Septem-jar 9, 1375. 1 JODR:^iL 0? HOSrWULTaKE A.ND COT TAIE QiRDaMBS. 



2S9 



time." Such eases have betn rare. We have been fottimate 

 enouglj to obtain 50 lbs. of honey from teveral Bnpers, but the 

 Block hives are so poor that we have commenced feetliuK several 

 of them to keep them from perishiug. I observe that bees about 

 here are fain to quench their hunger by attackiug the wiudfalia 

 under the apple trees. I am not aware that I ever remarked 

 this before, although I have known them in bad seasons attack 

 ripe fruit against walls and elsewhere. The drought of last 

 year in this locality was such that I obtained next to no honey, 

 and had to feed all through the autumn, so that we have had 

 somewhat better luck this year, which is the fifth or sixth bad 

 honey harvest in succession in this part of Kugland. 



I advise an immediate and careful overhaul in every apiary of 

 existing stock. All hives strong in population but poorly sup- 

 plied with honey should have sufficient food given to them at 

 once and off hand to keep them in good health during the next 

 six weeks. Then the grand feeding-up should begin, and be 

 carried on continuously for a month at least. October is the 

 best time for this main feeding, as activity recommences in all 

 places where ivy blossoms abound. If this natural activity bo 

 stimulated by ample but gradual and continuous feeding, bretd- 

 iug will go on vigorously, and the hives will be all the stronger 

 both to face the severity of winter, and to start fair with good 

 prospects in the early spring. September is the month of repose 

 for all bees everywhere. The quieter they are kept then the 

 better; therefore I would give a few pounds at the end of 

 August to every hive that needs'it— say 3 lbs. or 1 lbs., but all, 

 if possible, m one night. The quicker it is over at this time of 

 year the better, because the excitement and consequent waste 

 are less. As to the later feeding it should be all over at latest 

 by the middle of November, earlier, of course, if you are living 

 in the north of England. Make all snug and tight for the 

 coming winter, narrowing entrances, protecting from damp, and 

 covering up with some warm material. 



As for despair, the word should be unknown incur vocabulary. 

 "Better luck next time," is a good saying which savours of hope, 

 and hope has a tendency to work out success. So, brother bee- 

 keepers, cheer up ! Gather forces for another year's trial of the 

 "busy bee." Those who do so perseveringly will for certain 

 raip their reward.— B. & W. 



Alexandra Palace Show or Poultry and Pigeons. — There 

 are twenty-eight cups for poultry and twenty-three for Pigeons, 

 besides good money prizes. 



A CHAT ABOUT QUEENS. 



The Yankee idea of a bee incubator certainly rather tickled 

 my fancy, and it was also news that queenless bees would readily 

 accept a newly-hatched queen provided she had not been with 

 other bees, and agreeable to my promise published in your 

 number of August 19th I sought to put the statement to the test, 

 60 this is how I proceeded. Having deprived two stocks of their 

 queens— one a Ligurian, the other a mongrel— each stock imme- 

 diately made about eight queen cells. Now, previous experience 

 teaches me it is unsafe to leave queen cells longer than nine 

 days after formation if more than one is to be preserved, so on 

 the ninth day I set to work to cut the surplus cells out, devoting 

 them to experimentalising. This work with the Ligurians was 

 merely apausing, but with the mongrels— oh, ye gods! what 

 little furies ! I have given up gloves, and don't much mind 

 stinging; but shall I confess it? I never voluntarily disturb 

 this particular stock. So calling my son to my assistance, who 

 put on a look of resignation when he saw the job in hand, we 

 gave them a good dose of smoke, which is as disagreeable to me 

 as it is to the bees, and I rarely make use of my smoker. Off 

 comes the crownboard, and out come the combs one by one. It 

 is a slow job. The bees are very strong, and I want all the 

 queen cells removed, as I intend to supply the stock with one 

 of the pure Ligurians. Groan succeeds groan as I pick out the 

 BtiDga from my finger tips, where I am rather sensitive. My 

 boy's lime seems pretty well occupied in the same direction, and 

 I have to call him to the scratch several times. But we get 

 through the frames at last, and grafting-in a couple of cells 

 from my other stock, we are not sorry to reclose the hive. 



Having a third stock without a queen I remove a comb with 

 two qun n cells on it to that, and leaving the remaining Ligurian 

 cells wb. re they were raised I gather up the mongrels to play 

 with. TL6 question now arises how they are to be kept at the 

 requisite temperature, and be under constant observation at the 

 same time. Having to go to town daily on business, my time 

 with the bees is limited at this season of year to one hour in 

 the morning and the same at night. As a temporary arrange- 

 ment I pack them in two willow boxes and place them in my 

 pocket for their first visit to the metropolis, where having ar- 

 rived I riggtd-up a hot-water incubator, but it did not act satis- 

 factorily—sometimes too hot, then too cold ; besides, I could 

 not very well carry the apparatus backwards and forwards morn- 

 ing and night. So seeking for other warmth I put a thermometer 

 m my trousers' pocket, and was delighted to find the tempe- 



rature there about 90°— just the thing. In went a box in each 

 pocket, and I felt as proud as a sitting hen. When bedtime 

 anived of course the boxes had to go with me, where I cuddled 

 thtm up warm, notwithstanding a feeble remonstrance from my 

 wife, who the second night star! led me out of my slumber with 

 an alarmed cry that she could hear a bee buzzing, and she was 

 sure one had hatched and I had smashed the box! However it 

 was a falsa alarm, and after sixty hours of nursing the first 

 young queen emerged, crippled in her wings, which did not 

 surprise me, an experience of former days in rearing motba 

 having taught me that with dry heat such was usually the case. 



