we have had 
an impression that yellow Queens gave us 
workers with the most yellow bands. Import- 
ed Queeus however, may be quite dark and yet 
produce beautiful workers ; perhaps not so 
light colored, but we do think selecting Queens 
that produce very light colored iiee-s has in- 
jured the value of I he Italians as honey produ- 
cers, and possibly may have (we can only con- 
jecture) something to do with our spring 
losses; these bright yellow workers being 
shorter lived, and failing before brood is reared 
to replace them in the spring. 
In regard to the second matter, ’tis our opin- 
ion that the movements you saw were only 
their expressions of rejoicing at something that 
pleased, such as a sudden yield of honey, an 
accession to their stores by robbing, feeding 
them, fine weather after a storm, a lot of young 
bees just hutched etc., etc. We have seen a 
whole colony set wildly rejoicing just by giv- 
ing them a few clean white empty combs when 
they had the rest all full. We have no faith 
that tlte wax producers have any thing to do 
with it although we have seen such statements. 
When a young bee makes his first foraging 
trip and returns with a load of pollen, he seems 
anxious that, all shall notice his great achieve- 
ment, goes in tlte hive and out several times, 
shakes his body, runs against his fellows as if 
they were “no account" and often seems to in- 
duce his fellow juveniles to go forth in hot 
haste to see if they cannot do as well. In truth 
bees are as jolly, playful and happy as kittens 
when you ouce know ’em. 
