1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



471 



that I saw were pigmies; that such wretched- 

 ly raised queens made a poor showing, and, 

 accordingly, attempts were made to replace 

 them, often ending in failure. 



One thing I do know. I have requeened 

 with Italian blood; seen that each hive had 

 at least 25 pounds of stores on hand by Sep- 

 tember "20, and believe that next season's ex- 

 perience will not be a repetition of this par- 

 ticular kind of trouble.* But I am confident 

 a new brand will camp on my trail. 



Now for another variety of queen prob- 

 lems. Like mine, Mr. Russell's bees were 

 of very dark hybrid stock; in fact, this is the 

 prevailing style in this part of the world. 

 Being dissatisfied with it, between ourselves 

 he could not stand the stings, especially 

 when they sought him out when he was cul- 

 tivating in the strawberry-patch, and tried 

 to stampede both him and his horse. Then 

 he decided to Italianize, and about the mid- 

 dle of August he received IS Italian queens 

 from Mr. Moore, which were introduced by 

 the system recommended by that breeder. 

 There was one variation, however, that I 

 fancy was out of the usual run. We had 

 started to transfer eight of the hives the day 

 the queens arrived, and after the operation 

 was finished we placed the cage with the 

 queen on top of the frames in the case of the 

 transferred nives. Otherwise the procedure 

 was quite orthodox. 



The honey-flow here stops very suddenly 

 early in July. In 1908 it ended about the 

 10th, the season being a late one, so that June 

 is the month of swarming. My first was on 

 the eighth of that month, while the very last, 

 and a third at that, was on July 1. The 

 reader can, therefore, imagine Mr. Russell's 

 surprise when, two days after the release of 

 the queens, a swarm took place. He was 

 busv with some carpentry at the time; but 

 his better half happened to notice the com- 

 motion, and hastened to inform him that the 

 bees were swarming. He was highly amus- 

 ed with the news, and poked a little fun at 

 his wife, who, by the way, has always lived 

 in the city until recently; and with an air of 

 superiority he informed her that bees never 

 swarm in the latter half of August when the 

 lioney-flow stops the first of July. But 

 she insisted that he investigate; so, to humor 

 her, he rrocecded to the apiary, where he 

 found a little cloud of bees circling in the 

 air. In a little while they alighted on a red- 

 currant bush, about a foot from the ground. 

 I'he experience was both new and interest- 

 nig, so lie endeavored to count the bees and 

 cam "• to the conclusion that probably there 

 might be 150 in all. The error, more or less, 

 could not be a great one. 



Two years ago in Chicago, Mr. Russell 

 amused himself all the fall arid up to January 

 •v'ith a single-frame nucleus, a third and very 

 lute swarm, and he was delighted to think 

 he would have a chance with the same kind 

 of toy in such a mild winter climate as we 

 have here. So he secured three shallow 

 Hoffman frames with empty comb, and pro- 



'This series of articles was written last fai'. — Ed. 



ceeded to hive the swarm in the usual way. 

 In a few minutes the queen walked out 

 and soared around in the air. He had kept 

 a few of the old queens as reserve in nuclei, 

 and never dreamed for a moment it was pos- 

 sible that one of his new queens was guilty 

 of such unusual regal conduct. But as she 



fracefully circled around him, accompanied 

 y her attendants, he had a chance to note 

 her color and easy flight. In a few minutes 

 all had vanished; neither by sight nor sound 

 could he locate the pigmy swarm, so he de- 

 cided he was minus ayouAg queen and a few 

 bees. But as he started off to resume his 

 work he noticed some bees flying between 

 the berry-bush, where they had first cluster- 

 ed, and a nearby prune- tree. Examining the 

 latter he detected a small cluster among the 

 leaves; so, getting a step-ladder, he investi- 

 gated further. Sitting on the outside of the 

 cluster he saw her majesty, so he proceeded 

 to inform her in his plainest English that he 

 had had enough of this unseasonable fooling, 

 for the swarming season Vv'as now past, and 

 Hallowe'en a long way off. To make his 

 boast good he secured her and about a score 

 of the bees in a tumbler, and for the second 

 time introduced her to his idea of a comfort- 

 able home. She disappeared among the 

 combs with a few bees; but the remainder, 

 after wandering round for a little while, van- 

 ished one by one. An examination of the 

 combs, to his great chagrin, showed that the 

 queen had again eloped. 



Disgusted he started for his work; but as 

 he passed the currant-bush he found a small 

 cluster on the old spot with the queen se- 

 renely sitting on the outside as before. Again 

 he got the bunch in the tumbler and rehived 

 the swarm, clapped on the cover, and start- 

 ed off to work, determined to ignore the 

 very existence of the recreants. But they 

 were on his mind, so in a few minutes he 

 came back to find they had again fled. On 

 the currant-bush were gathered a few bets; 

 on the prune-tree a few more, the quei n 

 with this lot. He was now realizing his im- 

 potence; but, like the brave warrior of clas- 

 sical times, he had to address his opponent 

 before entering into the contest, and he thus 

 unburdened his mind: "This is the last time 

 I am going to hive you, as you are only a toy, 

 anyhow; and if you don't stay put you can 

 quit and die, for death is surely your finish, 

 as there is not a particle of food for you any- 

 where." 



Then, carefully cutting the branch, he laid 

 it on top of the combs and closed the hive. 

 To keep the queen inside he obstructed the 

 entrance with queen-excludinj^ zinc, and now 

 he felt he had her a prisoner tor sure. 



Next morning, as the combs were empty 

 he prepared some sugar syrup and proceed- 

 ed to the hive to give the swarm a feed. Re- 

 moving the cover he was disgusted to find 

 that not only the bees but the queen as well 

 had vanished. 



Mr. Russell's second experience occurred 

 about two weeks later. One afternoon about 

 four o'clock he was walking along at the 

 back of the hives, and, happening to look 



