1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



361 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



The queen is received all right, and, from appear- 

 ance, she will do good service. If she does as well 

 as the first one yon sent me, which is the most pro- 

 lific layer I ever saw, she will be worth double her 

 cost. I was much surprised the other day, in look- 

 ing through the colony which contained the $3.00 

 queen you sent me, to find two queens in the hive. 

 I was Looking for the queen and found her, and on 

 the very next frame to her another most beautiful 

 queen was laying. She certainly is th:> linesi queen 

 1 ever saw. I secured her, made a nucleus for her, 

 and she is doing grandly. Is not this rather-singu- 

 lar,— two queens working- in one hive ami so close to 

 each other? Kee3 in this section have increased 

 largely this season, but ihere is very little honey 

 coming in, owing to the dry season. So far as I can 

 learn, bees are in a erood, health v condition. 



Clinton, Mich., July 24, '79. J. J. White. 



Not so very rare, friend W., as you will 



see by the A I> ('. It is a little singular 

 where both queens are young, but I have 

 several times found two nice queens in a 

 hive, and I always divide them, as you have 

 done, rejoicing at my good fortune. 



QUEEN CELLS BY MAIL; ALSO QUEENS BV MAIL. 



I received Gleanings to-dav, and, as usual, am 

 much interested in it. I notice a communication 

 from W. L. King', Benton Harbor, Mich., suggesting 

 the idea of Sending- queen cells by mail. It may be 

 that you will have learned, before this reaches you, 

 that it will prove a failure. If you know precisely 

 the hovir it would hatch, you might probably send it 

 successfully 24 hours before the time for it to hatch. 

 I do not know that you can then, but I think proba- 

 bly it would be tough enough to stand it. 1 have 

 had some sad experience within the past few days, 

 in moving queen cells but a short distance. After I 

 received my Italian queens from Paul Viallon, I had 

 a fine lot of cells started, and cut one out for the ac- 

 commodation of a neighbor, and inserted it in a 

 queenless colony. I had 2 of the nicest queens 

 hatched that I ever saw. When they commenced 

 laying I went to look at my neighbor's. It had not 

 hatched, and I knew ir was dead. I opened it, and 

 found it doubled up, the middle of it being where 

 the head ought to be, and both ends up. I know it 

 died the day I put it in the hive. I think, if they 

 could be carried "right side up" all the way, that 

 they would shake down by the motion of the car; 

 but to shake them a little while in one position and 

 then a little while in another, 1 am sure would kill 

 them. B. F. Cathey. 



Cabot, Ark., Aug. 4, 1879. 



No doubt, you are right, friend C, and I 

 presume that, really, a queen cell is as much 

 prohibited by mail, as a live queen. When 

 I wrote to the P. M. G., I asked if we could 

 not mail a queen and workers, if the wings 

 of the workers were clipped, but you have 

 seen his reply in the Aug. No. A few days 

 ago, we sent some sealed drone brood by 

 mail; by the time it got through, they were 

 hatched out, and our friend had a box of 

 live drones by mail. I do not know what 

 next to do about queens by mail, unless we 

 go to the President. If necessary, Ave can 

 put the queen and bees in a box made of 

 wrought iron, that the mail clerks may be 

 safe from all danger of being stung. 



A HOME MADE QUEEN NURSERY. 



I have used a nursery hive that c;>sts nothing, and 

 works very well for a limited number of queen cells. 

 I took an old flat bottomed tin bucket, put some 

 rags in the bottom of it, and over the top. Then 1 

 got some small bottles with wide mouths, cut some 

 grooves in the corks (to give the queens air), took 

 queen cells sealed up, and pinned them carefully to 

 the underside of the corks,— one cell to each cork, 

 so that when the cork was put in the bottle the cell 

 would be in a natural position. These bottles with 

 the cells were then placed in the bucket, a ther- 

 mometer inserted, the whole thing hung on a nail 

 over the kitchen mantel, and a lamp set under it, 



turned down so as to keep the heat from 90° to 98° 

 Fahr. When my queens came out, they were smeared 

 with honey and put down at the entrance of a 

 queenless hive and watched until they had crawled 

 in. None of them were hurt. I claim for this old 

 bucket nursery the following points: 1st, It costs 

 nothing; 2d, The queens, being in separate bottles, 

 cannot hurt each other, or unhatched cells; 3d, It is 

 little trouble to examine it; 4th, The queens that 

 come out too soon can be killed; for instance, from 

 cells taken the same day from same hive, one came 

 out in nine days after the queen had been removed, 

 and the cells commenced, but none of the rest came 

 out until five days later. The one that came out 

 first was very small, the grub from which she was 

 reared having been too old to produce a good queen. 

 If I had simply divided my colonies, and allowed 

 each queenless stock to rear their own, such a queen 

 might have been the "early bird" in each hive. 

 Brownsville, Pa., Aug. 2, '79. A. Cameron. 



FKOM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 



I wrote you that I had lost the queen which you 

 sent me, but I think I have found her. I raised a 

 queen for a hive 7 or 8 ft. distant from the one to 

 which I introduced yours, and found her laying all 

 right. Her progeny should have been hatching now, 

 but, on extracting on the 15th, I found the hive 

 without any brood or signs of queen cell, except 

 some eggs 4 days old hatching. I then thought that 

 probably might be the lost queen. She was very 

 tine looking, medium light colored, and the bee's 

 acted as they generally do to a strange queen. My 

 way of introducing is to cage the strange queen *2 

 days, then take the old queen away and leave the 

 new one caged 24 hours longer, then drop some hon- 

 ey on top of frames, and let her go. 1 have intro- 

 duced 3 since I lost yours. Would you advise raising 

 young queens every year? Daniel Wright. 



Violet, Ont., Canada, July 17, 1879. 



Our friend can certainly rejoice, for the 

 queen he speaks of was a $3.00 queen, and 

 he had paid the charges and duty clear into 

 Canada. Your plan, friend W., is by no 

 means a safe one, although it usually suc- 

 ceeds. I would not rear young queens, so 

 long as the old ones seem prolific, and they 

 are very often better the second year than 

 the first. 



THE CENTURY PLANT AND FLOWERING 

 YUCCA. 



Since the statement made on page 100, 

 March No., much has been said in regard to 

 these plants. My brother writes from San 

 Diego, farther in regard to them, as follows : 



The man was right about the century plant's giving 

 honey by inverting and shaking, but the Spanish 

 Inn/milt only gives honey the same as another flower. 

 There are plenty of century plants here, and in 

 Mexico. M. S. ROOT. 



San Diego, Cal., Aug. 1, 1879. 



Our yuccas purchased last spring have 

 failed to bloom, but I was astonished a few 

 days ago to find one in the yard of a neigh- 

 bor. I was a little too late to find out about 

 the honey, for the flowers were just fading, 

 but the perfume of the large white blossoms 

 was beautiful. The central stalk is perhaps 

 7 feet high. 



TENEMENT HIVES. 



I see in last number of Gleanings you figure a 

 "shingle chaff tenement hive" made of cull shingles, 

 which you speak rather admiringly of, intimating 

 that you think of having 25 of them built. I think 

 if you could sec my 27 tenements built of common 

 lumber and painted, mostly white, ranged in a 

 square, like the blocks and streets of a town, you 

 would not want any more built of mill shingles than 

 you now have. Cull shingles may answer in north- 

 ern Michigan where they are little worth, but you 

 are in a more cult hated country and, like myself, 

 take pride in having things in as good shape as your 

 neighbors. D. C. Underhill. 



Seneca, III., Aug. 8, 1879. 



