1890 



glea^i:ngs im bee culture. 



255 



0a^ ^aEg3Fi0N-B6^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in tor this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or qu.^stions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked. "For Our Question-Box." 



Question 157. — a. Haveyou practiced caging queens 

 dining the JiDney-flmc, to pi event swai ming'l b. In 

 ynnr opinion, did it ansiver the purpose? c. Do you 

 think that the colony so experimented upon produced 

 more honey/ d. If the caging of a queen is mit entire- 

 ly »ati»fattiiry. do you feel warranted in testing it on 

 a larger scale next ycarf 



No. 

 Illinois. 



No. 

 Cuba. 



a, b, c. No. 



Uliaois. N. W. 



I have never tried the plan. 

 Illinois. N. C. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



Dadant & Son. 



J. A. Green. 



I have often done it. Removed the queen. It is 

 a good policy. 

 Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



a. Yes. b. No. c. No. d. I have tried it two or 

 three times with unsatisfactory results, hence I 

 will not give it any more trials. 



Louisiana. E. C. P. L. Viallon. 



Yes, years ago; but I am not sure but more hon- 

 ey can be obtained by letting one swarm issue from 

 each old colony. 



New York. C. G. M. Doolittle. 



a. No. b. Certainly, c. Yes (?). d. My way of cag- 

 ing was perfectly satisfactory, so I shall pursue the 

 same course next year. 



Ohio. N. W. A. B. Mason. 



a. Yes. b. Yes. c. Yes. d. We shall cage queens 

 in the future to prevent swarming, and also to se- 

 cure a larger surplus of honey. 



Wisconsin. S. W. E. France. 



No, but I know some one who has. b. No. c. No. 

 d. Caging the queen does not cure the swarming 

 fever. Taking them out, does. 



New York.lC. P. H. Elwood. 



Yes, I have caged queens to increase the produc- 

 tion of honey, but I am satisfied that the reverse is 

 the result. It does not prevent swarming. 



Ohio. S. W. C. F. MuTH. 



a. Yes, sir. b. No, sir. c. No, sir, ee. d. With 

 my present light and experience I do not wish to 

 experiment further. I think there is a method 

 ahead that will accomplish all we desire, with but 

 little manipulation. 



New York. E. Rambler. 



a. Yes, caged them permanently by pinching off 

 their heads, only when swarms issue, b. It did. c. 

 I do. I shall practice this kind of caging to pre- 

 vent swarming during the honey-flow and to secure 

 young queens at the close of the season. 



Ohio. N. W. H. R. Boardman. 



a, b. Yes. c. No. d. Yes, if necessity requires it. 

 UnqueslionaVily, the colony that will produce the 

 most surplus honey will be such as are so managed 

 as to prevent .all. desire loi swaim, and at the same 



time have a prolific queen to keep the brood-nest 

 well filled with brood. 

 Connecticut. S. W. L. C. Root. 



This is one of the interesting plans which I have 

 never tried. I feei a little suspicious that it might 

 not work with me. My bees might build a good 

 many queen-cells, and then devote themselves so 

 assiduously to the cells as to forget about the honey 

 business. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



a. No, but nearly the same thing. I have remov- 

 ed them entirely from the hives. I have experi- 

 mented in this way for a number of years, but am 

 not satisfied as yet that it would be practical every 

 year and in all localities, b. Yes, it prevented 

 swarming, c. No. d. Yes, I shall continue to ex- 

 periment on this line until victorious. 



Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manum. 



a. Yes. b. Largely, c. No. d. Not unless I have 

 to. Bees swarmed excessively last season ; and be- 

 ing short of hives we resorted to caging queens, 

 caging 100 or more. It may be best to do so if we 

 can not control swarming any other way; but if we 

 can control it otherwise, I prefer that the queen be 

 left to perform her regular duties in the hive. 



Wisconsin. S. W. S. 1. Freeborn. 



a. Yes, hundreds of them. b. Yes. c. No and yes. 

 If the colony had kept their queen laying right 

 along without swarming they might have made- 

 more honey; but if they swarmed, less. d. If I 

 can't do any better I'll keep on caging. I like that 

 better than swarming, but I hope some time to find 

 a way to have the queen laying and yet not have 

 the bees desire to swarm. 



Illinois. N. C. C. Miller. 



a. No, sir; that is one of the things I should not 

 have to practice in order to decide against. I feel 

 sure that I know enough of the instincts and habits- 

 of bees to know, without practice, that whoever 

 adopts that method will surely discard it again. 

 Space forbids going into details in regard to the 

 reasons. You try it with not less than twenty col- 

 onies until you are thoroughly satisfied one way or 

 the other, and then report; and if you do not say 

 that I am right 1 will present you a queen that will 

 produce bees as good as any you ever saw, I trust. 



Michigan. S. W. James Heddon. 



The above replies are about what I ex- 

 pected. I have always been opposed, aa 

 you may know, to keeping queens idle. In 

 fact, I do not believe in shutting up any 

 kind of animated nature, and keeping them 

 from doing something useful. In our api- 

 aries we never have a surplus of bees, be- 

 cause we sell tliem by the pound ; therefore 

 we should never want a queen shut up when 

 she might be laying. Some excellent honey- 

 producers, however, who do not want in- 

 crease of stocks or increase of bees at cer- 

 tain periods have thought they saved honey 

 by preventing the production of useless 

 swarms. Sometimes 1 have thought this 

 might be possible. When visiting Dr. Mil- 

 ler I found hives containing caged queens, 

 and watched the whole matter with great 

 interest. I presume he had more than a 

 hundred caged when I was there, and he 

 was for the lime quite favorable toward it ; 

 but he says since that he does not like it. 



