Aug. 27, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



551 



bees nor queen can neither run nor fly — just barely crawl 

 about. You can then take your own time and catch the 

 queen tenderly and carefully, and just put her wherever you 

 please. 



In rearing' queens, I invariably cage the cells as soon as 

 the bees have thinned the ends. The cages are made of 

 wire-cloth, and similar in shape to the West cages. I put 

 the cage in the hive the queen is to occupy, if it is already 

 queenless, or I leaveit where the cell has been built. But 

 it must be in the cluster of bees to make sure that the 

 young queen will be fed. Anyway, the time will come 

 when the queen (a virgin, of course) will have to be released. 

 When I first began, I simply uncorked the cage and laid it 

 on the frames, letting the queen come out and go down be- 

 tween the combs. After two or three went " up in the air " 

 instead of "down between the combs," I decided to give 

 cages and queens a good wetting before uncorking the 

 cages. 



During the last two or three years I have often intro- 

 duced them directly. That is, taken the cage (and enclosed 

 queen) from the colony where she had been reared, given 

 her a bath, and turned her loose at the entrance of her new 

 home. This method has been as successful as the other. It 

 has the advantage of not needing to open the hive where the 

 queen is introduced. That's a good deal in times of scarcity 

 of nectar. Very often the medding of robbers spoils the 

 introduction of a queen. Knox Co., Tenn. 



[ Our Bee-Meepin$ Sisters ] 



Conducted by E.mma M. Wilson, Mareusjo, 111. 



Cutting' Out Queen-Cells — Swarming'. 



Will you please explain about taking out queen-cells ? 



1. When to commence taking them out ? 



2. How often ? 



3. How long after the first swarm to prevent a second ? 

 and how long after a second to prevent a third ? 



3. How to tell if a colony is queenless after swarming, 

 and what is best to do with them ? Mrs. S. Hatch. 



Washington Co., N. Y. 



1. If your desire is to prevent or postpone a first swarm 

 you must begin as soon as queen-cells are started, at least 

 before they are sealed. If you have a number of colonies, 

 begin looking through the strongest at or before the usual 

 time of swarming, which will likely be in your location 

 about the time the white clover begins to bloom. When 

 you find cells started in these strong colonies, then it will 

 be well to make a systematic search in the others. 



2. About once in nine or ten days. 



3. If all but one cell are cut out about a week after the 

 first swarm, there ought to be no second or third swarm. If 

 you want a second swarm to issue, but nothing later, cut 

 out all cells but one as soon as the second swarm has issued. 

 This, however, is not entirely safe, for immediately upon 

 the issuing of the second swarm another young queen may 

 have issued from her cell, and if you leave one cell uncut 

 while there is a free queen in the hive, there may be a third 

 swarm. 



On general principles it may be said that you will prob- 

 ably find upon sufficient experience that it is better to pre- 

 vent all after-swarms. To do this by cutting out queen- 

 cells, listen for the piping of the first young queen that 

 emerges. That ought to be about eight days after the is- 

 suing of the first swarm. To be on the safe side you might 

 begin to listen the seventh day. Go to the hive in the even- 

 ing when it has become still, put your ear against the side 

 of the hive, and if there is a young queen there piping, you 

 will have no difficulty in recognizing her shrill voice at in- 

 tervals, " p-e-e-e-p, p-e-e-p, peep," and then the next morn- 

 ing cut out all cells. 



There is, however, a better way than to cut out cells, 

 by getting the bees themselves to do the job. The bees will 

 never miss a cell ; you may. The plan is this : When the 

 first swarm issues, set the swarm on the old stand, putting 

 the old hive close beside it. A week later move the old hive 

 to a new place. That will make the field-bees, on their re- 

 turn from the fields, instead of going back to the old hive 

 go back to the old place, joining the swarm. This will so 



weaken the old colony that the bees will decide they can not 

 afford to swarm any more, and only one queen will be left. 

 4. Two weeks after the issuing of a first swarm, if no 

 brood nor eggs are to be found in the hive, you may decide 

 you have a queenless colony. Give it a laying queen, or if 

 you have none, a virgin queen or a queen-cell. 



Hiving Swarms from Tall Trees. 



As Miss Wilson has asked the sisters to tell how they 

 do it, and as Joseph Blake tells how he did it, in last week's 

 Bee Journal, I will tell the sisters the way I did it last 

 summer. 



I have a tall, slim red-cedar tree in my yard, and a 

 swarm came out and settled in the top of it. So I spread 

 an old quilt on the ground and put the hive on that, where 

 I supposed they would fall, when I palled the tree-top over 

 and would shake them off. 



I nailed two pieces together, and put a large nail in one 

 end of the pole and tied the other end with a clothes-line, 

 so my neighbor could pull on that while I had the pole. I 

 went after him, and he came ; of course, he kept away quite 

 a little distance, as he is afraid of bees. The nail would 

 slip off of the line ; I spoke but got no answer, and looked 

 behind me and he was gone. One got after him and he 

 left. I thought if I could get the rope aroun^ near the top 

 then I would pull it over. It did not take me long to think 

 how to get it there. I tied the line to the end of the pole 

 and put it up where I wanted the rope, and walked around 

 the trees and pulled the rope along, so it would come down. 

 I then tied both ends together to pull it down. 



I had to go for my neighbor again (they live close to 

 me). When he came he wanted to know how I got the rope 

 up there. So we both pulled on the rope and bent the tree- 

 top over so I could shake them off, but the bees did not go 

 near where I expected they would ; they took wing and set- 

 tled in a high cedar, higher than they were before, and the 

 limbs were so thick together that one could not get them. 

 My neighbor thought they were a hopeless case. I said the 

 only way I could see to do with them was to keep them 

 stirred up until they would leave and go some place else. 

 So, with the long pole we kept them stirred up, but they 

 would cluster in the same place, so I told him he might as 

 well go home, and I would keep stirring them up. 



I have tall pine trees along the road, and the bees are 

 on the south side of them, so the neighbor just below the 

 other one saw me in the road and came up. He and I kept 

 punching and stirring them. He said we ought to have 

 some kind of smoke, so I left him working at them and 

 came in to get some saltpeter rags to tie on the end of the 

 pole to set fire to and put up among them. When I went 

 back I heard a roaring in the apple-tree by the other one, 

 and I saw they intended to make for the woods, but the 

 queen was too tired. She settled on a low limb of an apple- 

 tree right across the road, so I took the hive over there, 

 and with a poker got them and poured them on the quilt in 

 front of the hive, and they were very glad to march in as 

 fast as they could. It was a prime swarm, and I did not 

 want to lose it. You see, there is a good deal of the bull- 

 dog nature about me to hang on. When I got through I 

 had been over an hour at them, but I got them. 



I think the Sisters department a great improvement to 

 the Bee Journal ; it gives us a chance to know what each 

 one is doing, as you say. Whenever a woman makes up her 

 mind to do anything she will do it. 



I will let you know about my bees before very long. 



Cumberland Co., N. J. Mrs. Sarah J. Griffith. 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet {3>^x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Pricks, prepaid— Sample copy free; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

 for 40 cts.; SO for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 

 for $4.00 ; 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free 

 at the bottom of the front page, on all orders for 100 or 

 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



