160 



THF BEE-KEEPERS' REViilW. 



bees by placing the cage over night at the 

 entrance of a strong colony, antl release by 

 removal of the candy plug in the morning. 



When removing a queen to be superseded, 

 the colony should not be irritated. By the 

 proper use of smoke and the avoidance of 

 rough manipulation all will work well. Af- 

 ter removing a queen, avoid killing and 

 leaving her near the hive, as the keen recog- 

 nition by scent might prevent successful in- 

 troduction. During the interval of caging 

 the hive may be left open, unless there is a 

 failure of honey, at which time robbing is 

 likely to occur. To place the cage or arti- 

 ficial queen cell in position, a little smoke 

 should be used. After turning the swivel 

 tins to a right angle, insert between combs 

 of the brood nest towards the front of the 

 hive. Should the top bars be spaced I4 inch 

 apart, spread them at the front end suf- 

 ficiently to receive the cage, close the hive, 

 and the work of introduction will be accom- 

 plished. The colony should remain undis- 

 turbed for twenty-four hours at least, unless 

 a removal of the cage is desired, which will 

 cause little or no disturbance the following 

 morning. 



It may be well to state, that out of some 

 fifteen or sixteen colonies into which queens 

 were introduced last season, two constructed 

 cells, and at the end of eight or ten days 

 swarmed in the regular way. The issues be- 

 ing early in August when swarmmg seldom 

 occurs, I attributed it to introduction. How- 

 ever, during the examination after intro- 

 duction a glance over the combs will enable 

 us to detect the presence of cells, and act ac- 

 cordingly. 



As a test of the above method I have in- 

 troduced into a single colony, three queens 

 in as many consecutive days before having 

 one balled. Of course daring that period 

 egg laying is suspended, while those previ- 

 ously laid will have been hatched, causing an 

 interruption which would naturally result 

 disastrously. 



Although I have introduced queens by this 

 method in October, and in one instance on 

 the 9th day of March in order to save a val- 

 uable queen from loss by wintering, more 

 precaution is necessary. 



In view of the foregoing, I would advise 

 beginners to introduce their (jueens during 

 the summer months, and if possible during 

 a honey flow. 



B. Taylor Defends and Explains his Posi- 

 tion Regarding the Divisible Brood 

 Chamber. 



B. TAYLOK. 



Jaokson, Mich. 



May 14, mx>. 



T HAVE been read- 

 1 ing Mr. Heddon's 

 article in regard to 

 the divisible brood 

 chamber hive and 

 desire to say a few 

 final words in reply. 

 Mr. Heddon's threat 

 of making it cost 

 three to five thou- 

 sand dollars for me 

 to prove my claim, 

 is amusing. I would 

 not spend five cents to secure the undivided 

 title to all the patents on hives now in force. 

 Mr. Heddon has what is termed a combina- 

 tion patent. A right to the exclusive control 

 of an arrangement of thumVj screws and 

 tight-fitting closed-end frames in a shallow 

 box. I have no doubt he can hold this com- 

 bination against all claimants. As for my- 

 self, while I never thought for a moment of 

 contesting his claim to the principle of a 

 divisible brood chamber, yet I do not be- 

 lieve his patent covers the principle of using 

 two or more hives on top of each other for a 

 brood chamber. I do not believe any 

 claimant for a patent to control this right 

 can get such a patent. If such a patent were 

 granted, I am quite sure the U. S. courts 

 would annul the claim. If they did not, then 

 no person would dare to set two hives togeth- 

 er for a brood chamber, and this has been 

 practiced for centuries. No man can or 

 should monopolize this right. 



I have now explained myself in this part 

 of the matter so no person can easily mis- 

 understand me. The readers of my articles 

 in the bee journals know I have never writ- 

 ten anything like this before ; that every 

 thing I have written in the past was calcu- 

 lated to benefit Mr. Heddon. 



When it was sought some years ago to 

 have me enter the field of controversy in op- 

 position to the Heddon claim, I positively 

 refused. My feelings were not hostile to Mr. 

 Heddon. T regarded him as being of my 

 own faith and order and desired to be friend- 

 ly with hiui. I am not unfriendly now, but 

 have not considered myself under any obli- 

 gation to him for several years, for when I 

 wrote to him some years ago about my ex- 



