498 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL^ 



The best time to bring the hives in the cellar is during a cold day following a 

 warm one. If the bottoms of the hives are movable, it is better to leave them on 

 their place, using a false bottom to convey them to the cellar, where a bottom is not 

 useful. As soon as a hive is placed, its top ought to be moved, so as to give the 

 bees a current of air inside, and wedges about two inches in thickness should be laid 

 on the top of tbe ceiling to separate the hives from one another. 



The bees ought to remain undisturbed in the cellar until March or April, ac- 

 cording to the latitude. They should be removed in the morning of a warm day, to 

 give them a chance of flying out. As soon as about 10 are returned to their old 

 place, it is well to wait about 15 or 20 minutes before removing another batch, to 

 prevent a too crowded flight of bees at the' same time, for sometimes they fly out in 

 such numbers that they mix together and go in the most populous hives, to the detri- 

 ment of the weaker ones. 



When bees have not suffered during their seclusion, this removal is easy ; but if 

 they have become uneasy, especially if they have suffered from the warmth of the 

 cellar, during one or two weeks or more, they are ready to leave the hive in which 

 they have suffered, and desert in crowds. They mix with others. Then you find 

 hives with two or three balled queens, which have deserted their own with all the 

 bees. You try to return these queens with some bees, but you do not succeed very 

 often, and cure the business. I have experienced such annoyances, which have 

 deterred me from wintering bees in cellars. — Prairie Farmer. Hamilton, 111. 



XOVEI. METHOD OF FIIVDING BI^ACK aUEENS. 



BY J. E. AKMSTKONG. 



"One swallow does not make a summer," nor does one fact prove a rule, but 

 my one experience in this line may be of interest if not of value to others. All bee- 

 keepers who have kept black bees, or Carniolans, complain of the difficultyof find- 

 ing the queen while examining the colony. During the past summer I tried an ex- 

 periment which thus far has been a success. 



The power of a young queen to mark her home so that she may return to it 

 after her nuptial flight, has long been known. Any one who has watched the first 

 flight of young bees must have noticed how they fly with heads toward the hive, 

 circling farther and farther away as if surveying every object around the entrance, 

 then the surroundings of their hive. The young queen does the same, though prob- 

 ably in a more critical manner. I say probably, for nature has displayed wonderful 

 forethought in caring for the queen-mother in her peculiar instincts. 



In uniting colonies it is a common practice to spray both colonies with pepper- 

 mint. We thus recognize that the sense of smell plays a part in recognizing friend 

 or foe. I speak of this because I believe the sense of smell may also assist the 

 young queen in finding her home, or in distinguishing it from others. 



During the month of July, this year, I reared some queens in cages. I took oni; 

 of these young queens into my conservatory and opened the cage in my hand, allow- 

 ing the virgin queen to fly for the first time. She circled round my hand for some 

 time before she would venture away any distance. I allowed her to remain at 

 liberty for about an hour, and during this time she came back several times and 

 circled around my hand as if she recognized it as her starting point. 



I then put her into a queenless nucleus, where she was accepted. She soon 

 made a successful flight, and began laying. 1 built up the nucleus into a good-sized 

 colony, and every time I pick up the frame she is on, she quickly crawls up to my 

 hand, crawls about on ray hand a few moments, and then goes back to her family. 



