the first swarm came out with a young queen, leaving the old queen in the hive, with plenty of sealed queen cells. In another case, when making an artificial swarm, I found the old queen and a young one both, fertile, with several sealed queen cells. E. GALLUP. _Orchard, Iowa._ * * * * * The amputation of _one_ of the antenna of a queen bee appears not to affect her perceptibly, but cutting off both these organs produces a very striking derangement of her proceedings. She seems in a species of delirium, and deprived of all her instincts; everything is done at random; yet the respect and homage of her workers, towards her, though they are received by her with indifference, continue undiminished. If another in the same condition be put in the hive, the bees do not appear to discover the difference, and treat them both alike; but if a perfect one be introduced, even though fertile, they seize her, and keep her in confinement, and treat her very unhandsomely. “_One may conjecture from this circumstance, that it is by those wonderful organs, the attennæ, that the bees know their own queen._” * * * * * That which is profitable only to the speculating business, though it be theoretically plausible, deserves not to be recommended or accepted, if it be not calculated to produce beneficial results to the practical bee-keeper. FOOTNOTES: [1] My method and the use of Dr. Davis’ QUEEN NURSERY. [2] Oranges, bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits are forced in hot-houses; but they never reach the size, flavor, or perfection of nature. [3] In a subsequent communication in Vol. V., No. 10, Mr. B. says that in place of old woollen garments, he covered the frames last winter “with a sort of cotton batting comforters made precisely like a comforter for a bed; and that he likes these much better than old carpeting or old clothes.” He had one made for each hive, costing about twenty cents a piece. “By lifting one corner of these comforters, the condition of the hive can be seen at a glance. The bees are always found clustered up against these warm comforters, and communicate over the tops of the frames, instead of through the winter passages.” [4] Shortly thereafter merged in the American Bee Journal. [Transcriber’s Note: Obvious printer errors corrected silently. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Bee Journal, Vol. VI., Number 5, November 1870, by Various