GLEAJS^INGS IN BEE CULTURE 



of black bees were employed whose inmates 

 were of a pugnacious disposition. While 1 

 had great confidence in the entire reliability 

 of the observations cited in my previous ar- 

 ticle, the discrimination of liie bees against 

 black Avas far more decisive than I expect- 

 ed. Incidentally I take pleasure in ex- 

 tending my thanks to Mr. Miller for his 

 criticisms, which led to the planning of the 

 above experiments. They have opened a 

 field for further work which I am hopeful 

 will prove of value. 



1 do not consider that the series of exper- 

 iments described above proves either that 

 bees " like " white or " dislike " black. 

 Their purpose was to sting the disturber of 

 the colony. As they flew out of the super 

 or hive, the band of black cloth most 

 strongly attracted their attention, and be- 

 came the chief point of their attack. Dis- 

 covering their inability to sting through it 

 they did not remain long upon it. but 

 sought to reach me through the black veil. 

 The sleeve which was wholly white was 

 hardly molested because it escaped atten- 

 tion. In comparison with the piece of black 

 cloth it was inconspicuous. For the same 

 reason the white veil was less fiercely as- 

 sailed than the black one. The behavior of 

 the bees does not, therefore, indicate hostil- 

 ity to black or preference for white. 

 "Waldoboro, Me. 



[Mr. R. F. Holtermann, who paid us a 

 visit a few days ago, remarked in the course 

 of his conversation that there was one of 

 his men who persisted in wearing a black 

 felt hat; that he finally had to telfhim that 

 he would have to wear a white or a straw 

 hat, the same as all the other men wore. He 

 went on to explain that this black hat was 

 constantly inviting angry bees; that it was 

 the practice of liim and all of his men to 

 wear light clothing, not only to prevent 

 stings but to slop would-be cross bees from 

 following about. 



Some two or three years ago. Jay Smith, 

 of Vincennes, Ind., told how a couple of 

 dogs, one black and one white, went cavort- 

 ing through the beeyard. The black dog 

 was badly stung while the white one was 

 not molested at all. — Ed.] 



duced in that way I found two balled three 

 days after, and queen-cells started. After 

 making the bees release the queens, and 

 destroying cells, thej- were finally accepted, 

 although they still persisted in superseding. 



Regarding virgin queens, I can give a 

 plan that I have used without the loss of 

 a single one, regardless of age. Here it is. 

 I use the regular hive full depth, with di- 

 vision-board forming a twin nucleus, with 

 %-inch flight-hole at opposite ends. When 

 I have a batch of old virgins I go to a colo- 

 ny having sealed brood over an excluder; 

 brush all the bees off, and extract the honey. 

 1 replace it for the bees to clean up ; then 

 I take one frame of this brood with adher- 

 ing bees and replace it in one side of the 

 twin nucleus. I add an extracting-comb 

 partly filled with sugar syrup, and plug 

 the entrance with gTass. I leave them con- 

 fined till evening. By that time the bees 

 will have gorged themselves to the limit, 

 and will be crowding around like a flock of 

 sheep. I then remove the grass from the 

 entrance and run the virgin in and plug it 

 again for a few minutes. I might add 

 that the entrance should be plugged again 

 early in the morning, as some of the old 

 bees going home with their load of syrup 

 will have marked the spot and return for 

 more if during a honey-dearth. About 10 

 o'clock 1 open the entrance, and the bees by 

 that time will have settled down to normal. 

 I have never lost a single queen introduced 

 in this way. 



If your friends who have used the smoke 

 plan for introducing laying queens will take 

 the trouble to look those frames over they 

 will, in a good many cases, find the queens 

 laying and the bees raising supersedure 

 cells. 



I have had several young queens that 

 were introduced safely, and had laid four 

 or five frames of eggs, superseded about 12 

 days after introducing. I believe it is al- 

 ways best to look through a hive and to 

 destroy the cells nine days after killing the 

 old queen, as I am sure that at least a fourth 

 of the queens introduced are superseded 

 that could probably be saved if those cells 

 \\ ere not allowed to hatch. 



St. Eugene, Ont, 



INTRODUCING VIRGINS REGARDLESS OF AGE 



Danger of Supersedure of Oueen in Smoke Method 

 of Introduction 



BY J, A. M'KINNON 



Your editorial Sept. 1 regarding the 

 smoking plan of introducing queens, while 

 it is about the best I have yet tried, it is not 

 always certain. Out of four queens intro- 



Convention Notice 



The 23d annual meeting of the Illinois State Bee- 

 keepers' Association will be held at the State House, 

 Nov, 5, 6, 1913. Prizes will be given as follows: 

 $5, $4, $3, and $2 for 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th best 

 essays to be read by the writers, and not to exceed 

 500"\vords. See page 83 of last (12th) annual re- 

 port, or write to the secretary for particulars. The 

 report of this meeting will go largely to make up our 

 13th annual report, of which every member will get 

 a cloth-bound copy. Further individual notices will 

 be sent to all the members. 



Springfield, 111., Sept. 15. Jas. A. Stone, Sec. 



