THE AMERICAJM JJEE JOURNAL. 



439 



niainder of the sections in cases over 

 strong colonies, but wliile tliey liad 

 plenty of new honey, they had no bees 

 in them. Upon examining them the 

 next day, I found no bees in the cases, 

 and the honey was removed below. 

 This was a hard one on my new plan ; 

 but linally this thought occurred to 

 me, " Is it not these young wax-work- 

 ers that are secreting wax that do the 

 business V" I at once went to the hive 

 of the bees that I had got to work in 

 sections, and removed some of the 

 sections with the clusters attached to 

 them, and put these into the other 

 hives, and the bees went into the 

 cases at once, and I have never seen 

 it fail where there were sufficient bees 

 to work in the boxes. 

 Mechanic Falls, ? Maine. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Swarming, Introducing ftueens, etc. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



White clover is not as abundant as 

 it often is, there being not more than 

 one-third of a crop, in comparison 

 with former years, in this locality. 

 It yields little nectar, as cool, wet 

 weather has prevailed since it began 

 blooming, and hot nights are requisite 

 for its secretion in this important 

 plant. When the forenoon is hot, in 

 the afternoon bees are Inisy, but the 

 flow is not continuous. With a con- 

 stant yield of honey, the comb is very 

 white, and almost imperceptible 

 when eaten. 



Bees are now swarming, the very 

 best colonies issuing first. Italians 

 come forth generally without prepara- 

 tion. To-day, on opening a hive from 

 which a very large swarm issued yes- 

 terday, no trace of queen-cells could 

 be discerned. I always run my apiary 

 on the plan of pulling down and build- 

 ing up, i. e., take frames of brood to 

 build up colonies, from tliose where 

 increase would be undesirable, and 

 thus prevent their swarming. I save 

 all the queen-cells I can from the best 

 colonies. If nuclei have been foi-med 

 long enough for them to build cells of 

 their own, they will accept those given 

 them. If these cells are older they 

 will hatch out first, and destroy all 

 others. When the young queens are 

 laying, the swarms can be built up 

 strong. Some apiarists introduce fer- 

 tile queens to old colonies, as soon as 

 they have swarmed, claiming that it 

 prevents after-swarms, and keeps 

 them strong. 



When liees are storing honey rap- 

 idly, it Is best not to disturb them. 

 Tlie young queens can be kept in 

 nuclei, and when honey fails, and the 

 time of the colony is not valuable, the 

 new queens may supplant inidesirable 

 ones. When a colony has been queen- 

 less for some time, it is apt to abound 

 in laying workers, improperly called 

 " fertile workers." These will in- 

 variably destroy all introduced 

 queens. It is difficult to kill them, as 

 they look like other workers. The 

 eggs of these laying workers produce 

 drones only, and may be discovered at 

 a glance, the worker-cells being too 

 small for their large bodies, the cells 



for them are built up higher, and are 

 also much more scattered than worker 

 brood. If the comb of sucli a colony 

 is exchanged for that of a vigorous 

 one, removing brood and bees, but 

 being careful not to take the queen 

 along, the introduced young bees will 

 not be satisfied with these laying 

 workers, and will destroy them "and 

 rear a queen of their own. Sometimes 

 these laying workers will allow the 

 rearing of a young queen, and destroy 

 her on her return from her " wedding 

 tour." I have found that the best 

 way to manage these pests, is to vir- 

 tually make a new colony as de- 

 scribed. The addition of one or two 

 frames of brood will not do ; better 

 make a complete exchange of combs. 



A queen that does not mate because 

 of imperfect wings, or other deform- 

 ity, will lay, and her eggs produce 

 drones only. Such a queen can be 

 readily discovered and destroyed, a 

 fertile one being introduced. 



