1874 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
117 
Jlci a cl* of C2 i*aln , ; 
PROM DIFFERENT FIELDS^ 
•>pj]{lKNl> NOVICE:— You ask me if I like the two 
story hive best? I have not tried the New Idea 
3i yet, but thought that I would next season. I 
hardly think for my locality the long hive is as good 
' as the two story ; I shall give them a fair trial next 
year, but think they would only do for summer. I 
can't see how they would be any improvement on the 
simplicity for spring or winter. I have had splendid 
luck with 81.00 Queens, got one of J. II. 1’. Brown, one 
of Ilosmer, two of J. Shaw & Son, and all pure; all 
came safely by mail. Those from Shaw & Son were 
packed best oi any Queens that I ever got. 
Bees have been doing very well here for the last two 
weeks, Buckwheat is in full blossom now and my 
hives arc getting so strong that I think 1 shall have 
to divide them more. There have been 3 swarms of 
Italians in the neighborhood in the last few days. 
1 had 9 swarms of black bees and 3 of Italians in the 
spring, about as many bees in them as there would be 
in i good hives, had to feed them until the 10th of 
May to keep them alive; have now ‘20 good ones from 
them; all Italianized and got 48G lbs. honey which I 
have sold for 25o per lb. Had an order last week for 
4 doz. quart jars for Pittsburgh. Sold most of it in 
Muth's quart flint glass jars, could sell live times the 
amount of such honey if I had it. Had two hives giv- 
en me yesterday, the man who had them said they 
would die with him and if I would take them home I 
might have them. Had to haul them 15 miles over 
baa roads, broke down the combs some but the bees 
were all right ; have two good Italian Queens to put 
in them now and they will make two more for me 
next spring (if they don't die). 
E. W. Hale, Wirt C. H. West Va. Sept. 4tli, 1874. 
There now we’ve “ketched it.” Our Extract- 
ors have been so universally praised on all 
sides, that we began to think our head was 
clear on one point any way, and that we knew 
how to make an Extractor properly if we didn’t 
know anything else. Therefore imagine our 
consternation on unfolding the following: 
MESSRS A. I. ROOT & CO.. Gents:— I busted up 
my extractor on lirst trial. The shaft broke oil' just 
below the wings while in full motion and the racket 
that ensued caused a rapid getting away of the curious 
spectators who had congregated to see the thing work. 
Of course I had to carry back my frames, much to my 
chagrin but to the evident delight of the bees, for 
they gathered rapidly upon the comb and sipped the 
uncapped honey >vit.h great gusto. Those who had 
come to witness the operation, with one accord pro- 
nounced it a failure. I was forced to admit that there 
had been deception or carelessness in the making of the 
machine, yet 1 insisted that the principle was correct 
and that honey had been and could be extracted from 
combs by machines of this kind. But I could not dem- 
onstratc it. The machine was quiet enough now. 
Ihe spectators, one by one, had returned, the boldest 
lirst, the timid later; the poor machine was limp and 
powerless, with its “in’ards” jumbled up like it had 
bad a severe exercise with the cramp colic. I tender- 
ly gathered it up and bent my way to the tinners, fol- 
lowed by the jeers of my valiant friends. 
Wm. C. Gkier, Lamar, Mo. Sept. 12th, 1874. 
tinners flxed it up and nothing could 
work better. It is just fun to throw out the honey (it 
cost me two dollars). My friends still pronounce it a 
DUinmig because I can’t get them to look again to see 
-vork. I suppose they are afraid of another “bust 
We dropped friend G. a postal “instanter” 
telling him to make out a bill for all his troub- 
le and chagrin, besides the tinner’s charges aud 
we would remit at once ; we tell the rest of 
(> y r readers the same, if they have had any 
trouble through our carelessness. We have 
unproved and strengthened our machines in 
several ways since that one was made, and 
invite reports in regard to their working, for 
Jt is only by experience that we can tell where 
o improve them without adding materially to 
their weight. 
In two story hives, does the Queen occupy onlv one ? 
Do the top bars of the lower story, the bottom bars of 
the upper and the space between prevent brood-rear- 
ing in both stories? That is. if room is given, will 
the Queen pass these bars and occupy both stories the 
same as if no bars were there ? 
Petek Mover, SharpsvUle, Pa. Sept. 15th, 1874. 
The Queen generally gets up into the upper 
story after a while, and eventually we often 
get the bees, brood and all above. We suppose 
it is because the warm air from the cluster 
rises until it is confined by the roof. This fact 
we consider the greatest objection to two story 
hives viz : the lower combs get cold and are 
apt to be deserted late in the season. The ad- 
vantage of shallow frames (where they are 
covered closely) for rapid brood - rearing in 
spring, is probably owing to this same fact. 
We always expect in using a two story hive, 
that the Queen will use both stories. 
MESSRS NOVICE & Co. I am in a quandary , will 
you please lend a helping hand? Here is my condi- 
tion ; a short time since I ree’d from Mr. II. Alley, a 
nice Queen, I got ner safely into a very strong colony 
of hybrids, have fed freely since her introduction, oil 
syrup ; she is now laying. In this climate I have plen- 
ty oi time to raise Queens from her, but there is not 
a single drone or any drone drood in any of my hives, 
or within live miles of me that I am aware of. Forage 
failed long since, and all drones were at once disposed 
oi. How shall 1 proceed? Shall I trv first to rear 
some drones to lcrtillze Queens this fall? or shall I 
rear one or two Queens, let them remain unfertilized 
and try to keep them over winter in a strong colony 
to he used as drone layers early next spring, id esl, if 
they should lay at all. A dozen or more laying work- 
ers, (so some say), are found in one hive at same time, 
would two or three drone laying Queens live upon 
equally peaceable terms in the same hive ? Mrs. Tup- 
per I think reports one case at least, where a Queen, 
reared very late in the fall, when there were no 
drones, was impregnated the following spring. We 
are told, that alter a Queen attains a certain age with- 
out being Impregnated, she cannot be iertilized. This 
may be true in relation to Queens hatched in the prop- 
er season. Gen'l Adair tells us that workers hatched 
late ill fall, remain in the adolescent state until next 
spring, that is, capable of performing all the work 
proper to young bees for a much longer lipic than if 
they had been hatched during the working season. 
Might not the same thing be true of young Queens, 
hatched very late in fall i Remaining iii Gen’l Adair’s 
adolescent or immature state through the winter and 
still being capable of impregnation on the return of 
spring. J. II. W 1 1 . so.\- Sen’r, Lexington, Texas. 
If Mrs. Tupper made the statement you men- 
tion, we presume she thought such was tin- 
ease, but a great number of experiments seem 
to indicate it an impossibility. Does not 
Adair’s remark like a great part of his writing 
seem to imply that he is more familiar with 
long words than with the interior of bee hives? 
Your only hope is to rear drones by liberal 
feeding which you should be able to do any 
month in the year there, for we can rear them 
here in Oct. When you get sealed drone brood, 
raise a new lot of Queens. If a Queen is not 
laying at one month old, you are safe in con- 
sidering her of no value. Even if rare instan- 
ces do show certain tilings possible, ’tis very 
unwise to calculate on a recurrence of such 
improbabilities. 
While two young Queens are occasionally 
known to have existed for a time in the same 
hive, on the other hand ’tis almost a daily oc- 
currence (at tlie proper season) in large Apia- 
ries to have the first hatched kill all the rest. 
Even in our lamp nursery when they are 
without bees, they invariably kill each other, 
unless quickly caged. 
If your bees have not already food for win- 
ter, even "Teakettles" may not save you now. 