Now, the birth of Ibis princess happened at a very awkward 

 time, iOyo I'.M-, all dark outside, and bees taking their well- 

 earned rest, and they are apt to resent disturbance at night. 

 However, there was no help for it. I was determined not to 

 lose the chance of ascertaining her reception, so out I went with 

 alighted lamp. Cautioubly removing a portion of the crown- 

 board of the aforesaid mongrel stock, out came the bees, and 

 down I threw the young queen into their midst. They rushed 

 at her in an iustant. Ah, I thought how much they would 

 have her; but, no, their excitement cooled in a minute. Thty 

 walked over and round her, but harmed her not. After a few 

 minutes' watching I closed the hive, not wanting the queen 

 cells destroyed, and covering the queen and a dozen bees with a 

 cup queen cage, poured some syrup round it, shut down the hive 

 cover, and left them till morning, when I found her with her 

 retinue quite lively. Having again given a supply of syrup I 

 opened my hive containing the major part of the Ligurian cells. 

 One with the cap open, one torn to pieces, and two still intact. 

 These I cut out after having seen the young queen was active 

 and at liberty; then examining the other hive, where I had 

 placed the frame with two queen cells, I saw one queen free and 

 another just crackicg her cell's lid. This I thought worthy of 

 watching, and it was curious to see while the queen worked 

 inside, occasionally protruding her antennas, about half a dozen 

 workers were gnawing the cell outside. The queen was soon 

 out, and notwithstanding her sister was already on the throne, 

 the workers fed and cleaned her in the usual manner. The 

 time at my disposal having now expired I left the two queen* , 

 curious to see what would be tha result when evening arrived. 



The two cells I had last transferred to my pocket hatched 

 within two hours, and I was very anxious to keep the queens till 

 evening to continue the experiment. By constant attention I 

 succeeded in this. It has been stated a queen bee cannot feed 

 herself; this is wrong. If a queen be hungry and she crofses 

 some honey she puts forth her tongue and feeds, but she does 

 not seem to scent food as a worker does, and very quickly 

 starves. After four hours' fast she will usually be found too ex- 

 hausted to stand. My two young queens I fed every half hour 

 and was generally obliged to put the syrup almost to their 

 mouths before they would discover it. 



I am much inclined to think queens do not fight to the death 

 as has been so often described. We are all apt to repeat state- 

 ments, and their very repetition stamps them as credible. I as 

 an author do not claim any immunity from this fault; and, in- 

 deed, if the writer of a bee book only gave his own experience 

 it would necessarily be very incomplete. I have many times 

 put two queens together, the above-mentioned young queers 

 among the number. They wrestle and fight vigorously, but in 

 no instance have I seen one stung. The queens will protrude 

 their stings, as they often do when no combat is in progress. 



Again, it is said when two stocks or swarms of bees are 

 united the queens settle the right of government themselves. 

 This I doubt, for this summer I have mixed many lots, and after 

 a few hours I find one queen encased by the workers in the 

 usual manner, where she is doubtless worried to death. In one 

 instance I caged the second queen in the ordinary manner in 

 hopes the bees would get used to her and let her live, but after 

 three trials at intervals of two days each the queen died of 

 worry and exhaustion. 



I am becoming very sceptical in the matter of queenly ani- 

 mosity one to the other, and begin to think that regicide lays 

 more at the door of the workers than the rival queen. Ire- 

 corded a case where five queens were put in a box together over- 

 night, and in the morning four were dead. The survivor had 

 the credit of the wholesale murder, but late experiments in- 

 duce me to think that starvation had a good deal to do with it. 

 I may also say that the queens hatched in the pocket boxes, 

 although there were several unopened queen cells with them, 

 showed no disposition to destroy them. It could not have been 

 for want of time, as they were there six hours together. Now 

 to revert to my juvenile queens. 



On my return home I had three queens alive in my pocket, 

 with which I commenced operations, first on a nucleus which I 

 had deprived of its queen in the morning. Lifting out a comb I 

 threw down into the midst of the bees a queen, crippled, and 

 hnviug some ragged remains of the pupa exuvite attached to her. 

 With the usual rush the workers seized her, biting and tearing, 

 but I soon found their fury was expended on the undesirable 

 ragged skin. The queen was unharmed, soon cleaned, and at 



