1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



491 



remember, without looking up his original 

 article, and I think I can indorse all the claims 

 he makes for it. However, during the begin- 

 ning of my practice of it I met a number of 

 difficulties which I had not anticipated. I 

 have often wondered whether I am the only 

 one who has ever attempted to follow Mr. EI- 

 wood ; for I do not remember ever having read 

 any report of any one having practiced this 

 method on an extensive scale. 1 should have 

 liked to know whether those who did or do 

 practice it had the same difficulties to overcome 

 that befell me. It has also seemed to me, fre- 

 quently, that Mr. Elwood omitted to say many 

 things which he should have mentioned, and 

 which would have saved me many a disappoint- 

 ment, and, perhaps, a good many dollars. Or 

 is It possible that his bees act so differently 

 from mine? 



The first thing I found out was, that it is 

 necessary to close the entrance of the nucleus 

 hive at the time the queen and her companion 

 workers are placed into it, and leave it closed 

 at least until dark of the first day, or else 

 there is much danger of the queen leaving it, 

 and getting lost, or returning to the hive she 

 was just taken from. The first summer I left 

 all the entrances open, and I found several 

 queens marching around on the ground, follow- 

 ed by a few bees. How they left, whether by 

 swarming out of the bees, and the queen fol- 

 lowing them, or whether the queen herself 

 became so excited and disgusted with her 

 new quarters and small company that she left 

 of her own accord lean not say, as I never caught 

 them in the act. There were always some bees, 

 the young ones, left in the nucleus; and what 

 old field-bees are put into the nucleus will nat- 

 urally go back to the hive any way. After 

 I found several queens on the ground (remem- 

 ber, they were all clipped), I examined all the 

 nuclei I had made, up to that time, and found 

 a few more gone. In several instances I found 

 them in the old hive, where they had been well 

 received In others they were lost. There- 

 after I always closed the entrance with a plug 

 made of wire cloth, which is withdrawn the 

 evening of the tirst day. By next morning the 

 occupants of the nucleus will be sufficiently 

 cooled down to stay. The nuclei should be well 

 shaded, and not made too strong, or there will 

 be danger of smothering. 



I have never found any difficulty in destroy- 

 ing all the queen-cells. This is best done on 

 the eighth or ninth day. If done before the 

 eighth day there is some danger of there still 

 being some unsealed larvaj in the hive, from 

 which the bees will raise a little scrub of a 

 worthless queen, which is apt to give trouble. 

 On the ninth day all larv;i3 are sealed, and the 

 bees will be hopeless if al! queen-cells are taken 

 out. I have occasionally had to defer the oper- 

 ation to the tenth day; but then you may ex- 



pect to find one young queen emerged from her 

 cell, and a number of others ready to do so, 

 even if there were no queen -cells started at the 

 time of dequeening. If there are queen-cells 

 started at the time the queen is removed they 

 should be destroyed, else there is no telling how 

 soon they may not have a queen. Now, as to 

 the way in which I proceed so as to make it a 

 sure thing and get every cell: 



I carry along an empty hive, into which I put 

 all the combs and adhering bees. From this I 

 take the combs one by one, shake most of the 

 bees in front of their hive, and then the eye has 

 a clear sweep of the almost naked comb, and I 

 can pick off every queen-cell without fail — at 

 least, I have never had one escape me in six 

 years' practice. There will be some occasional 

 cells, hardly larger than a drone-cell, but the 

 shape is sufficiently different to betray them. 

 There will be cells stuck away on the sides of 

 the combs next to the end-bars; but the prac- 

 ticed eye will detect them. After each comb 

 has been picked clean of queen-cells it is re- 

 placed into the hive, the bees going in at the 

 entrance. I am confident it would be useless 

 to try to get all the cells, with the bees thickly 

 covering the combs, and I surmise that is the 

 way those proceed who report having difficulty 

 in this matter. If only one cell escapes, there 

 will not be any swarming unless it be on the 

 fifth or sixth day after the birth of the young 

 queen, when she leaves the hive to mate. Of 

 this, and of the reason for it, I shall speak 

 later. If more than one cell escapes there is 

 sure to be swarming when you are not expect- 

 ing it. Hence the importance of making a 

 clean sweep. 



The greatest difficulty, and one which nearly 

 knocked me out, lies in the reintroduction of 

 the laying queens, after the colony has been in 

 the hopeless state for a week or ten days, as 

 advised by Mr. Elwood. This subject I shall 

 have to leave for my next article. 



Terre Haute, Ind. 



[Of late we have not heard very much about 

 the dequeening method as practiced by Mr. El- 

 wood and Capt. Hetherington. Some have tried 

 it, and have given it up as a failure. Some have 

 reported success, but stated they believed they 

 could get more honey by letting their bees 

 swarm. One of our neighbors, Mr. U. Prince, 

 has, if I am correct, practiced the method with 

 much satisfaction for two or three seasons, es- 

 pecially for his outyards, where he can not be 

 present to look for swarms, nor afford to have a 

 man constantly in attendance to catch them 

 when they do come forth. I have always be- 

 lieved myself there was a good deal in the meth- 

 od; and the fact that the two largest apiarists 

 in the world make a success of it year after 

 year is good reason why others on a smaller 

 scale should not condemn it too hastily.— Ed.] 



If you would like to have any of your friends 

 see d specimen copy of Gleanings, make known 

 the request on a postal, with the address or ad- 

 dresses, and we will, with pleasure, send them,. 



