1878.] 
.AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Bee Hotes for January. 
BY L. C. ROOT, MOHAWK, N. T. 
Bees wintering in-doors should he left entirely undis¬ 
turbed as heretofore directed. The hives out of doors 
should have their roofs or other covering removed during 
pleasant days, that the sun may shine directly on the 
hive, to dry up the moisture, and free the hive from 
frost. A board should be placed before the entrance to 
keep off the rays of the sun, so that the bees may not oe 
induced to fly. In all operations avoid the least jar, if 
possible, as here, as well as in-doors, the most perfect 
quiet is essential to successful wintering. 
Questions ancl Answers. 
Ventilation.— “ How much upper and lower ventila¬ 
tion should the box and frame hives have, while in win¬ 
ter quarters, with the temperature at 45° ? ”—If mats are 
placed over the frames, they will need no other upward 
ventilation. Box hives should have an inch hole in the 
top. An entrance so arranged that it cannot become 
clogged is sufficient for lower ventilation. 
“ Should the Floor of a Bee Cellar be made of 
Cement?’’ —Yes. It is, for several reasons, preferable 
to any other; and the sides of the cellar should also he 
cemented as high as the surface of the ground. 
“ Would you Advise a constant Fire in the room 
above a Bee Cellar?'’ —Yes, unless the cellar be¬ 
comes too warm in consequence. 
“Can LarVj® sent from one to two hundred 
miles by Hail, be depended upon to rear Queens 
from ? ”—If sent under most favorable circumstances, 
it might prove successful, but I would much prefer larva: 
taken from a hive nearer at hand. 
“ How Early in the Season can tested Italian 
Queens be Purchased ? As soon as the weather will 
admit of their being shipped. I would not advise se¬ 
curing them before May in this latitude. 
“Is IT BEST TO FEED POOR COLONIES BEEORE COLD 
weather sets in? '’—All feeding should be done before 
cold weather. 
About the Microscope. 
Plain Instructions about t’slng It, im¬ 
portant to All, especially those Unac¬ 
customed to handling microscopes. 
Among the many thousands who have italready, or will 
receive the American Agriculturist Microscope, it would 
not he surprising if a few should fail to derive from it the 
interest and instruction of which we know it to be capable. 
In deciding to supply our subscribers with the instru¬ 
ment, the difficulties that would be encountered through 
the inexperience of some of those who would receive it, 
were foreseen ; to meet, and even to anticipate these, we 
prepared a descriptive circular to go with each instru¬ 
ment. This points out the method of making several 
convenient appliances, to increase the utility of the 
Microscope, and points out some of the various uses to 
which it may he put. Every Person receiving the Micro¬ 
scope should not fail to go carefully through the six descrip¬ 
tive pages accompanying it, before attempting to use it. 
The following explanations will be specially valuable to 
many. 
In onr interviews with those who have called at the 
office for their Microscopes, and in noticing the manner 
in which they handle them, we find that onr descriptive 
article does not entirely meet the case of those who have 
never had occasion to use a microscope of any kind, and 
wo find that there are many such, and even those quite 
unfamiliar with the uses of an ordinary magnifier. It is 
necessary, then, to give even more elementary directions 
as to its use, than those given with each instrument. 
The Microscope was described in detail, with illustra¬ 
tions, in the Dec. Number of the American Agriculturist. 
This is for the aid of those entirely inexperienced, and 
we will suppose that the Microscope comes (as in many 
cases it will) to an intelligent person who has never hap¬ 
pened to see anything of the kind before, and who, if he 
ever chanced to look through a magnifying glass of any 
kind, never gave the matter any special thought orat.ten- 
tion. He takes the Microscope out of the box, and 
He Should First Examine Its Farts.— In 
the first place there is a base of hard rubber, which sup¬ 
ports all the rest, and in the center of this base, covering 
an opening, is a round plate of glass, called the Stage. 
Attached to the base are two metallic Clips, or curved 
springs, and these hold down two Slides, or plates, of 
glass, with a perforated water-proof plate {cell) between 
them. These, the two plates and the piece between 
them, he may pull out from under the Clips, and put aside 
for the present. There will then be the base with its 
glass stage. From the base there arises an upright rod, 
upon which slide the glasses or lenses. Of these there are 
three, joined together, which may be turned about and 
moved up and down upon the upright, they may be used 
as one lens, or they may he separated, and each used 
singly. Between the lowest lens, ami the middle one, 
is a flat plate of hard-rubber, having a round hole in the 
center. This is called a diaphragm, which will be men¬ 
tioned presently. Engravings showing the Microscope 
will he found with the general description on page 34. 
