1^82 



GLEANINGS In Bee culture. 



451 



bill. If there is any tiling that comes any- 

 where near basswood, by all means let us 

 have it. 



HOW ITALIAN QUEKNS SOMETIMES CHANGE TO 

 ULACK QDEEN8. 



Last fall, about the first of October, I got a dollar 

 queen from you to Italianize my last stock of b'ack 

 bees. The queen was lost in introducing. I got an- 

 other of j'ou. I introdiiceil her, and she was accept- 

 ed. I put them all away for winter. About the 

 tirst of March 1 foiind young brooJ drawn out of 

 the hive; the lirood kept coming, and I saw it was 

 drone brood. The lirst line day I examined, and 

 found the Italian queen was gone, and a young 

 hlack unfertile queen in her place, and about one- 

 eighth of the bees were pure Italians. Now the on- 

 ly solution I have got is that the bees started queen- 

 cells after the first queen was lost, and when the 

 second queen was put in she was accepted by the 

 bees, and commenced to lay; and when the young 

 qneen was hatched she killed the Italian queen, and 

 it was too late to get fertilized, hence she was un- 

 fertile. Now, I would say to green hands, be care- 

 ful not to introduce a ipieen when there are queen- 

 cells in the hive, particularly if they are capped; for 

 if I had known this I might have saved my queen, 

 and a swarm of bees and some surplus honey, as 

 that hive will onlj' build up good for winter, and 

 give me one nucleus. 



It is a fact, that a queen will many times 

 be accepted when a. young unfertile queen 

 is still in the hive, and thelntroduced queen 

 may even commence to lay ; but when the 

 virgin queen becomes fertilized, one of the 

 two must, as a general thing, be driven 

 out. This same occurrence has, I presume, 

 led to many unjust complaints, and it were 

 well to keep such things in mind when we 

 are disposed to be uncharitable to those from 

 whom we purchase queens. 



QUEENS CAN BE INTRODUCED WITHOUT FINDING 

 THE OLD QUEEN. 



Neighbor Atchison got two selected tested queens 

 of you last fall, to introduce into two black stocks ; 

 he and a friend opened the first hive, and hunted 

 three hours for the old (lueen, but found her not. 

 Sick of the job, and of many beo-stings, they put in 

 the new quf en, as directed in the Peet cage; they 

 tried two with the same result, and put the (jueen in 

 the same. Both were put in without finding the old 

 queen. Now both queens were accepted, and super- 

 seded the old ones, and came out good in the spring, 

 and are beautiful pure Italians. Though this has 

 been a successful case, I would not recommend it. 



Bees are working below the average around here 

 this summer. I bad a swarm of Italians yesterday, 

 about a month later than usual. Wm. Hautuy. 



Brussels, Ontario, Can., July ;J2, 1883. 



I know queens will sometimes supersede 

 the old queen, when let loose in that way ; 

 but from the number of losses I have known 

 from doing precisely the same thing, I must 

 think your frientl unusually fortunate in 

 having succeeded with both of his valuable 

 queens. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS — BE SURE YOUR HIVE IS 

 QUKENLESS. 



I had bad luck in introducing; they killed the 

 queen in a very short time; they had been (jueen- 

 less about four weeks. I had looked them over five 

 or six times, and could find no queen nor eggs; but 



this morning, after they had killed the queen, I 

 found a young queen as smart as a whip. 1 don't 

 think I shall introduce another $3.00 qneen unless I 

 find and cage, or destroy one from that hive. 



Dexter, Me., July 18, 1883. Lucian French. 



Never attempt to introduce a queen where 

 the only ground forthinkingthem queenless 

 is that you can't find a queen. Make sure 

 of it by giving them some brood, and never 

 let a queen loose in the hive until you have 

 made them start queen-cells, as a "proof of 

 their queenlessness. 



ITN FERTILE QUEENS; LOOK OUT FOR THEM. 



Queen came all right July 7th; lost her in intro- 

 ducing, but that, of course, is not your fault. An 

 unfertile (jueen was the cause; she had been in the 

 hive 30 days after all drones were dead. We have 

 had a fine honey season. A neighbor had ~ hives in 

 spring; he now has 3.'); has extracted IfOO lbs. of 

 honey; hives are now full. S. A. Elam. 



West Falls, Texas, July 23, 1883. 



A great many losses come from the pres- 

 ence of a virgin queen, when the owner feels 

 sure the colony is queenless. Where they 

 persistently refuse to accept a queen, I should 

 take her to another hive, and then try this 

 one with unsealed brood; if they do not 

 start a queen-eel), I should conclude they 

 had some kind of a queen, and I would try 

 to hunt her up. 



another hive that wasn't QUEENLESS. 



The dollar queen I ordered of you in June came 

 all right, with only one or two dead bees in the 

 cage. I was positive, when I ordered, that the hive 

 had no queen, nor any cells a queen could hatch from. 

 But when she came, and I was going to introduce 

 her, I found the hive had a queen, and was well filled 

 with capped brood. I had opened the hive several 

 times previous to ordering, and found no eggs nor 

 larvae, and was much surprised to find it in the con- 

 dition it was. They are and have been doing first 

 rate. I have taken nearly 75 lbs. from it, and the 

 swarm from it. Both have another hive on them, 

 and are nearly full again. Mow is that? Well, I 

 had no place for my queen, so I took three frames 

 from other hives, with capped brood and young 

 bees, and gave her to them; she did not begin to lay 

 immediately after her 1000 miles trip, but she got at 

 it gradually in a few days, and has tlone pretty well. 



Frosa, Texas, July 15, 1883. C. M. Buttolph. 



It should be borne in mind, that a young 

 queen is often as long as three weeks in get- 

 ting fertilized, and, therefore, even if you 

 have looked several times and found none, 

 you are by no means certain that the hive is 

 queenless. Once more, do not attempt to 

 introduce a queen unless the bees have been 

 given brood, and have q ueen-cells under way. 



honey from white daisies. 



Did you ever hear of bees working upon white dai- 

 sies? Our bees gathered some very dark honej% and 

 I think it came from the above blossom, of which 

 hundreds of acres are within a few miles of us. I 

 never saw bees work upon them before, and never 

 got such dark honey at this season of the year. 



Hartford, N. Y., July 31, 1883. J. H. Martin. 



I have never before heard of bees working 

 on daisies; iuid if it were going to induce 

 anyone to let them grow, 1 sliould almost be 

 sorry to hear they ever did work on it. 



