THB BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



327 



another season opens; but now that the 

 story is begun it may as well be ended. 

 There is no doubt ol the infallibility of 

 the hatching-brood plan; and when car- 

 ried out according to the instructions giv- 

 en in this issue by friend Baldridge it is 

 robbed of some of its objectionable fea- 

 tures. However, it is quite a little trouble, 

 from first to last, to introduce a queen by 

 this method, and I should not like to go 

 to the trouble myself unless the queen 

 was very valuable — an imported queen or 

 something like that. For the last two 

 years I have been guaranteeing the safe 

 introduction of queens if my instructions 

 were followed. Of course, I might have 

 insisted upon the emploj^ment of the 

 hatching-brood plan, when probably not 

 a queen would have been lost, but I have 

 always felt that it would be imposing too 

 much upon m\' customers. Better lose 

 an ordinary queen occasionallv than go 

 to so much trouble with every queen that 

 is introduced. The first year I advised 

 the caging of the queen against the side 

 of a comb where the bees were hatching. 

 The percentage of lost was not great; 

 perhaps not more than by the ordinarv, 

 eating-out plan, and perhaps not less. 

 The great trouble seemed to be that the 

 bees burrowed under the cage and releas- 

 ed the queen too soon. This year I have 

 recommended the ordinary eating-out 

 plan, with the additional precaution that 

 all brood be removed, ihus leaving the 

 bees hopelessly queen less. The loss by 

 this plan was much le.ss than by caging 

 the queen against the comb, but there 

 were losses. It is not true that hopelessly 

 queenless bees will (//r.in^ accept a queen. 

 Then the tearing up a of a colony, to get 

 away the brood , demoralizes it more or 

 less, and it does not put up much of a 

 fight against robbers — having nothing 

 to defend but a strange queen. 



Now comes the use of tobacco smoke. 

 There is nothing new in this; but, for 

 some reason, it has never become popu- 

 lar. Why this is so I am unable to deter- 

 mine. I have yet to learn of a loss bv 

 this method. Perhaps that is not so con- 



culsive, considering that it is so little used. 

 For the last two months I have been rec- 

 ommending this plan to my customers, 

 and, so far, not a loss has been reported. 

 I shall recommend it another year; and 

 then will probably come enough experi- 

 ence to decide the matter. A quick, cer- 

 tain method of introducing queens will 

 mean the saving of a good many dollars 

 to bee-keepers. 



EXTRACTED. 



CLIPPING QUEENS. 



The Best way of Doing it. Shall they be 

 Clipped Before Mailing? 



Bro. Hill, of the American Bee-Keeper, 

 in a very polite and felicitous manner, 

 takes exceptions to the plan advised by 

 Bro. Root and myself for the clipping of 

 queens, viz., that of simply picking up 

 the queen between the thumb and fore- 

 finger of the left hand, and clipping her 

 with a pair of scissors. His objection is 

 that there is a liability of cutting off a 

 leg; also, that the handling of the queen 

 may cause her to be balled. His plan is 

 as follows: 



An ordinary pocket knife is the only 

 tool necessary. It should have a razor 

 edge. If the knife is not very share some 

 pressure will be necessary in order to 

 sever the wing; but with a very keen edge 

 its own weight is sufficient to accomplish 

 the work instantlj-, without danger of 

 cutting the finger. • 



Stand the frame upon which the queen 

 is found, against the side of the hive, or 

 have it otherwise firmly supported in a 

 convenient position; wait until the queen 

 stands or walks willi head upwartl, which 

 slie will soon do ordinarily. Now, with 

 the knife in the right hand, and tlie 

 thumb and index finger of the left liglit- 

 ly pressed together, gently raise the tip 

 of the left wing with point of finger and 

 with a rolling motion, caused by a slight 

 contraction of the thumb and finger, en- 



