THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



473 



she was accompanied by fresh bees. 

 In other instances queens were ex- 

 clianged by this " comb method," and 

 no accident resulted. I tlierefore con- 

 cluded to make the matter public, 

 and described the method in the 

 British Bee Journal for September, 

 1882, and on receiving the American 

 Bee Journal, for Dec 13, lss2, I 

 found that its editor hail honored me 

 by copying the article entire, and 

 later (July 16, 188-1) he gave an ex- 

 tract, probably from my pamphlet, 

 which has been the means of induc- 

 ing my one opponent here, to again 

 assail my position, after he had already 

 been allowed to have the last word. 

 This gentleman has made a miserable 

 failure in each of his attempts, and 

 quoted from two correspondents of 

 the American Bee Journal who 

 had failed at their lirst trial, hoping 

 thereby to strengthen his position ; 

 but his statements were such that in 

 the following numbers of the BHtish 

 Bee Journal, several correspondents 

 expressed astonishment at liis failure, 

 and each described how he had suc- 

 ceeded in following my practice. 



Mr. A. Gresh, on page 521 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1884, was need- 

 lessly impatient because he failed 

 once, and that at his first and only 

 trial with a fertile worker colony. I 

 assure him that so far I have cured 

 every case of fertile workers, with no 

 farther trouble than inserting a comb 

 of brood and bees, with the queen 

 parading unconcernedly among them. 

 Mr. Gresh should not give up because 

 of one failure; but "try again !" He 

 will yet succeed, and then can tell us 

 the plan is at least as certain as cag- 

 ing, while the time and labor saved is 

 considerable. Permit me to make 

 the same remark to Mr. E. A. Mor- 

 gan, who, on page 588 of the Bee 

 Journal for 18S4, stated thai he was 

 certain the process would fail. In 

 three instances he failed, and is " sat- 

 isHed that no queen was ever accepted 

 in that way by a colony in a normal 

 condition."" He thus ignores the fact 

 that I have succeeded with colonies 

 under all conditions. Let him read 

 the following statements by bee- 

 keepers whose names are well known 

 to him : 



When reviewing my pamphlet in 

 Gleanings for March, 1883, Mr. A. I. 

 Boot said that with one exception he 

 had met with continued success by 

 the same process. Again in that 

 same periodical for 1884, page 805, Mr. 

 O. O. Poppleton shows how he suc- 

 ceeded " 24 times out of 26." Mr. 

 Doolittle, on page 775 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1882, stated that he 

 " did not lose one in twenty " by this 

 plan. In the British Bee Journal for 

 1884, page 417, Mr. Joseph E. Fond, 

 Jr., writes thus : "Others this side 

 the water complain of failures in 

 using the metliod ; some of them being 

 successful bee-keepers. It mav be, 

 however, that they made the attempt 

 with no desire to succeed. However 

 that may be, I have succeeeded with 

 it beyond my expectations, and for 

 the life of me, I cannot see why any 

 one can make a failure of it." 



At the time Mr. Root received my 

 pamphlet, he stated that the process 



was not by any means new, as he had 

 used the same means of introduction. 

 Again, it seems probable that the 

 statement by Mr. Doolittle, on page 

 775 of the Bee Journal for 1882, 

 (tliough three montlis after my article 

 in the British Bee Journal], was made 

 while he was unaware of my own 

 experiments, as it was not until the 

 following issue that the letter, copied 

 from the British Bee Journal of Sep- 

 tember, 1882, appeared. 



When I tirst recorded my experi- 

 ence (September. 1882), I had seen no 

 statements relating to this method of 

 introduction, and, therefore, con- 

 sidered that I was the originator of 

 the same, and so I called it "The 

 Simmins' Method of Direct Introduc- 

 tion." However, as Mr. Root thinks 

 differently, perhaps he, Mr. Doolittle, 

 or some others will satisfactorily prove 

 that the process had previously been 

 made public as a system. Then I shall 

 be willing to withdraw my own name, 

 and call it, say, " The comb method," 

 or as otherwise may be corrected. 



Though some few have failed, and 

 these at tirst attempts, I am con- 

 vinced from my own experience, and 

 the evidence of prominent bee-keep- 

 ers given above, that so far no better 

 plan of introduction has been offered, 

 considering that not a moment of 

 time is lost, while frequently the 

 queen is so little disturbed that she 

 continues her duties throughout the 

 operation. 



