l^'Ol 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



r87 



of tlie bee-stiui;" poison. Now. wliile we 

 have had quite a few communications, jioint- 

 in^ almost as plainly to the fact that the 

 poison of the bee-sting- cured the rheuma- 

 tism, is it not possible that tlie disease dis- 

 appeared of itself? or tliat your cliange of 

 employment, enthusiasm in studying bee 

 culture, etc., had something to do with it? 

 I sliould be very g"lad indeed to have it prov- 

 ed that bee-sting poison is such a valuable 

 medicine; but I am sure you will excuse me 

 for being slow to accept this while we have 

 so many remedies for almost every thing. 

 I hardly need mention Electropoise, absent 

 healing, etc. Bee culture is certainly a 

 healthful occupation, and very likely it is 

 beneficial to many to get sfufig now and 

 then. May God help us to get at the real 

 truth in regard to all these wonderful things 

 that aregoing- on around aboutus. — A. I. R.] 



INTRODUCING TO CROSS HYBRIDS THAT ARE 

 DISINCLINED TO ACCEPT A OUEEN; CON- 

 STRUCTION OF THE GERMAN 

 WAX-PRESS. 



What is the best way to introduce a queen 

 in a cross hj'brid colony that has been 

 queenless some little time, and refuses to 

 start cells, and is positively queenless, with 

 no laying workers ? 



I never saw queens disappear so mysteri- 

 ously, or bees to swarm regardless of queen- 

 cells and conditions of the brood-chamber, 

 as the past season, with as good a flow of 

 honey. The average nearly reached the 

 hundred mark. 



For the benefit of the slim-pocket bee- 

 keeper who wishes to tinker up a home- 

 made wax-extractor, could you not give a 

 better description of the construction of the 

 wire basket and the apparatus that carries 

 the wax to the outside of the machine? 



Mohawk, N. Y. C. R. Morts. 



[Ordinarily, if a colony refuses to accept 

 a queen we naturally conclude that the 

 bees have something which they regai'd as 

 a queen. It may be a small virgin, or it 

 may be a fertile worker. If the last named 

 is present you will be likelj^ to find eggs, 

 and in some cases two or three of them in a 

 cell. But if you knoiv positively that the 

 colony is queenless, and that it has no vir- 

 gin, then I would take away every bit of 

 brood of every sort, and keep it away until 

 the bees fairly howl in distress. At the 

 end of the second or third day give a smudge 

 of tobticco smoke, and introduce a queen by 

 the cand}' plan. But in 99 cases out of 100, 

 where a colony refuses to accept a queen I 

 should conclude that they were not queen- 

 less ; and in any case the best advice I 

 could give would be to give them a frame of 

 unsealed larvze or eggs. If they are cer- 

 tainly queenless they will start building 

 cells. I never yet knew of a case where 

 they would not do so under such circum- 

 stances. If they start queen-cups, let them 

 alone and let them rear their own queen. I 

 remember one colony once to which, for a 

 matter of experiment, we introduced three 



different queens, or attempted to do so, and 

 eiich one of them was killed as soon as they 

 released her. We finally gave them a fraine 

 of unsealed larva;, when they started to 

 build cells ; but, strang^ely enough, after 

 they reared a queen they killed her, because 

 we found her balled and dead. We then 

 gave the colony another frame of kirvje, and 

 this time they raised a queen. Such colo- 

 nies are very rare, and ordinarily it does 

 not pay to fuss with them. 



Regarding the disappearance of queens, 

 this is something that happens very often in 

 the fall. After a heavy season's duty, good 

 laying queens will sometimes be found miss- 

 ing. They possibly use up their vitality, 

 and die a natural death. In the case of 

 colonies with virgin queens, the weather is 

 usually so inclement that they do not g-et 

 out; or if they do, they do not find drones. 

 If thev' do not become fertilized, the bees are 

 apt to destroy them. 



Regarding the wax extractor, or press, it 

 would be necessary to prepare an engrav- 

 ing showing the internal construction of our 

 machine. We will have such a one prepar- 

 ed, and show it to our readers later. But 

 it is doubtful whether the bee-keeper with a 

 "slim pocket," unless a very good mechan- 

 ic, could make a machine on the German 

 plan. His better way is to make a Hatch- 

 Gemmill wax-press, as described on p. 279, 

 April 1st Gleanings, and render out his 

 wax in an old iron kettle in connection with 

 hot water. The Gemmill press can be made 

 hy any one. — Ed.] 



DO bees swarm when they have unseal- 

 ed BROOD? ouei-:ns being mated 

 from upper stories. 



1. Do bees ever swarm when there is only 

 unsealed brood in the brood-nest, provided 

 there is plenty of room for the bees above ? 



2. What is g^iven as the reason for young 

 queens intended to be mated from upper 

 stories, as described in the ABC book, to 

 "turn up missing" ? Is it that the queens 

 do not find their way back ? or is it because 

 they are killed by the bees coming up from 

 below thi-ough the zinc ? If it is the latter, 

 why not use wire cloth and a nucleus of 

 young bees above that ? 



C. S. Fkitschel. 

 Waverly, Iowa, Sept. 4. 



1. Yes, sir, 'e; but when a swarm is 

 newly hived, and is given a frame of un- 

 sealed brood, // is not as liable to swarm 

 out again as if it were put on a frame of 

 sealed brood or a frame of honey with start- 

 ers or empty combs. I have had swarms 

 repeatedly come out again after I had hived 

 them, even when the hive contained unseal- 

 ed brood. When a swarm persists in com- 

 ing out thus, I would hive it and take it 

 down cellar until the bees have a chance to 

 "cool off." Then next morning set them 

 in an entirely new location, and let them 

 begin flying quietly before the usual hours 

 for swarming. 



2. Both of the reasons that you suggest 



