JUNE 1, 1913 



days after the cells hatched, a virgin queen 

 was removed, and a fertile queen, which 

 had been caged for 48 hours, was run in. 

 The next day the fertile queen was moving 

 quietly over the combs as was also another 

 virgin. The bees had tolerated for ten days 

 a plurality of virgin queens, and later a 

 fertile and a virgin queen. Of course, this 

 is somewhat unusual, and may partly be 

 due to the lateness of the season, breeding 

 having stopped in most colonies. 



To colonies long queenless — particularly 

 if suspected of having a virgin queen — it 

 has been found advantageous to give a 

 comb with eggs and young larvas just be- 

 fore running in the queen. Queen-cells may 

 be looked for and destroyed or not; but so 

 far as the writer has experimented it is not 

 necessary to destroy them, the bees attend- 

 ing to that. If, however, the colony is pop- 

 ulous, and the honey is coming freel3% a 

 swarm may result if the cells are not de- 

 stroyed by the beekeeper. More exhaustive 

 observation is needed in this line, however, 

 before it is wise to make positive state- 

 ments. But with a virgin present, the giv- 

 ing of eggs and larvae will almost invariably 

 cause his disappearance. And it is impos- 

 sible to ensure the safe introduction of a 

 virgin to a colony having eggs and larva?. 



The loss of virgins m introducing is due 

 either to the cause above cited or to their 

 running out. To prevent the latter trouble 

 it is found best to run in the virgins near 

 nightfall, when all the bees are in, and then 

 plug the entrance with a leaf or leaves. By 

 morning the leaves will have wilted so the 

 bees can get out, and matters will proceed 

 normally. 



It is the writer's preference, in introduc- 

 ing laying queens, to dequeen the receiving- 

 colony immediately before running in the 

 new queen. 



The theoi*y of the cause of the success of 

 the " direct method " here described is this: 

 Bees in distress, whether workers, drones, or 

 queens, know no enemy or alien, and each 

 one is turning to some other for " help " or 

 food, and every bee which comes within the 

 influence of the uproar of a distressed colo- 

 ny seems to be seized with the same emo- 

 tion. The bees with the queen in the cage, 

 as soon as they are placed at the entrance, 

 evince every sign of the same disturbance 

 as shown by the bees of the colony, and it 

 takes but a gentle puff to send them in. 



The closing of the entrance after the 

 queen is in is to ensure the distressed con- 

 dition throughout the entire colony, and 

 keeping it closed for the ten or fifteen min- 

 utes is to prevent too speedy relief. Then, 

 too, if the full entrance were opened, the 



371 



bees might pour out in a mass, and cause 

 bother; whereas by opening only an inch, 

 few rush out before systematic ventilating 

 is taken up. 



The inexperienced and the thoughtless 

 need to be cautioned as to two things, name- 

 ly, closing in a full colony without giving 

 the bees room to spread into and get off 

 from the brood, and closing in a full colony 

 sitting in the sun in the middle of a swelter- 

 ing day. The skilled bee-master can do 

 both of these things; but he does not do 

 either of them if it can be avoided. And 

 when he does do them, he stays right on the 

 job, keeping eyes and ears open. The in- 

 experienced should also be warned against 

 running virgins into full colonies and clos- 

 ing them for over night. It is poor policy 

 to give a virgin to a full colony at any time. 

 It is much better practice to mate the young 

 queen from a one or two frame nucleus. 



It will be well, perhaps, to mention an- 

 other item in the behavior of introduced 

 queens. It is not unusual to find that a 

 queen which has been given to a colony for 

 some time queenless — say until all larvae are 

 sealed, or nearly ready to seal — fails to lay, 

 even after she has been in the colony for a 

 week or more. This is particularly so when 

 the queen has been for a long time caged. 

 To start her to laying give the colony a 

 comb with eggs and larvae of various ages,, 

 and with or without the adhering bees. In 

 from 24 to 48 hours the queen will begin 

 work. 



The writer has run in hundreds of queens 

 by various " direct methods," and has found 

 the system here described the best. He be- 

 lieves it, as a whole, to be original with him. 

 Its trial by all beekeepei-s is urged, for it 

 seems to be an easy solution of a much- 

 vexed problem. 



It may be contended by the champions of 

 the odor theory that the shut-in smoke im- 

 parts a new and uniform odor to the bees 

 of the colony and to the new queen, and 

 that the success is due to that. Tliis is plau- 

 sible; but the same success can be obtained 

 by agitating the colony by closing the en- 

 trance, pounding on the hive with the closed 

 fist until the bees are roaring, and then run 

 in the queen. It is as uniformly successful 

 as the use of smoke, but not quite so quick, 

 and a bit hard on the fist. 



Providence, R. I. 



[Our correspondent has for several years 

 believed that the odor theory for introduc- 

 ing has been ovenvorked. He is possibly 

 right. It is a fact that can not be denied,, 

 that there are several conditions that must 

 be right before successful introduction can 

 be accomplished. We have held that a like 



