1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



343 



might be well to mention that my nurseries 

 consist of a long bar about an inch wide, cut 

 to fit tightly between the two end bars cf the 

 regular-si 7.ed frame. This bar is partitioned 

 oflf by tin walls into little chambers about one 

 inch square, and covered on both sides with 

 wire netting, all having the tops left open. 

 When we have cells expected to hatch within 

 a day or so we just take one of these nursery- 

 bars and shove it up under the queen-cells on 

 the frame, thus partitioning each queen-cell 

 off by itself. At the bottom or under side, 

 many corks can be seen which close a ^4^ -inch 

 hole, the exit to each of these little chambers. 



INTRODUCING OUEENS. 



To introduce queens I have found this to be 

 the best method for me, excepting none. 

 Take the queen away from the colony into 

 which the introduction is to be made, and the 

 bees will, as usual, start to construct queen- 

 cells as usual. After they are all sealed, and 

 to make sure that they are all sealed, I wait 

 until the 7th or 8th day. By this time the 

 bees begin to expect a new queen from the 

 cells they constructed, and this is the time to 

 introduce your new queen. Put her into a 

 cage ; or if she is in a mailing-cage, as she ar- 

 rived through the mail, all right. Remove 

 the piece of tin which you will find covering 

 a hole at one end of the cage (we will suppose 

 our queen has just arrived through the mail, 

 and the colony was made queenless the day 

 we sent for her — of course time will vary in 

 filling orders, but it usually takes about a 

 week to get the queen), and cover the open- 

 ing with a piece of thin foundation. After do- 

 ing this, open the hive and lay the cage on 

 top of the frames, or somewhere between 

 them. Before closing the hive, blow a few 

 puffs of tobacco smoke into the hive, for good 

 luck, and close quickly. The tobacco smoke, 

 however, is not really necessary. In a day or 

 so examine the hive and you will be almost 

 certain to see your new queen on one of the 

 combs, walking along as peaceably as if she 

 had hatched from one of the cells which she 

 only a few hours before destroyed . This m eth- 

 od, although keeping the colony queenless 

 for some time, is, nevertheless, one of the 

 surest, and is well worth following when a val- 

 uable queen is at stake. 



Cincinnati, O. 



[Our experience in the matter of introduc- 

 ing queens has been almost the opposite of 

 Mr. Weber's. We find that we get bad re- 

 sults in introducing to colonies with capped 

 queen-cells. We succeed much better with 

 colonies queenless but one or two days. 



Roof apiaries are not very numerous, chief- 

 ly because of the difficulty of controlling the 

 extn mes of heat and cold ; the only ones I 

 know of who have made a success in such el- 

 evated spots are the late Chas. F. Muth, and 

 Weber, as above, and Mr. G. E. Purple, of 

 Chicago. Where land is expensive and can 

 not be had, there is no reason why roofs of 

 buildings may not be made available ; but of 

 course it will be necessary to provide against 

 the extreme of heat as Mr. Weber has done. 

 Ed.] 





Wm 



TRANSFERRING. 



It is the 14th day of March, and we have 

 had the first day this year in which the weath- 

 er approached any thing nearly warm enough 

 for the bees to fly, the mercury rising as high 

 as 42° in the shade. The snow has been from 

 two to ten feet deep ever since the middle of 

 February, just in accord as the wind has piled 

 it, and the bees that are out on their summer 

 stands are suffering for a fly. Being in hopes 

 that they may be able to fly to-morrow I am 

 out looking at the entrances of the eleven col- 

 onies I have outdoors (near sunset), to see 

 that none are obstructed. While doing this I 

 see a man approaching, who proves to be Mr. 

 Brown, who lives about a mile away, and who 

 has the bee-fever, he having purchased a doz- 

 en or so colonies of an old box-hive farmer 

 last fall. As he nears the bee-yard I accost 

 him thus : 



"Good evening, Mr. Brown. How are the 

 bees getting on ? " 



" I was out listening at the entrances a little 

 while ago, and I could hear a little hum from 

 all the hives but one, and that I think is 

 dead, as no response was given when I tapped 

 on the hive." 



" This long siege of cold and snow has been 

 hard on the bees, but I hope they may fly to- 

 morrow. I see one or two of mine flew a little 

 to-day, but nearly all that flew died on the 

 snow. But it takes only a few bees to make a 

 great show on snow, and I expect the most of 

 those which come out when it is not really 

 warm enough for them to fly are old bees 

 which would soon die any way. Have you 

 looked that your entrances are all free so the 

 bees can fly to-morrow, should it be warm 

 enough? " 



"Yes. I carefully cleared the entrances of 

 dead bees yesterday, hoping they might fly 

 to-day, but only a few came out. Like you, 

 I hope they may fly to-morrow. But I came 

 over to have a talk with you about transfer- 

 ring. I have my new hives all made, and 

 want to get the bees into them as soon as pos- 

 sible." 



" Are you going to transfer them so as to 

 try to save the combs ? or are you going to use 

 frames filled with foundation ? " 



" I wish to save the combs, of course, as I 

 have only enough foundation to use for start- 

 ers in the frames for the new swarms." 



" Where we wish to transfer the combs as 

 well as the bees, there are only two really 

 favorable times for transferring, although it 

 can be done at any time by using care." 



" When are those favorable times? " 



" The first is during fruit or apple bloom, 

 and the second is 21 days after the first or 

 prime swarm issues." 



" Why those times in preference toothers ?" 



"If done at the commencement of fruit- 

 bloom, but little honey is in the way, so the 



