1H90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



709 



veils lialc-hcd. and in ilui' tiinc th(> young (iiiccii 

 was laying. One egg was all I could lind. 



Another thing I should lil<o some int'orniation 

 on: This suninici' I have hccn retiuccning all 

 colonies which had old ([ueens. One day, after 

 catching three or t'oiu' old (|u<'ens, out of curios- 

 ity I dropped one at tiie enti'ance of a strong 

 colony which I knew had a laying (lueen. She 

 walked right in. apparently uHdistuibed. Ton 

 days later I examined this hive and found two 

 old queens laying for all they were worth. 



I am positive both wer(» old queens, as both 

 were clipped (I keep all my ipioens clipped). 1 

 do not think they had ti'ied to supei'sed(> the old 

 (pieeh. as thei'e was no sign of it. and she was 

 laying widl. Is not that somewhat out of the 

 usual oi'der of things? Fra^jk W. LuiirroN. 



Williamsport, Pa.. Aug. 13, 18<K). 



P'l'iend L.. I am not ipiite satisfied that the 

 bees stole that egg. You do not make it quite 

 clear, however. Did a good young queen hatch 

 out from that egg that came into the hiv^e so 

 mysteriously ? — Letting a queen loose at the 

 entrance of the hive where they have a laying 

 <iueen, without her being harmed, is nothing 

 very strange, after all. If you have a dozen 

 queens you don't care any thing about, and you 

 put them at the entrance of other hives daring 

 the honey season. I think you will find a luilf or 

 more of them will be received and go to laying, 

 and you will find the two queens in a hive, 

 pi'obably. until the honey-flow ceases. 



INTRODUCING. 



1)1!. MII.I.KU S MKTnOD WUKHEIJY IT CAN BE 



ACC'OMPLISUKI) AVITHorT KVK.N OPK.V- 



IX(i TIIK UIVK. 



The iilau of introducing (jueens b\' nu'ans of 

 the I'eet cage, letting the l)ees eat throngii 

 the candy, thus liberating the queen, pre- 

 sents some advantages ovei' any other meth- 

 od I have tried. It is especially advantageous 

 in an out-apiary. Kill your old (pieen. ))ut the 

 new one caged in the hive, and if you don't look 

 at her again foi' a week it doesn't matter, lint 

 the Feet cage doesn't work equally well in all 

 hives, for the simple reason that there is not 

 room for it. M\' liiNcs ha\'e flat l)oard covers, 

 so there is not room between the toi)-bais and 

 covei-. and the only way to do is to ijut the cage 

 between tile c(tmbs, wliich spaces them so far 

 apart as to make trouble. 



MII.LKK S I.\Tl!OI)r(I\(;-f.\(il':. 



1 send you liei'ewith a simple introducing- 

 cagi' that I have been using this season with a 

 great deal of satisfaction. It is not a shipping- 

 cage, of >ise only for introducing, but it takes 

 ui) so little I'oom that, if left between the top- 

 bars oi' combs for a year, no great harm woidd 

 be done, (ienertilly. however. I push it into the 

 entrance of the hive, inidei' the bottom-bars, 

 and prcd'ei- this unless it is so cold that there is 

 danger of chilling the queen. It is so simple 

 that any one can nuike it. 



Take a block '^ inches long. IH wide, and -'s 

 thick: two blocks 1 inch \)y ,",, "< 's : two pieces 

 of tin about an inch s(|uare: a piece of wire 



cloth 4i._, x 3}._,: two pieces of tine wire about!) 

 inches long, and four small wire nails l<, Or ^ 

 long. That's the l)ill of matei'ial. Lay down 

 the two snuill blocks parallel. ?« of an inch 

 apaiLone piece of tin under. a)ul one over them. 

 Isail togetluM- and clinch. These two blocks, 

 being V inch ai)art. nuike the hole to till with 

 Good candy, through which the queen is liber- 

 ated. A g(iod way to nuike sure of having this 

 hole all right is to lay between the two blocks, 

 when nailing, a third block -'.^ square. Tut this 

 nailed piece at the end of the large block, and 

 wrap the w i)'e cloth around it. letting it conu' 

 flush with the end of the snuill piece, and it 

 will come within aixiut half an inch of tlH> end 

 of till' lai'ge pieci'. Wind one piece of wire 

 w ithin about a (piarter of an inch of one end of 

 the wir(> cloth, and fasten by twisting, and 

 wind the other wii-e at the other end. Play the 

 large l)l()ck back and foi'th a few times, so it 

 will work (>asily in the wire cloth, and trim off 

 the least bit of the cornel's at the end of the 

 block so it will enter easilv. To provision it. 

 let the large block be pushed clear in: till the 

 hole with candy, and tain)) it down. When to 

 be used, after putting in the queen, push the 

 block in far enough to allow the queen a rocmi 

 about v.: inches long. After the bees have 

 had it for some time it will lie so glued that the 

 plug must be scraped off before using again. 

 There is nothing ))rilliant about this cage, and 

 nothing really cjiiginal, but it has the merit of 

 such Simplicity as to be easily made by any 

 one. and of bi'ing of such size and shape as to 

 be used w here others can not well Iw used. 



UAIT SKCTIONS FIXISIIKD FIUST. 



This year I had some 250 of last year's unlin- 

 ished sections used as bait, one in a super: and 

 after the general report that such sections were 

 tilled lirst and tinished last. I was ([uite intei-est- 

 ed to notice how mine would ccnne out. Invai'i- 

 ablv these bait S(>ctions were commenced first, 

 just as reported. And almost as invariably 

 these sections were the lirst ones in the supers 

 to be finished. I think there were two or three 

 of the :.'.■)() that were not first completed. More- 

 over, they are nice sections, but not quite so 

 nice as the others. Now. why is it that the 

 general agrecMiient has be(>n that such sectiinis 

 were last in lieing finished, and \\ould better be 

 throw n aw ay".' The only reason I can guess at 

 is, that some lioiiey. if Imly a little that was 

 granulated and dried, w as left in the sections. 

 When I Hi'st used bait sections 1 thought there 

 must be some honey left in them, and such sec- 

 tions, when finished, had a watery ai)pearance. 

 especially after being taken off the hives for 

 some time, when the lioney was inclined to ooze 

 through the cai)i)iiigs. I suspect the old honey, 

 jjerhaps a little souivd. acted somewhat as 

 veast. At any rale, 1 ■ should not like to get 

 along without bait sections: but they must 

 have no lionev in them, and must be cleaned out 

 thoroughly ''.'/ tin' Ixrs. ('. C. .Mil, mm:. 



Marengo. 111.. .Vug. fd. 



Your cage is not really original, as you say: 

 but a f(>w old things, doctor, when revived in a 

 little diflVi'ent form, oftentimes prove to be 

 more valuable than the new. 1 know your 

 cage will work all right, and. so far as intro- 

 ducing aloiH' is concerned, it is perhaps i)e1tei- 

 than any thinij: else---yes. even better than 

 the Peet, when the apiarist desires to intro- 

 duce his own ^l<lck into other hives on ac- 

 C(niiit of the great sa\ing in lime. Iniroducing 

 by sliding the cage into the eiiirance during 

 warm weather would work all I'iixlit. 1 shouhl 



