GLEANlNtiS IN BEE CULTURE 



ascertain, all queen-breeders in the country 

 have been behind. Some of them are al- 

 ready oversold, and some have declined to 

 take any more orders. The weather this 

 last spring was unfavorable for rearing 

 eai'ly queens. It started out in the North- 

 ern States unusually favorable. Queen- 

 rearing was nicely started, then there came 

 on a cold spell, chilling the cells and stop- 

 ping queen-rearing almost entirely. 



Another common complaint is that tlie 

 queens look small and dark on arrival. It 

 is a well-known fact that, when a queen has 

 been deprived of her opportunity to lay 

 eggs, and is shut up in a little cage, and 

 bumped around in the mail-sacks for one 

 or more days, she will shrink up and look 

 very inferior. If a cusiomer will have pa- 

 tience he will find that such queens will, 

 after they get to laying, improve in size 

 and appearance. 



We have generally recommended the cage 

 method of introducing because it is handy, 

 and beginners are usually successful with 

 it. The veterans will, of course, practice 

 the plan that will give them the best results. 



INTKODUCING WITH SMOKE; THE PLAN AD- 

 VOCATED BY ARTHUR C. MILLER INDORS- 

 ED BY OUR APIARISTS. 



Mr. M. T. Pritchakd, who has charge of 

 our basswood queen-rearing yard", came in- 

 to our ofiice one day saying he had tried 

 out Miller's smoke method of introducing, 

 and was very much pleased Avith it. "We 

 said to him, " Mell, suppose you write that 

 up." He did so, and here it is: 



The article by Arthur C. Miller, ou introducing 

 queens, page 370, I consider the most valuable con- 

 tribution to Gleanings that has appeared for many 

 a month. Since reading it I have tried smoking in 

 queens several times under the most difficult condi- 

 tions for introducing, and found it worked success- 

 fully in every instance. 



A very strong colony made up entirely of bees 

 that returned after moving several colonics had 

 twice baffled my attempts at introducing a queen by 

 the cage plan. But a queen smoked in at the en- 

 trance on Saturday evening was found to have eggs 

 on thre^e frames on the following Tuesday. Had she 

 been successfully introduced by the cage plan she 

 would hardly have been out of the cage by this time. 

 I have introduced into colonies that had been queen- 

 less more than 30 days, and in one instance where 

 there were fertile workers. To be able to introduce 

 a queen at any time under any conditions without 

 having to bother with cages and cage candy is an 

 accomplishment worth knowing how. 



Medina. Ohio. July 28. M. T. Peitchard. 



Our Mr. Marehant, who has charge of 

 some 500 colonies in six apiaries, learning 

 of Mr. Pritchard's success, began trying the 

 method. He, likewise, was so well pleased 

 with it that we asked him to tell his expe- 

 rience. 



I should like to say I have tried a good many 

 ways of introducing queens, but find none to equal 

 this. I have tried this method on colonies that had 

 queens just removed, up to colonies that had laying 

 workers, and in every case it worked to perfection. 

 I am sure we introduce more queeus than any one 

 elsip, and T expect to use this method entirely. 



Medina, Ohio. J. E. Marchant. 



FRAME-TONGS ; WHEN THEY MAY BE A NE- 

 CESSITY. 



On pages 573 and '4 we have illustrated 

 two styles of hive-pliers. Those shown on 

 page 574 are very similar to those sold for 

 many years by T. G. Newman & Son during 

 the 70's and 80's. While it is true, as stat- 

 ed in our footnote, they have never been re- 

 garded very favorably by practical honey- 

 producers, there are times when they can be 

 used to gi'eat advantage. For example, the 

 foul-brood inspector runs across all kinds 

 of hives and brood-frames. Even if he en- 

 counters a modern hive with modern frames, 

 there is a i3ossibility that that hive has not 

 been opened for several years. In any case, 

 the inspector has a "job;" and sometimes 

 he feels that nothing short of a crowbar and 

 coldchisel and a hatchet will make the 

 brood-nest available for inspection. An 

 ordinary pair of fingers will fail to remove 

 any brood frame that has been gummed 

 up in the brood-nest for the past five or six 

 years, and a good steel liive-tool is not " in 

 it." A pair of frame-tongs, as shown in 

 this issue on page 574, would, undoubtedly, 

 be of great assistance in affording a more 

 secure gTip on a refractory frame. 



Of course, if the combs are built cro.=s- 

 wis'B, as they often are, nothing but a cold- 

 cliisel and a butcher-knife can be used; and 

 even then a sledge-hammer or a crowbar 

 might be more ser\-iceable, not to overlook, 

 of course, the always useful and indispen- 

 sable bee-smoker. .. 



CONVENTIONS FOR THIS WINTER. 



If the National Beekeepers' Association 

 could arrange dates for conventions, both 

 State and local, it would make it possible 

 for more speakers to attend. For instance, 

 the editor of Gleanings would be glad to J 

 take in more of the meetings if the dates | 

 did not run so close together. In some cases 

 the meetings are on the same day. Some- 

 times manufacturers are willing to make 

 exhibits at these conventions. If these ex- 

 hibits could be sent from point to point, one 

 convention after another in rotation, it 

 would save expense, both in the time of the 

 man, railroad fare, and freight. We wish, 

 therefore, to offer the suggestion that the J 

 secretaries of the various associations in the | 

 United States place all dates before the 

 secretary or president of the National Bee- 



