Vol. XIll. 



SEPT. 1, 1885. 



No. 17. 



TERMS: 81. OOPkbAnnum, IN ADVANCE;! T?,./ ^ 7, /V o L « a7 -f't-1 IQ'V^ f OhibR to different poptoffloes, NOT LKSR 

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NOTES FBOM THE BANNER APIARY. 



QUEEN-EXCLUUING HONIiYUUAUU. 



XjlrES, our only objection to tbc wooden queen- 

 i^m excluding honey-boards is, thftt the bees 1111 

 ^^ the openin{,'s. It is possible that this will yet 

 -*■ be remedied; it it isn't, we shall be obliged 

 to use the perforated metal. The bees filled 

 the openings very mur/i more this year than last; 

 but why, wo can not say. 



INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS. 



Wo do not understand why Mr. Doolittle has so 

 much trouble introducing virgin nuecns. Like 

 yourself, Mr. Editor, we introduce them in large 

 numbers, often as many as twenty per day, and the 

 loss is so slight as to be scarcely worth mentioning. 

 The bees arc more apt to accept a virgin (lucen 

 when they have been queenlcss'-l hours; biit even 

 when introduced the same day that the laying 

 queens are i-emoved, we dO not lose inore than one 

 in ten. We didn't let them riin in at the entrance, 

 as wc have met with more losses by that method. 

 The bees are more inclined to attack a queen when 

 Vhey find her where thaj don't crpcd to find a (]uccn. 

 A young queen is always found upon the brood- 

 combs, usually upon the brood; hence there is the 

 place to put her. We remove a comb that contains 

 brood, lean it against the hive, place the (picen 

 among the bees upon the brood, and then watch 

 the bees. If one or two minutes elapse, and the 

 liees pay no attention to the queen, except it be to 

 caress her or offer her food, we replace the comb. 

 If the bees attack her we smoke them. If they at- 

 tack her again, we smoke them again. This watch- 



I ing and smoking is kept up until the bees let her 



I alone, even if it takes ten minutes. Perhaps half 



a dozen times the present season we have found a 



I nucleus that would not accept a queen after they 



j had been "corrected," even for ten minutes. The 



i queen was then given to some other nucleus, and 



! the " obstrei)erous " nucleus given a queen -cell. 



I'siially the (pieens arc accepted with no trouble; 



and when the bees do ob,ject, one or two smokings 



usually induce them to change their opinions. We 



I)refer to introduce virgin queens to giving (jucen- 



ccUs, for the reason that we can xcc the queen and 



know that she is perfect. 



We have this year been trying the 



.lONES METHOD OF GETTING QUEEN-CELLS, 



And one who has never tried it will be much sur- 

 prised if this method is given a trial, at the large 

 number of line queens that will be secured; liner, 

 in our opinion, than tliose reared under the swarm- 

 ing imixilse. Helore swarming began, our queen- 

 cells were built in full strong colonies (not by the 

 Jones method, however), and the queens were fine 

 and large. When swarming began, many cells used 

 were built under the swarming impulse, and we 

 remarked several times how inferior were some of 

 the queens compared to those we had reared before 

 swarming began. 



Since the swarming season we have been using 

 the Jones method, and are delighted with it. We 

 see to it that some colony has larvir of the right 

 age, with holes cut in the comb to facilitate cell- 

 building; then we shake all the bees from one-half 

 the combs of two or three colonies, in front of the 

 hive where the cells arc to be built. We thus get 

 a great mass of bees; the hive is jammed so full 

 that some of them are crowded out of the entrance 



