MxVRCH 15, 1915 



(o have success. A freshly formed nucleus 

 with such bees will accept every queen. It 

 is somewhat more ditlicult to give an unfer- 

 tile queon to a dequeencd nucleus; and I 

 agree fully with Mr. Hand, that it is not 

 advisable to give another queen before three 

 days elapse after dequeening. In this case 

 I give the young queen in a wire tube, but 

 do not let the bees come to the candy before 

 one or two days. I give candy enough so 

 that the bees have at least 24 hours for 

 eating it. so 1 have only insignificant losses. 

 The losses come later when the young queen 

 flies out, and if there are but few traces of 

 robbery. In such a ease the queen will be 

 balled and slung. But that is exactly the 

 same if I have given a cell or a young 

 queen. 



A gi-eat advantage of this method with 

 hatched queens is that the young queen 

 can be minutely examined before giving it 

 to a nucleus. A queen which has not the 

 needed characteristics of the desired race is 

 eliminated, and so is, of eoui"se, each one 

 which is minus a claw or has a deficient 

 wing. Furthermore, I mark each queen be- 

 fore giving her to a nucleus. Marking is 

 much easier w'ith a freshly hatched queen 

 than with a fertile one, not to speak of the 

 greater ner\ousness in the latter case. This 

 is very important for me because it gives the 

 pMDSsibility (when marking the queens dif- 

 ferently) of making interesting observa- 

 tions. 



As to the temperature of the incubator. 

 I have, as a rul6, 90 degi-ees F. ; but it is 

 necessary that the cells be just the same 

 height as the thermometer, because (at least 

 with my incubator) the liigher up the 

 thermometer, the liigher the temperature. 



For each cell I use a little cage consisting 

 of three parts^the wooden cover A, where 

 the cell is fixed with w-ax, the square wire 



tube B and the foot C. The latter is of 

 wood and has two holes which have been 

 well waxed, one for candy, the other for 

 welter (w). The water-hole is partly cov- 

 ered by a piece of foundation to avoid the 

 drowning of the queen. In the incubator I 

 put some wet blotting-paper 

 to secure the necessary hu- 

 midity of the atmosphere. If 

 I have many cells 1 fill the 

 cage with bees, which may 

 easily be made on an alight- 

 ing-board, having in one hand 

 A and B (with the cell) ; in 

 the other, C, on going with 

 tlie under edge of the wire tube 

 along the board, so catching 

 the bees. In cages with bees 

 I can keep a queen for several 

 days; but it is better not to 

 let her stay longer than one 

 day in the warmth of the incubator, but to 

 put the cage in a dark place at about 60 to 

 70 degrees F. 



The late Dr. Kramer was much opposed 

 to this method of letting the queens hatch 

 in the forbidding, solitary place of a dead 

 incubator. He thought that the sympathy 

 of the surrounding bees in the hive had an 

 influence on the strength and qualities of 

 the young queen. This ^^ew is very roman- 

 tic and poetic, and ought ceiiainly to be 

 adopted with the eggs of hens and geese; 

 but I must confess that I, for my part, have 

 never seen any bad etfect on my queens. 

 ]\Iost of them show the fine qualities of their 

 parents, and often become four year's old, 

 but not older, according to my observations, 

 till to-day. There are beeman, however, 

 who pretend to have had a queen which 

 lived six years. Have any of the readers 

 ever seen a queen older than four years'? 



Zug, Switzerland. 



SOME COMMENTS ON RECENT DISCUSSIONS 



BY J. A. BOWEN 



So far as I can ascertain the season of 

 1014 has been the worst ever knowm in this 

 regrion, due, I believe, to the cold summer. 

 May and June were like winter. The bees 

 were getting just enough nectar to keep 

 body and soul together. I am Avondering 

 whether the season had any thing to do with 

 such a general balling of young cjueens. In 

 looking for eggs on the thirteenth day I 

 would find the queen in a frantic ball of 

 bees. Some I rescued, many were killed. 

 This freakishness became less evident as the 

 season advanced. 



Another feature that caused lots of an- 

 noyance Avas when I took a frame of brood 

 from the center and replaced it with drawn 

 comb or full sheets of foundation. In three 

 or four days, instead of being filled with 

 eggs, as at other seasons, it acted as a 

 division-board. The bees filled it with honey, 

 and on the queenless side started queen-cells. 

 In several instances queen-cells were found 

 in the supers, showing the bees had carried 

 eggs through the excluder. 



Many rea.sons are given why so many 

 young queens fail to return home after 