Having noticed all these parts, and seen what the in¬ 
strument is, the next thing is to 
I,ear ii How to Use It.— A microscope is to 
magnify something, and that something, whatever it may 
be, is called uimbject. For the present purpose, a little 
practice, in order to get “ the hang ” of the instrument; 
some fine print will answer as well as anything, and is 
everywhere at hand. The size, or kind of type in which 
this is printed is called “ Nonpareil,” and some of the 
same can he found in almost every newspaper. Having 
found punt of this size, cutout a bit, sayan inch square, 
place it on the stage of the Microscope, slipping it under 
the spring clips. Set the Microscope oil the table at a 
window where there is full day-light, (not direct sun¬ 
shine), or if at night where a good light from the lamp 
will fall upon the paper, and not he shaded by the hands 
or a hat rim. Separate the glasses so that only the upper, 
larger one will be directly over the object, which in this 
case is the scrap of printed paper ; turn the other glasses 
to one side. Now bring the eye near the glass, and look 
down through it at the print. Perhaps it will be blurred 
and indistinct. If so, raise the glass, by sliding it up¬ 
wards. Raise or lower the glass until you find the 
bight at which the printed letters look the largest, and at 
the same time the most clear and distinct. This will bring 
the glass near, or quite, to Hie very top of the upright, 
as its length is adapted to this. Now you have found the 
proper focus of the upper glass. Observe, that, you can, 
without moving the eye, see 6 or 8 lines of the print, and 
a corresponding width. The space that can he distinctly 
seen is called the field of the Microscope. 
Some, when they look through a glass, put the hand 
over the eye not in use, and most persons close the eye. 
With a little practice, the mind learns to concentrate 
on the work of one eye, and the other takes care of itself. 
Having noticed the print, and the imperfect letters, 
without lowering the glasses, turn away the upper glass, 
and bring the second one in its place over the object, and 
look at the print as before. Very likely the letters will 
appear indistinct, and to see them, as clearly as possible, 
it will be necessary to push the glasses down upon the 
upright a little. To get the focus of this glass, (which is 
necessarily lower than the first one), we bring it nearer 
the object. We see that it has a shorter focus than the 
other. It will be seen that the letters look larger, and, 
with the eye at that distance from the glass where they 
look the largest and clearest, hut 4 or 5 lines of the print 
can he seen without moving the eye. 
Now turn the middle glass away, and put the lowest 
one in its place. To get a clear view of the letters, this 
glass must be pushed down still nearer to them, they will 
look much larger, and only three of the lines can be seen. 
By this trial of the three glasses separately, it will be 
seen that the longer the focus, the less the magnifying 
power, and the larger the field, or the more can be seen. 
The higher the magnifying power, the shorter the focus, 
and the narrower the field—points of importance to keep 
in mind. In these trials eacli glass lias been used singly. 
Let ns now put all the glasses together, leaving the 
diaphragm out at one side, and use tlie three as if they 
were a single glass, putting them evenly over each other. 
To get tlie focus, so as to see the letters most plainly, 
the glasses must be pushed clown much lower than 
with either singly—so that the lowest is within half 
an inch or so of the object. With tiiis short focus, 
we shall expect, according to the principle just 
stated, to find a smaller field. You can now see 
distinctly only the letters of a single line. Then 
with the short focus and narrow field, the magnify¬ 
ing power should be much increased. See how ragged 
and broken the letters look, and the fibres of the paper 
are distinctly visible ! With the glasses thus placed the 
letters of only one line are plainly seen, and but about 
three of these letters in the line. But the letters of the 
line above and below, appear in part, just their ends, 
and serve to take away the attention from those directly 
under the glass. Just turn the diaphragm into its 
place, between the lowest and middle glasses. This cuts 
off the view of the parts of the other letters, and they 
no longer interfere, while the three letters directly in 
view, appear much clearer. This then is the use of the 
diaphragm—to make the field smaller, and to cut off 
those objects which can not be distinctly examined. 
