THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



101 



" April 21st. Warm: thomiometor 47° 74" 

 fiO° . Finished ami paiuteil tlie liive-balance. 

 Wont tlirougli 12 colnies. l\ele;isc'(l the caged 

 queen in 2—7 : puttinK in a* same time a frame 

 with eKKS, and a frame with freslily uncapped 

 honey. Bees gradually piled upon the queen, and 

 1 heard one snarl. The mass did not soem angry. 

 Loft her to her fate." 



She came out all right. This is not quite 

 up to present high water mark in queen in- 

 troduction ; but I think it shows budding 

 talent in the business. The eggs would make 

 a healthful counter excitement a few hours 

 hence, and the uncapped alien honey would 

 make an immediate excitement — unheard of 

 rain of plunder ! The old saying about Satan 

 finding mischief for idle hads to do applies 

 very well to bees when a queen is being in- 

 troduced. 



"April 23rd. Cold rain. Thermometer 4")° 

 42° 42° . Made bag-weights. Another vain 

 journey for the queen." 



Many are the bee - keepers who can drop a 

 tear with me, so to speak, over this dreary 

 experience. Post ofSce four miles away. 

 No conveyance but Shank's mare. And Dr. 

 Mason isn't the postmaster either. He sim- 

 ply says "No sir." in that even, passionless 

 tone, "fit neither for lovingnor hating," that 

 the human postmaster is so sure to acquire. 

 Really expects you to turn around and go 

 quietly home, without any sympathy, and 

 without any oil and wine poured into your 

 soul. Little cares he how awfully, awfully 

 you want that queen. Won't even promise 

 when he will deliver her. 



But those bag-weights ; they are cheap 

 and handy, and will do lots of service. I 

 had both hive-scale and honey-scale and 

 wanted more pound weights, also some frac- 

 tions of pounds. Make little bags of strong 

 cotton drilling; weigh in pebbles to the exact 

 amount ; sew up tight. Good enough for 

 ordinary purposes. For ounce weights cut 

 off chunks from a bar of lead ; and whittle 

 them down carefully a little more, and a lit- 

 tle more until exact. 



■' April 24th. (^hill and dark. Some painting. 

 Michigan queen came. Got her in the evening 

 [Saturday] with one third of the bees dead— of 

 thirst probably, as they have been without any 

 honey or water since Tuesday, with oidy candy. 

 Watered the bees and tucked the cage under my 

 pillow. Can't introduce her until Monday." 



Two Sunday schools in different neighbor- 

 hoods, and a preaching appointment too, 

 filled Sunday too full for even a little work 

 in behalf of my tired queen. By the way, 

 how's that for speed in Uncle Sam in getting 

 a queen less than 100 miles ? This queen was 

 from F. L. Wright— had a record of 107 lbs. 

 —her mother a record of 209. — pure black. 



How the world changes, and we with it ! In 

 those days they who cultivated the black 

 race did it almost in secret for fear of perse- 

 cution. To say a word in favor of anything 

 else than pure Italians was almost as bad as 

 to defile the mouth and stain the soul with 

 the corrupt word, sugar-honey. Now we 

 can openly prefer hybrids, or blacks, or 

 whatever we choose, and nobody throws a 

 single club. I used this queen to raise 

 drones, and scattered them around the api 

 ary somewhat. Think she was much dam- 

 aged by the trials of her journey — not very 

 prolific except of drones ; died the next 

 spring ; and her direct line became extinct 

 soon after. 



"April 29th. Warm rain clearing with wind. 

 Ther. .52° 64° .50 ^. Run O. Loss 4 oz Over- 

 hauled bees- Left a queen in the comb holder, 

 and had some difEculty in finding where she be- 

 longed. The virgin I took out the 24th was 

 dead in the cage this morning Nine bees 

 were dead and twelve living They were well 

 wrapped and on the mantel, and had candy and 

 a bottle of water. Suspect queens don't work 

 well at candy and water, and that the bees have 

 nothing to spare to feed them. Bottle of thinned 

 honey would be more to the purpose. Made a 

 queen-cage of a partly filled section and sliding 

 glasses held by tin strips. Visit from John Y. 

 Detwiler." 



Here my day's record is getting settled 

 into its final shape— first the weather, second 

 the temperature, next the number of ounces 

 gain of the scale colony, next the number of 

 ounces in weight lost by night. This last 

 will be large when there is much young 

 brood, or when much thin honey has been 

 brought in, or when a cold wind threatens to 

 chill the brood, and smaller at other times. 



This was my first visit from a well-known 

 apiarist, and agreeable accordingly. A gen- 

 ius in his way, and a very genial man, is 

 Detwiler. Since he used to come out and 

 poke up my ideas with a pole he has been 

 west and taught the western bee how to 

 shoot, been to Florida and taught the sub- 

 tropical bee how to shoot, then back to To- 

 ledo again. For giving the pot a steady 

 boil, collecting the rents on a big estate (of 

 which he is one of the prospective heirs, I 

 believe) seems to be a trifle better than bees. 

 [The charms of Florida were too alluring 

 for John's make-up, and her sunny skies 

 are once more over his head. — Ed.] 



The queen cage made of a half built sec- 

 tion of honey is just the tip top thing to keep 

 the queen of a dwindled out colony, and a 

 few hundred of her bees, until you can find 

 use for her. They do not worry and make 

 an interesting mantel ornament. 



RiOHAEDs, Ohio, M':.rch 24, 1892. 



