1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



713 



that any one with a little experience in bee-keeping 

 ought to produce virgin queens about as well as 

 any one else; and considering risk of loss, etc., 

 much cheaper. Those who can not are not likely to 

 succeed with virgin queens several days old, pur- 

 chased from a distance. I have always introduced 

 virgin queens when less than two days old. 



J. A. Green. 

 a, b. I have had no experience in that line. c. No; 

 the best way I found was in the Betsinger cage, 

 the same as though they were fertile. I have had 

 a good deal of experience in introducing virgin 

 queens of different ages, but abandoned all except 

 the introduction of very young ones, after noticing 

 the fact that they never took their wedding-flight 

 until the same time had elapsed after their introduc- 

 tion, whether they were one hour or five days old at 

 time of introduction. I have often wondered 

 whether any others have had this same experience 

 or not; but I have noticed no mention of it by our 

 writers. O. 0. Poppleton. 



a. If virgins could be safely introduced it would 

 be a great benefit; but with my experience in in- 

 troducing them, T would look on the trade in them 

 as an unmitigated nuisance. The greatest annoy- 

 ance I ever had was thirteen years since, in adopt- 

 ing your (?) lamp-nursery, and introducing virgin 

 queens. I could hatch them by the hundred; but 

 nine out of ten were lost in introducing, b. I have 

 not succeeded in any plan of safely introducing 

 virgins. 



P. S. — I do not insist that Providence warned us 

 against the use of such a device as above named, 

 but the great lamp used in that nursery afterward 

 burst, and set fire to the house of J. F. Mclntyre, 

 my son-in-law, and narrowly escaped burning it 

 with the family. R. Wilkin. 



a. How is a novice ever to become a bee-keeper, 

 except as he goes to work as a bee-keeper should? 

 It is in this way that he becomes a practical bee- 

 keeper. So I answer the question, yes. Every vir- 

 gin queen a person handles makes him just so 

 much the wiser along this line of our pursuit; and 

 until a person can successfully handle virgin 

 queens, he does not arrive at full "'manhood " in 

 our pursuit, b. Through a direct crossing of the 

 best stock which you have, with the best stock the 

 best apiarist in the world has succeeded in produc- 

 ing. A direct cross of the best specimens of a 

 given race always gives vigor and strength not ob- 

 tained in any other way. c. No, not as easily as a 

 fertile queen can be introduced; but by the plans 

 given in my book, I succeed nearly every time; but 

 these plans are too long for this department. 



G. M. Doolittle. 



a, b. I don't know any thing about it; but it 

 seems to me that " novices" had better purchase 

 only fertilized queens, except as an experiment, c. 

 I have introduced virgin queens several days old, 

 but not as quickly as fertilized ones. My method 

 was to fix a stick in such shape that one or both 

 ends would be of the size and shape of the inside 

 of a fair-sized queen-cell. Wet the ends and dip 

 them in melted beeswax two or three times, just as 

 is done to sheet wax for foundation. Place in cool 

 waier a moment, and the wax can be readily re- 

 moved from the stick. Make as many as may be 

 needed for the season. Before using, prick three 

 or four holes, with a good-sized pin, through the 

 closed end of this wax cell, just about where the 



queen would naturally gnaw out of a natural cell. 

 Put the queen in head first, and carefully equef ze 

 the open end together, and fasten to the top-bar of 

 a frame that is in the center of the cluster of bees 

 in the brood-nest. The holes should be large 

 enough so the queen can get her tongue through, 

 to be fed by the bees. This is not original with me. 

 I read it somewhere years ago. 



Dr. A. B. Mason. 



Our friends may perhaps remember that 1 

 was one of the first to recommend introduc- 

 ing virgin queens— that is, when first hatch- 

 ed by means of the lamp nursery ; but 1 nev- 

 er succeeded in any satisfactory way, unless 

 the queens were introduced when only a 

 few hours old. As an illustration : One eve- 

 ning during swarming time a young bee- 

 keeper drove up to our yard with some 

 queen-cages in long strips ; in fact, they 

 looked a good deal like ten-foot poles, only 

 they were about half as long. Every cage 

 contained a nice-looking queen ; but I 

 thought at the time they looked rather white 

 and fresh. He said he had bought an ABC 

 book ; but as he lived only a few miles awav, 

 he raised the queens expressly for us. We 

 purchased the lot, and commenced intro- 

 ducing. In two or three weeks we had in- 

 troduced most of the lot ; and some later a 

 few were laying. We were, however, satis- 

 fied that he had brought us virgin queens. 

 We hunted him up, and he admitted it. He 

 said he hadn't got the hang of the thing, and 

 he supposed that getting the queens hatch- 

 ed was all there was to it. Now, I am sure 

 that neither Ernest nor myself would think 

 of accepting such a lot of queens again as a 

 gift. I do not mean that there was any 

 thing the matter with the queens. They 

 were strong, lively, and active ; but they 

 had not been fertilized. 



Question 142.— By what method do you introduce 

 fertile queens? Explain the plan in detail, if not al- 

 ready generally known. 



See 141. Paul. L. Viallon. 



The plans as given in my book. A. J. Cook. 



Cage them a couple of days before letting them 

 loose. P. H. Elwood. 



My method is generally known and practiced by 

 others, which is, by the use of a surface-cage. 



A. E. Manom. 



By caging the queen on the combs with a wire- 

 cloth cap that crowds into the comb after remov- 

 ing the old queen. H. K. Boakdman. 



By various methods, depending upon the time 

 and the condition of the swarm. A fertile queen is 

 almost always safe when running over the combs. 

 Mrs. L. Harrison. 



I have nothing new to offer. I have practiced 

 most of the methods given in the books. Most of 

 them will prove successful during the swarming 

 season, with a good flow of honey. 



S. 1. Freeborn. 



Generally 1 let her go at once among the bees on 

 a comb, lifted from the hive where I know they 

 have been without a queen a few hours or days. If 

 they treat her well I set her with the bees back in 

 the hive; if the bees seem to doubt her right among 

 them, I put her in a Peet or other cage, arranged 

 so she will get out within a day or two. More valu- 



