THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



25 



9th Question — presents ne interest. 



lOtli Question— Dzierzon, lecturer.— ifoti; 

 to obtain an amnunt of ivax without cut- 

 ting or breakimj the combs? 



Melirins feeds liis bees with malt, and 

 they produce a jjreat deal of wax. This 

 wax is not worked in regular cells but in 

 the form of thimbles. Boiled malt should be 

 prepared every day, for it sours very soon. 



Mehring has studied his method careful- 

 ly, for his crop of wax is important. 



Jenssen says some interesting things 

 about the ]>roduction of wax. 



Kneip gives his bees white of egas mixed 

 with flour and sugar to produce^wax. He 

 mixes with one egg, two tablespoons of 

 candy and three tablespoons of flour. 



11th Question— Not interesting to us. 



12th Question— Emile Hilbert, lecturer. 



The lecturer asserts that his foul-brood 

 colonies were cured by a dissolution of sali- 

 cylic acid. He used 50 grammes of salicylic 

 acid in 8 times as much alcohol, he mixed .50 

 drops of this solution in 50 grammes of wa- 

 ter. He injected this liquid into the foul 

 cells, then he mixed a little of this medicine 

 with honey and gave it to the bees. So the 

 medicine was administered internally and 

 externally. All his sick colonies were 

 cured. Cu. Dadant, Translator. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Introducing Queens. 



Mr. J. H. Nellis seems to be dissatisfied 

 with a few remarks that 1 have made in the 

 September number of the A. B. J., on his 

 method of introducing queens. 



When 1 write something for the bee jour- 

 nals it is neither to make fun, nor for love of 

 criticism or contradiction. It is because I 

 think that what I have to say will increase 

 the knowledge of bee-keepers, either by my 

 experience or by provoking discussion. 



On the subject of introducing queens, I 

 disagree with Mr. Nellis, who is one of our 

 customers. I am therefore grieved to have 

 displeased him, though our discussion will 

 serve to elucidate this important question. 

 No method of introducing queens can boast 

 of being successful in every circumstance. 

 I have tried all the processes so far known, 

 (those described by Mr. Nellis included) 

 and given the preference to that which gave 

 us the best results. Our experience on the 

 subject is very extensive; we have intro- 

 duced, this year, at least 300 queens; and 

 have lost none during the months of May. 

 June, July and August. In Si'iiteniher and 

 October our success was not so comirlete, 

 our loss amounting to about 5 or 6. But our 

 past experience proves that, late in the sea- 

 son, the result is always more doubtful, 

 whatever method may be pursued. 



We remove the queen to be replaced, and 

 at once put the cage containing the queen 

 to be introduced between two brood combs; 

 we put no bees with the queen ; after M or 

 48 hours we remove one of the corks of the 

 cage, which has been put slanting, and one 

 of its corks level with the top of the frames. 

 in place of the removed cork we put a small 

 piece of comb honey; the bees gnaw the 

 comb and liberate the queen, who directly 

 after her exit, is in her right place, on the 

 brood comb, among the nursing bees, in a 

 quiet colony; for our removing of the cork 

 has not disturbed the bees, and was so 



prompt that no robbers crept into the hive. 



The method of Mr. Nellis needs nearly 

 twice as much time, as ours. In both 

 methods we look for the queen to be replac- 

 ed. Then with us the work is nearly done; 

 for the opening of the cage is jiothing, and 

 is made without exciting the bees. With 

 Mr. Nellis half the work remains to be 

 done, for you must wait '•• days, then look 

 forand destroy carefully all the queen cells. 

 This takes time; for it is necessary to ex- 

 amine every comb, one after another; it be- 

 ing a common occurrence to find queen 

 cells on combs where there is no other 

 brood. Besides this, lifting of combs gives 

 the robbers a good chance to invade the 

 hive, and the life of the introduced queen is 

 endangered; for she might be taken for one 

 of the intruders and killed; especially ilE 

 she is frightened, as is often the case. "Mr. 

 Nellis objects that tiie caging of the queens 

 will not do for those that have been long 

 confined. For many years we have used 

 this method and, no otlier, to introduce our 

 imported queens. These queens on their 

 arrival are impregnated with the smell of 

 dead and decaying bees, dysentery, sour 

 honey, etc. The queens are tired and in 

 ! the worst possible condition; yet during 

 the past three years we have introduced 

 more than .500 imported queens by this 

 method, with the best results. 



Mr. Nellis says that the bees will some- 

 times refuse to feed the queen. We have 

 yet to see a case where bees have voluntari- 

 ly left the queen alone. Even a stock not 

 queenless, which you give a caged queen 

 to nurse.will have amongst the angry work- 

 ers who want to kill the strange queen, 

 some good-natured bees who feed her. Let 

 friend Nellis try it and report. At several 

 times we gave as many as six caged queens 

 to the same colony, all were fed by the bees. 



We know only of two things that will 

 cause the queen to die of starvation when 

 caged. First, if the caged queen is intro- 

 duced in a colony that has been much dis- 

 turbed to find its queen, and where robbers 

 have had time to take possession of the 

 hive. The bees, troubled bj' the intruders, 

 remain a long time before regaining their 

 quietness, and may forget to feed the queen. 

 If she is hungry, one hour without food 

 may kill her. Second, if the stock is feeble, 

 the weather cold, and if the bee-keeper has 

 put the cage too far from the brood, the bees 

 may desert the queen and let her starve. 

 Both these evils can be avoided by putting 

 the cage against sealed honey. It is of very 

 rare occurrence that there is iio sealed honey 

 at the top of combs containing brood. The 

 pressure of the cage against the honey will 

 burst open a few cells, where the queen can 

 feed herself. We use nothing to keep our 

 cages in place but the pressure of the combs 

 between which the cages are placed. 



Another objection of Mr. Nellis' is that 

 bees will prepare queen cells when their 

 queen is removed and another given them 

 caged for 36 or 48 hours. Never have I no- 

 ticed such an occurrence; if it happens it is 

 very rare. The colon y,as soon as recovered 

 from the trouble caused by the raising of 

 the combs, looks for its queen. They find 

 the new queen, just in her place, not far 

 from the brood. Tiiere are eggs in the hive, 

 the workers cannot imagine that these eggs 

 were not laid by the caged queen, and they 

 are satisfied. But if the queen remains 

 caged for 5 or (5 days, there ai'e no more 



