82 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



destroy all the queen-cells in the old 

 colony, allowing none to hatch, and 

 when the swarm has become fairly es- 

 tablished in the new hive (which they 

 will usually do in four or five days, and 

 be working like beavers), the brood in 

 the old hive may be used to build up 

 weak colonies, if one should have any, 

 or, in case they are not needed for that 

 purpose, and the swarm was hived on 

 only starters, they may be replaced in 

 the under hive, bees and all, and the 

 frames containing starters removed and 

 saved for the next swarm. 



By this time, if honey has been com- 

 ing in freely, a good start will usually 

 have been made in the sections, which 

 will in most cases now be carried on till 

 completed. 



Yet another way is to allow no queen 

 to hatch in the old hive, and allow it to 

 remain until all brood hatches, which 

 will be in about three weeks, and hav- 

 ing placed a queen-excluding honey- 

 board between the two hives, which will 

 allow the bees to unite, we extract all 

 honey from the combs, leaving them 

 empty for future use. I would only 

 recommend this latter plan where empty 

 combs or full sheets of foundation are 

 used to hive the swarm on, as there is 

 often too much drone-comb built to be 

 allowed to remain in the hive where 

 starters only are used and the bees al- 

 lowed to build their own combs. 



The above plan will give fine results 

 if carried out carefully, and I have en- 

 deavored to make it so plain that none 

 need to meet with a failure, it would 

 seem to me, and any intelligent person 

 will at once see that it is capable of so 

 many modifications as to be available in 

 almost any emergency that may arise 

 during the swarming season, and only 

 requiring the outlay for a few extra 

 hive-bodies and extra frames for the 

 same, while a few extra combs are 

 always good property for a bee-keeper 

 to have on hand. 



I hope that some of the clan who have 

 tried other methods only to be disap- 

 pointed, will give this a trial, and I fear 

 not but what they will be pleased with 

 it, as it keeps the working force of bees 

 just where we want them, and does 

 away with after-swarms entirely, while 

 wo retain the energy and vim usually 

 shown by a new swarm. 



West Galway, N. Y., July 5. 



One-Cent Postage titaLmj»s we 



prefer whenever it is necessary to send 

 stamps for fractions of a dollar. By re- 

 membering this, you will greatly oblige us. 



A Characteristic of Sooi Oueens. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY DR. G. L,. TINKER. 



At least one of the points in a valuable 

 queen may be determined by her form 

 of development, and as everything bear- 

 ing upon the rearing of good queens 

 should be known, I will give one that I 

 have not heretofore seen any notice of 

 in our bee-papers. 



Queen - breeders especially, should 

 know what development in a queen will 

 give the greatest strength and activity 

 to her workers, since there is as much 

 or more in having strong and energetic 

 bees as there is in any other one thing. 

 We may have ever so good a honey-flow, 

 and the best of management, and with 

 weak flying, lazy bees we will fail of a 

 good crop. 



Mr. Henry Alley well says that some 

 strains of bees are "constitutionally 

 weak," and I fully agree with him. Now 

 the question arises, if this is so, how are 

 we to tell that a given colony of bees 

 are weak and inferior ? 



With man and all animals a large, 

 deep and well-developed chest or thorax 

 is evidence, first, of good vitality, and 

 secondly, of great strength and endur- 

 ance. But on examination of worker- 

 bees by the unaided eye, to determine 

 this point is impossible so far as I am 

 able to judge. In the size of the thorax 

 of the queen, however, the practiced 

 eye can readily detect a great difference. 

 For some strains of queens, no matter 

 how well they may be reared, have rela- 

 tively small chests, while other strains 

 are characterized by large, well-devel- 

 oped chests. 



Now I have observed that the bees of 

 a colony having a small-chested queen 

 are not good workers, and especially are 

 they weak upon the wing. They gather 

 comparatively little honey, and are prac- 

 tically worthless. 



Strong-flying bees may be known by 

 their flight on the cool days of spring. 

 Few, if any, will be found chilled and 

 lying upon the ground in front of the 

 hive, while the workers of a weak queen 

 will be found lying thick all about the 

 entrance, and they rarely take wing 

 again. 



If I were to be asked what is the best 

 single point in a good queen-bae, the 

 answer would be—" a large, well-devel- 

 oped thorax." And the reason is plain 

 — the muscles moving the wings are all 

 located in the chest, and the larger the 