As it is my wish that all who desire 

 to try shall succeed as well as I have 

 done, I append the following : In 

 manipulating, use smoke as under 

 ordinary conditions ; not on any ac- 

 count to excess. Kever handle the 

 queen, or cause her to become restless 

 by any carelessness on your part. 

 The comb to be inserted with queen 

 and bees, should not be taken from 

 one part of the apiary to another 

 openly in tlie hand ; nevertheless let 

 it be carried in a nucleus hive, or 

 comb-box having no lid, so tlie bees 

 may be exposed to the light and air. 

 The colony to receive the queen 

 should tirst have its combs parted to 

 give ample room to insert the queen- 

 comb witliout crushing, or the bees 

 " brushing " each other ; let the whole 

 surface of the frames be exposed to 

 the light while obtaining the nucleus, 

 then insert the same and close the 

 hive at once. When no honey has 

 been coming in, feed over night the 

 colonies to be operated upon. 



With regard to a queen, with at- 

 tendants received from a distance, 

 let therh stand for a day or two near 

 the full colony before being united to 

 it ; and in tlie case of a queen with 

 few attendants and no combs, place 

 such on a comb of hatching brood in a 

 warm room, at lirst confined, and 

 later, stood out as before. The comb 

 of the brood to be taken, by prefer- 

 ence, from the hive the queen is to 

 preside over ; the original queen is 

 not to be removed until the introduc- 

 tion takes place. No time is lost by 

 waiting a few days, as the queen, 

 after her .iourney, would lay no sooner 

 if placed at once in a very povi'ertul 

 colony. 



Brighton, England. 



For the Amnricun Bl-o Jf^umal. 



Beating Tin-Pails and Brass-Kettles. 



A. U. WALLISRIDOE, .JH. 



Every one at all accustomed to bees, 

 knows the utter absurdity of beating 

 tin-pans and brass-kettles when bees 

 are swarming. This, wise bee-keep- 

 ers know is useless, and if any pur- 

 pose be served by it, it would ratlier 

 be to cause their departure by fright, 

 than to cause them to alight and 

 cluster, as is generally supposed. But 

 a custom so long prevalent that its 

 origin is lost in antiquity, entitles it 

 at least to a hearing. For want of a 

 better, I take the following : -lupiter 

 — " the fatlier of gods and men "— the 

 great Jupiter mentioned in Acts, 

 14:11-14, of whom the Lycaoniaus 

 said, " the gods are come down to us 

 in ttie likeness of men," is reported 

 in heathen mythology to be the son of 

 Saturn, by his wife Ops, or Cybele, of 

 whom Jupiter was born. Saturn had 

 a penchant for devouring all his sons 

 as soon as born. His good wife Ops 

 is related to have secreted this son 

 Jupiter in a cave on Mount Ida in 

 Crete, where he was fed on honey and 

 goat's milk. His care-takers, how- 

 ever, and the Corybantees, upon his 

 father Saturn's ajjproach, frightened 

 him off with the noise of cymbals and 

 drums. Thus the worship of Jupiter 

 came to be accompanied with this 

 noise — the bees joining in this worship 

 by feeding the object of it. 



Subsequently it was supposed that 

 in their hilarious flight (swarming), 

 they were performing their part in 

 the worship of the god Jupiter, whom 

 they had nourished. The racket of 

 tin-pails and brass-kettles was the 

 agreeable accompaniment of the Cory- 

 bantees and other worshippers ; thus 

 a joint worship by men and bees was 

 paid to the god. This is an origin of 

 the nonsensical battering of tin-pans 

 and brass-kettles, usually gotten up 

 on the occasion of swarming. Those 

 who make this needless clamor hardly 

 know that in so doing ttiey are paying 

 an act of worship to Jupiter, god of 

 the heathen. Bee-keepers who know 

 how useless this clatter is, call them 

 "heathens," and they seem entitled 

 to be so-called with some show of rea- 

 son and history. 



Belleville, Ont. 



Read at the Maine Convention. 



Bee-Keeping for Women. 



3IRS. L. M. CROCKETT. 



AVhoever keeps bees must have a 

 real love for the business, and employ 

 all of his leisure, and some of his time 

 when he should be asleep. . We all 

 know if we are particularly interested 

 in any one thing, we will think and 

 study upon it until we get it settled 

 in our minds, and we should be as 

 much interested in bees ; but it is not 

 so easy settling all the points in bee- 

 keeping. Some think it is just the 

 business for ladies to engage in. It 

 may be if they have no families. We 

 have read accounts wliere ladies have 

 been successful in agriculture as a 



