396 



gleawi:ngs i:n bee cultuue. 



Aug. 



TRIALS IN ITALIANIZING; AND IS IT THE QUEEN OR 

 WOKKER BEES THAT LEAD OUT A SWARM? 



fjlHE Italian (lueen which I ordered of you came 

 all right; but it beats all whatatimel have 

 — ' had with that queen. H' I thought all Italian 

 (jueens are as cecentric as this one, I should give up 

 Italianizing-, 1 assure you. I received her on the 3d 

 of May; introduced her to a good strong colony, 

 and she was kindly accepted. On the 7th, she, with 

 her entire colony, swarmed out and tried to go in 

 with another colony, but I prevented this by 

 closing the entrance of the hive. They settled, and 

 1 hived them and put them back on their old stand, 

 giving them a frame of honey from another stock, 

 as her colony was one that had been recently trans- 

 ferred, and I had been compelled to feed them. Well, 

 she remained quiet; after this, however, she laid but 

 very few eggs, and the bees igeeraed perfectly de- 

 moralized, lighting and killing each other until they 

 were greatly reduced in numbers. On the ;50th she 

 led them out again, leaving a few bees and a small 

 amount of brood, trying to go in Avith another 

 stock; but failing in this they clustered on the end 

 of the hive. I then put them into a new hive, giv- 

 ing them a frame of unsealed brood, just as I would 

 a swarm, l)ut all to no purpose, for on the following 

 day she led them out again, and I hived them again, 

 and this time I clipped the lady's wings, thinking I 

 could keep her in that way, but not so; she persisted 

 in coming out; and while the bees were svvarming, 

 she would be hopping about on the ground until 

 she was caged and put back into the hive, where 

 she would remain until the nex', day, when she 

 would repeat the operation, until flnally the bees be- 

 came tired of so much nonsense, I suppose, and 

 went in with another stock. As it was a queenless 

 colony, I put her in too, keeping her caged 24 hours. 

 When I released her she was kindly received. 



On the following day, while out among the bees, I 

 noticed a bunch of bees collected together on the 

 outside of this hive. On looking, I discovered her 

 in the center of the group. I put her into the hive 

 and went into the house. I went out again in al)out 

 ten minutes, and the bees vverc quietly at work, but 

 I noticed a string of bees crawling along on the 

 ground, and at their head was my beautiful Italian 

 queen, started for Medina, I suppose, where I al- 

 most wished I had let her stay. 



I captured her and returned her to the hive, only 

 to see her ball:d immediately. I rescue<l her and 

 carried her back to the now small nucleus to which 

 she was first introduced. I put her in after remov- 

 ing the queen-cells, which they had started, and 

 giving them to the queenless colony. She remained 

 quiet a day or so. I watched her closely, feeding 

 them nights. In the evening of June 9th she was in 

 the hive; but when I looked for ter abcut 9 o'clock 

 the next morning, she was gone; so you see she was 

 too smart for me. 



Now, friei.d Uoot, if on rising some morning you 

 should find a weary, travel-worn queen, with both 

 wings clipped, you may know it is she. I3e kind to 

 her, for she surel3' thinks more of you than she docs 

 of me. But, liying all jokes aside, I have been 

 greatly perplexed at her conduct, as I have studied 

 Gleanings and ABC, and have ft!llowe<l your 

 teachings as nearly' as I could. If you can assign 

 any reason for her strange behavi )r, will you be so 

 kind as to do so? Although I am somewhat dis- 

 couraged, I sh ill not give up; but I think I shall try 

 dollar queens next time. 



Sarah E. Ddncan. 



Lineville, Iowa, June Vi, 18S2. 



I am sovry to say, my friend, that I can 

 not assign any reason for tills occasional 

 swarming-ont mania. Tlietronble seems to 

 be, to find wlietiier it is tlie fanli of tlie bees 

 or tlie qneen ; m your case, if the colony had 

 always behaved with propriety before the 

 advent of this eccentric miss, it would seem 

 very plain that she was the party in fault. 

 Now, the question comes u]). Can a queen 

 induce the bees to swarm when she chooses, 

 or, in other words, is it the workers or the 

 queen that docs the swarming V As the 

 queen is often almost the last to come out, 

 it would look a little as if she did not lead, 

 at least ; and when she has her wing clipped, 

 she seems to have very little to do with it, 

 until they lind she is not among them, and 

 come back. If none of your remaining col- 

 onies swarmed out and "■ acted up '' in this 

 way, it would be another pretty strong proof 

 that the queen has the iibility to stir up dis- 

 content and discord, in some queer sort of a 

 way, where she is so disposed. We haven't 

 seen tlie jaded and weary traveler yet, but 

 we will keep a shari^ lookout for her, and 

 meanwhile you may have another at half 

 price, in consideration of yoiu- troubles, if it 

 would be any accommodation. 



A "black" QUEEN FROM AN ITALIAN MOTHER. 



We failed to make the division of one of our colo- 

 onies that we had previously arranged for, and this 

 morning we found five dead queens in front of one 

 hive where we had left the queen-cells. One of the 

 queens is so different in appearance from thc^ oth- 

 ers, I venture to write and ask how you would ac- 

 count for it. She has no gold b inds, and j'ct from 

 the same queen. From her appearance, I should 

 say she is an olJ-fashioned black queen. If you can 

 give me some information in regard to my " black 

 queen from an Italian nnlher," I shall consider it a 

 favor. Mits. Carkie L. Stallahu. 



Russellville, Ind., June 39, 1883. 



Your case is not at all unusual, and we are 

 in the habit of paying little attention to the 

 color of the (lueens, or drones either, to de- 

 termine their purity. Vour black ijueen, 

 had she lived, would probably have produced 

 just as nice yellow-banded bees as her yel- 

 lower sister; and we often have queens all 

 black, producing nice yellow bees. These 

 facts only show that color in queens is, to a 

 great extent, only accident. 



OUR GOOD IRIEND MRS. LOWE; HER SUCCESS AND 

 HER TRIALS. 



How could you, Mr. lloi^t, destioy my confideuce 

 in you as a just and generous man, one who was 

 willing to accord women her duos? Like all the rest 



