1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



673 



ANOTHER DIRECT METHOD OF IN- 

 TRODUCING QUEENS. 



Gradual Introduction to a Few Bees at 

 First. 



BY W. F. WOLFE. 



This season and last I have used a sHght 

 modification of the various methods of queen 

 introduction usually used. Instead of allow- 

 ing the queen to run directly into the hive, 

 as Mr. Simmins recommends, or using a 

 cage as most other authorities do, I place the 

 queen alone in a small olass chamber on top 

 of the quilt (an inverted drinking-tumbler, if 

 made of smooth clear glass, does very well) . 

 I then allow three or four bees to go up into 

 the chamber or tumbler to the queen. I 

 now close the opening between the hive and 

 tumbler, and watch how the bees treat the 

 queen. If they treat her well I allow about 

 a dozen more bees to enter again, closing 

 the opening, and watching what happens. 

 If all goes well I allow as many bees to enter 

 the tumbler as will comfortably fit there, 

 again closing the opening, this time for about 

 15 minutes. At the end of that time I re- 

 turn; and if all is peaceable I allow the 

 queen and bees to enter the hive. 



The only time that this method has failed 

 with me was once in July, 1908, when, the 

 instant I opened the hole in the quilt the 

 queen bolted down through it and was at 

 once balled. I then had to open the hive 

 and rescue her, getting several stings in the 

 process, as I dared not wait to light a smoker 

 and smoke the hive. 



Since then I have been very careful to 

 make only a small hole in the quilt, to cover 

 it with a piece of thin glass, which can easily 

 be slid off or on to the hole without moving 

 the inverted tumbler, and especially to see 

 that the queen's back is turned when open- 

 ing the hole for the first time. 



This method in my opinion has several ad- 

 vantages. 



1. It the small hole is made in the quilt 

 with a sharp knife it scarcely disturbs the 

 bres at all, or, better still, it can be made 24 

 hours earlier, and covered with the piece of 

 glass. 



2. The readiness of the bees to accept the 

 queen can be quite accurately judged by the 

 behavior of the first three or four bees ad- 

 mitted to the royal presence. 



3. If they attempt to ill treat her she can 

 easily be rescued. I have never found it 

 necessary to do this, as three or four bees 

 can not ball her; and, though they occasion- 

 ally chase her about and pull her legs, etc., 

 if no more bees are admitted for a few min- 

 utes they usually begin to feed her peace- 

 ably. If at first the few bees admitteu have 

 been disorderly it is better to admit only a 

 few bees at a time, say three or four, instead 

 of about a dozen. As soon as these have be- 

 come used to the queen more may be admit- 

 ted. 



4. As a rule, within a few minutes of Ihe 

 queen entering the hive proper almost every 

 bee will follow her, forming a guard tor her. 



and at the same time making it easy to re- 

 move the glass chamber without any neces- 

 sity for a veil. 



Of course, before attempting this or any 

 other method of introduction the old queen 

 must be removed, and it is better, especially 

 for a beginner, to make the bees broodless 

 24 hours in advance, either by the "shook- 

 swarm method" or the Alexander plan of 

 getting rid of unsealed brood or some other 

 way. 



Skibbereen, Ireland, July 26. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



How it May Act Like a Boomerang. 



BY MORLEY PETTIT. 



Mr. Doolittle, p. 194, April 1, commends a 

 man for being so "conscientious" that he 

 "would not think of locating in a territory 

 already occupied by somebody else. " Is it a 

 matter of conscience? Does not that expres- 

 sion put the matter of overstocking on a 

 slightly wrong basis? I would rather say 

 "wise "than conscientious. The matter of 

 priority rights has long been before the bee- 

 keeping world, and I suppose always will be. 

 The act of overstocking is a boomerang. 

 Unlike mercy, it curseth him that gives and 

 him that takes. If a man turned a bunch of 

 steers into a pasture already O' cupied by all 

 the animals it would support, he would in- 

 jure himself as well as the owner, who, by 

 previous possession, had a prior claim. On 

 tiie other hand, the man who had turned a 

 few animals into a 1000-acre comm n, and 

 then tried to keep all others out, would be a 

 regular "dog in the manger." Again, in the 

 case of the bees there is a third party who is 

 rapidly claiming recognition The farmer 

 who plants the fruit trees, alsike, buckwheat, 

 or whatever it may be, has the right to the 

 privilege of trading the honey of his blos- 

 soms for fruit and seed through the agency 

 of the apiarist's bees. 



It is a vexed quesfon, but one that has 

 not, happily, to my knowledge, caused any 

 serious conflicts among the apicultural fra- 

 ternity. No one knows or can foretell with 

 certainty just how many colonies any one 

 spot can support to the greatest advantage 

 to the bee-keeper. The honey crop is de- 

 pendent upon weather conditions, not only 

 from year to year but from day to day, dur- 

 ing the flow. The seed and fruit grower 

 has no cause for concern in the matter so 

 long as he is sure that the place is not under- 

 stocked. The more bees the better for him. 



A good illustration of this occurn d in the 

 neighborhood of the Marble apiaries last fall. 

 Right adjoining each of two yards, a small 

 field of buckwheat was put in so late that it 

 bloomed after every thing else was done 

 blooming. The weather happened to be fa- 

 vorable. The bees devoted their whole at- 

 tention to it, as there was nothing else for 

 them to do. In consequence, the owners of 

 these fields had a better yield i er acre than 

 anv i/f thi ir neiiihbors. 