In looking at the printed paper as an object, we keep 
the microscope standing on its base, the light falls upon 
the paper, and passes from that through the glasses to 
the eye.—We examine it as 
C) 
An Opaque Object.— And this is the way in 
which the microscope will he largely used, as in the ex¬ 
amination of Seeds, in the study of Flowers and Insects, 
and for many other purposes. We selected the print as 
an object to practise with, because it is something that 
every one can get without trouble, and if not so interest¬ 
ing as some natural objects, every one understands what 
it is, and with it can learn the handling, or 
Manipulation of the Miscroscope. One of the 
first requisites in the use of this, as of any other micro¬ 
scope, is patience. Though quite as important, perhaps, 
is a real desire to learn whatever the microscope has to 
tell about an object. 
After learning how to handle the microscope with 
opaque objects, those of another kind may be tried. 
Many things that one wishes to examine are of such a 
nature that they allow more or less light to pass through 
them. These are classed as 
Transparent Objects, and are seen by trans¬ 
mitted light, or light which passes through thin sub¬ 
stances, through the lenses of the microscope to the eye. 
It is well to examine most objects first as opaque, and 
then, if of a kind to allow of it, by transmitted light. 
Objects of this kind need a quite different handling 
from the others. Just at this season there are not many 
such objects that every one can get. Perhaps the wing 
of a common house-fly is as readily obtained as anything 
of the kind. In almost every house, a dead or dormant 
fly may be found in some corner, and its wing will make 
a pretty object. To examine this, the two glass slides 
are needed, without the waterproof cell between them. 
Clean the slides, neatly pull oil' the wing of the fly, lay 
it, upon one of the glass sides, place the other gently 
upon it, and slip the two together under the metal clips, 
or springs upon the base of the microscope, and it will 
be held securely in place. To see this, the microscope 
is to be held up towards the light, which will pass 
through the glass stage in the base, through the fly’s 
wing and the slides which hold it, and through the 
lenses of the microscope to the eye. The different 
glasses may be tried singly and in combination as 
directed for the printed paper. The same changes in the 
glasses, whether nearer or further from the object to 
arrange the focus ; the same difference in the size of the 
field and the same (or even greater necessity, for), use of 
the Diaphragm as before, will he noticed—and we may 
add, the same patience and careful handling will also be 
needed. In using the three lenses together, there is a 
Mechanical Difficulty.— The upright or rod 
upon which the glasses slide is in the way of the 
observer. This could not he overcome without at least 
doubling the cost of the instrument, and as one of the 
striking features of the microscope is its heretofore 
unheard of low cost, it was judged best to keep the 
price low, and submit to this slight inconvenience, 
which, after a short use, one soon luirns to allow for, and 
does not notice—still, we think it proper to point it out, 
that it may he in mind when first using the instrument. 
All this about 
The Mere Handling: of the instrument seems 
necessary for those utterly inexperienced—and the 
examples selected are merely for the purpose of making 
one acquainted with it. The sheet that accompanies 
each instrument suggests various objects of interest, and 
it should be carefully studied through. With a micro¬ 
scope at hand, one soon becomes accustomed to subject 
a large range of articles to its scrutiny, and it will be 
found in frequent demand. The glasses of a microscope 
are often spoken of as 
Powers.— A lens with a long focus and broad field, 
we have shown magnifies less than one with a short 
focus and small field, and the combination of three, 
with the shortest focus and most limited field magnifies 
more than either lens alone. The three lenses together 
are then the highest power of this Microscope, and the 
upper lens by itself is the lowest power. It is always 
well to examine an object with a low power first. This 
allows more of it to be seen, and ODe then knows what 
part of it to try with a higher or the highest power. 
Those familiar with microscopes, will look upon these 
detailed and simple instructions as superfluous. They 
are to such persons, who cannot understand how strange 
such a simple microscope is to the hundreds who may 
have never seen—much less tried to handle and use it. 
To illustrate how little such matters are understood by 
those who are entirely inexperienced, one friend wrote 
that he had looked through the instrument in every 
possible way, and “ he could see nothing. ’’ This gentle¬ 
man evidently supposed that the objects to be looked at 
would be with the microscope, and that, as with a 
kaleidoscope, the thing was all there and he had only 
to look in and see a sight. We send out the microscope, 
in part as an educational agent —useful for what it will 
teach about natural and other objects, hut it appears 
that in some cases its educational influence will begin by 
making persons acquainted with itself, and the method 
of using it.—We will hereafter give simple instructions 
for preparing objects. 