Some persons fail in introducing 

 queens, from not bearing in mind 

 that the first requisite to success is 

 that there is no other queen, or cell 

 from which one is expected, in the 

 hives. A queen not more than an 

 hour or so old, may be allowed quietly 

 to run into the top of a hive where 

 there are sealed cells, and be received, 

 the bees not knowing but she came 

 from their own cells; but when the 

 queens are older, or have been in the 

 hands of the operator, acquiring the 

 scent of the person, they will be de- 

 stroyed. If there are "no eggs or 

 young larvre in a hive, it is positive 

 that there is no laying queen (there 

 might be a young one); if eggs and 

 larvie are given to such a colony, if 

 queenless, cells will be started within 

 48 hours. If a queen is to be intro- 

 duced, the comb containing the cells 

 might be removed, and the bees, find- 

 ing all sources for a queen gone, will 

 accept the one offered. Cages which 

 can be pressed into the comb, cover- 

 ing brood and honey, are much used 

 for introducing queens. They are 

 covered with wire gauze, through 

 which the bees can feed the queen, 

 cross their attennai, and make her 

 acquaintance. She can be liberated 

 by cutting a hole through the comb 

 back of the cage, or letting the bees 

 gnaw her out. Mailing-cages are 

 furnished with tin points for fasten- 

 ing them upon the comb. Small cages 

 the size of an old-fashioned tin pepper- 

 box cover, are made of a rim of tin 

 with a wire gauze top, and can be 

 pressed into the comb, to cover a 

 queen, or to protect a queen- cell ready 

 to hatch. 



Many persons having black bees are 

 desirous of Italianizing them. It is 

 often difficult to find a black queen, 

 as these bees do not cling to the comb 

 like the Italians, but gather in clus- 

 ters on the bottom of it ; falling off 

 they creep up under the operator's 

 clothing, and are a pest generally. I 

 have taken out the frames of a black 

 colony several times, and careful ob- 

 servation failed to find the queen. 

 Once I brushed all the bees off the 

 comb, and placed them in a clean 

 hive ; then removed the hive from its 

 former stand the length of a sheet 



spread upon the ground, placing the 

 hive with the comb upon its place, 

 then drove the bees back to it with 

 smoke ; when the bees weie appar- 

 ently all back, I had not found the 

 queen. On stretching out the sheet, 

 a few bees were seen clustered to- 

 gether, and poking among them I 

 discovered her. 



When I wish to remove a black 

 queen, I brush off all the bees from 

 the combs, place them in an empty 

 hive, and put in front of it a bee en- 

 trance-guard. Tills is a piece of zinc 

 having perforations large enough for 

 worker-bees, but not for drones and 

 queens. 1 remove the old hive and 

 put this prepaied one in its place. 

 The queen to be introduced should be 

 caged on one of the combs. The bees 

 in the old hive are then poured down 

 in front of it, and may be allowed to 

 enter it at leisure. If they refuse to 

 do this, because their queen is with 

 them, drive them with smoke, and 

 when the workers are in, the drones 

 and queen will be found on the out- 

 side, and may be destroyed. In most 

 cases, had the Italian queen been 

 placed upon the comb, she would 

 have been accepted, after this driving 

 operation, yet it is safer to cage her. 

 At the end of 48 hours, if the bees 

 have not released her, let her out ; if 

 kept in longer, they may build queen- 

 cells and refuse to accept her. Some 

 apiarists let a queen run into the top 

 of a colony after dark, claiming it to 

 be a safe plan ; if an Italian queen is 

 accepted all right; in 90 days the 

 blacks will all have disappeared, and 

 the hive will be full of golden-banded 

 Italians. 



When honey is coming in freely, 

 bees are on their good behavior, and 

 accept strange queens more readily 

 than when it is scarce. Once during 

 an abundance of apple bloom, I 

 brushed the bees from the combs, 

 putting them into an empty hive, and, 

 seeing the black queen, destroyed 

 her. I then sprinkled the bees, to- 

 gether with the Italian queen, with 

 sweetened water ; the wet bees all 

 entered the hive together, and pros- 

 pered. The driving and sprinkling 

 gave the bees something else to think 

 about, than disputing over the accept- 

 ance of a strange queen. 



Peoria,© Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Honey-Bees as Fertilizers. 



G. L. TINKER, M. D. 



It is a matter of surprise that so 

 much ignorance prevails in regard to 

 the usefulness of the honey-bee to 

 the farmer and other land-owners, in 

 fertilizing the flowers of the white 

 clover, and increasing the seed pro- 

 duced, rendering possible our thickly- 

 set white-clover pastures which afford 

 the richest and most relislied forage 

 for all kinds of stock. Take from the 

 country the honey-bee, and in a few 

 years our fine white clover pastures 

 would be no more. 



During the fall of 1884, a great 

 drouth prevailed throughout Ohio, 

 and nearly all the white clover was 



