JAKUARY 1, 1913 



was something new. I had apparently 

 skipped it in my reading. I looked it up, 

 though, and sent oil" for an Italian queen. 

 This was in June, I think, just when the 

 colony was strong and fit to gather in a 

 heavj^ white-clover honej^ harvest. The 

 queen arrived, and we (the same two), 

 hunted long for the black queen, found her 

 and killed her, and also destroyed all the 

 queen-cells we could see. "When the hive 

 was put in order again, and the cage with 

 the new queen was in i^lace and the cover 

 on, my wife said, " Now, Willie, are you 

 quite sure it was the queen that you kill- 

 ed?" I immediately began to think it wasn't 

 the queen, for now I come to think of it, 

 it was perhaps a drone. However, I said 

 to her, "' What is the use of making a fel- 

 low doubt his ability as a beekeeper?" 

 Didn't I know a queen? It was the queen, 

 though, as after events proved. 



A week or two after that, we looked for 

 her majesty, and it was very easy to find 

 her among her black retinue. We clip- 

 ped her wings ; but in doing it we also took 

 a piece off one hind leg — by mistake of 

 course. Fortunately she has turned out to 

 be a good queen. 



Xow, this bit of Italianizing was rather 

 costly. I should not have meddled with the 

 hive at the time I did, for the operation 

 stopped the laying of eggs for some days, 

 and made a very marked decrease in the 

 working force. I got little or no surplus 

 honej' from that colony, when, bj^ delaying 

 the Italianizing until after the honey-flow, 

 I might have had two supers of honey to 

 extract. 



These are some of the more serious blun- 

 ders I have made while learning, and I con- 

 sole myself with the thought that we all 

 make mistakes. I should like to say for the 

 benefit of other learners that, time and time 

 again, I have found the reading I did, and 

 experience obtained in other ways, of much 

 practical value. The reading enabled me 

 to increase my apiary from three colonies 

 to six, all very strong, and with young 

 queens to Italianize all of them, and to ex- 

 tract 185 lbs. of honey. I do not think the 

 business of beekeeping can be carried on 

 successfully without considerable reading 

 combined with practice. 



O'Connell, Ontario, Canada. 



[Occasionally beginners accidentally cut 

 off a leg of a queen while endeavoring to 

 clip her wings. As far as the queen herself 

 is concerned this seems to do no gi-eat harm, 

 although the bees sometimes supersede a 

 queen thus crijjpled. Clipping is really 

 very easy, but still, if there are drones in 

 the hive it is well to practice on them first. 

 —Ed.] 



HOW TO LOAD HIVES OF BEES ON A WAGON 



The Necessity of Thorough Preparation 



BY ELIAS FOX 



I have been reading the dangerous and 

 hair-raising experiences of the two boy bee- 

 keepers in moving 30 colonies of bees 40 

 miles on a wagon, p. 688, Nov. 1, and I am 

 prompted to write a few lines on moving 

 bees by wagon or rail, as I think I have 

 had as much practical experience as any 

 one beekeeper. These directions will apply 

 especially to strong colonies in warm 

 weather. 



First of all, they should be in good solid 

 hives ; and if not so, the hives should be put 

 in the best possible repair. If the frames 

 are liable to loosen and crowd together, 

 nail each end with a small nail, or insert 

 between each two, at ends, small blocks, and 

 nail fast: then make frames of common 

 rough lath to fit the top of the hives, and 

 lay screen on top, and put another frame 

 of lath on top of this, and nail down 

 through into the top of the hives. If they 

 are very strong, and the weather is propor- 

 tionately warm, nail a comb-honey super 

 on top of the brood-chamber, and fasten 

 screen on top of this; and if the su^jer is 

 full of empty or partially empty sections 

 it will be all the better, as it affords better 

 clustering facilities. 



Now comes the closing of the entrance. 

 The majority of people close it by tacking 

 screen over it, wliich is the poorest way of 

 all, for this reason : If screen is tacked 

 over the outside of the entrance, it leaves it 

 open the full thickness of the lumber, and 

 the bees sometimes crowd the entrance solid 

 full, and are so heavily clustered over the 

 inside of it that bees can not get back, and 

 thus cut off practically all this source of 

 ventilation. 



A much better and safer way is to take 

 strips one inch or even % ii^cli square, 

 and cut proper lengths to nail on the front 

 end of the hives, making a rim on either 

 side and at the top ; then tack your screen 

 firmly to the outside of this rim and let it 

 run down to the alighting-board and tack 

 a strip of any light material across this, 

 one inch from the entrance; then you have 

 a cage the whole size of the front end of 

 the hives (less the three strips), and the bees 

 will be just as comfortable as it is possible 

 to make them in confinement, with no prob- 

 abilitj^ of any harm coming to them. 



Be sure to do all nailing before dark, 

 excepting the simple closing of the en- 

 trance. Should anv small unnoticed holes 



