134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



slingins in the busy time. In the fall I 

 shall sling out more or less, depending upon 

 price of either. Slung honey I sell at home 

 — last season at 1.5c. ; box honey, '30c. At 

 those prices slung honey jiay.s best, and so 

 f ar 1 have had no trouble Ui disiiose ot all, 

 although a good deal was traded for articles 

 that iNvould otherwise have paid cash for. 

 We are having a warm spell of weather for 

 this month, from 30 to .50 deg. All bees in 

 ■cellar, except 7, ajipear right — no disease. 

 J. H. Thomas, of Brooklin,' Canada, invent- 

 ed and patented a bee-house,similar to those 

 much-talked-of now, 15 years ago; so the 

 house apiary is not a new thijig. 



D. D. Palmer. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How to Italianize Blacks, Introduce 

 Queens, and make New Colonies. 



Mk. EniTOR:— Permit me to call the at- 

 tention of your readers to the utility of the 

 <iueen nursery in making tiie above changes 

 in converting black bees into colonies of 

 Italians. This we do by the use of the 

 queen nursery, in the following manner: — 

 Put into the cages of the nursery, between 

 the tins, a few cells of sealed honey, in new 

 comb if possible. Tlien cut from the combs 

 of a pure Italian stock as many queen cells, 

 large, and well developed, as you have pre- 

 pared cages with the honey, as above. Sus- 

 pend one of the cells in each of the cages. 



QUEEN CAGES. 



Good care should be taken to have the best 

 cells, and not injured by bruising, handling 

 orjaring. Having thus supplied each cage 

 of the nursery with a queen cell and feed. 

 The feed is thus supplied so the young 

 queens will not starve if the bees do not 

 feed them— a thing they often fail to do 

 when there is a scarcity of honey in the 

 flowers. The nursery cages so prepared 

 are adjusted in the nursery frame. Then 

 having removed a centre comb from a 

 strong black colony, we place the queen 

 nursery into the vacancy made by the re- 

 moval of the comb, there to remain until 

 the queens are hatched, whicli will be in 3 

 or 4 days, if the cells were not cut from the 

 combs too early, or before the 9th day. 



When the (jueens emerge from the cells, 

 each cage containing a virgin queen is re- 

 moved from the nursery frame and placed 

 in one of the adjacent cond^s of the same 

 colony, on either side of the nursery. The 



cages are so placed in the combs by cutting 

 out a piece among the brood just large 

 enough to receive a cage in each. Now go 

 to other colonies of black bees, and take out 

 two combs tilled with brood and honey, 

 brushing off the bees back into their own 

 hive, place them in a new hive far enough 

 apart to receive another between them; 

 open the nursery hive and lift out one of 

 the combs with cage and virgin queen and 

 all the adhering bees, and place it in the 

 new hive, between the two combs thus pre- 

 pared to receive it, immediately closing up 

 this new hive. And so proceed until you 

 have made as many new colonies as you 

 have virgin queens in the cages. On the 

 next day, near sundown, open the hives 

 and liberate the queens. Before doing this, 

 you can, however, spray the bees and 

 queens with perfumed sweetened water, so 

 tliat the bees will have something to do 

 while their ladyships are going at liberty 

 among them, but we deem this seldom 

 necessary, except at times when the bees 

 are not gathering honey liberally, and are 

 cross. 



These new colonies are built up into full 

 strong ones by adding combs of brood from 

 the black colonies, always brushing off the 

 bees back into the old stands, so no strange 

 bees will be added to the new ones, except 

 the hatching brood, and these will not 

 interfere with the queens. By the above it 

 will be noticed that the virgin queens are 

 not placed in jeopardy among strange bees, 

 but are set at liberty among those with 

 whom they are hatched, and being of the 

 same scent are kindly treated. It should be 

 noted that you nuist be careful never to in- 

 troduce an old queen into the new colonies 

 among the bees on the combs containing 

 tlie caged virgin queens, or they may be 

 killed when set at liberty. It should be 

 further noted that the addition of brood 

 combs are better made after the young 

 queens are fertilized. 



By so using the queen nursery the loss of 

 many queens is avoided and . many queen 

 cells saved from destruction, and an apiary 

 of blaclc bees Italianized. The cages can 

 be removed from the new colonies within 

 two days after the queens are liberated 

 from them. Notice while removing the 

 cages that the queens are all safe. 



Anolher plan is to liberate one virgin 

 queen after another from the cages, as the 

 one preceeding is fertilized and removed 

 from the hive, until all are fertilized and in- 

 troduced into new colonies. This plan re- 

 quires more attention, and from my own 

 experience I choose the first plan. It does 

 not require the queens to be confined so 

 long. Jewell Davis. 



Charleston, 111., March, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Life Insurance. 



I am in favor of the insurance scheme, 

 spoken of by Brother Wm. J. Andrews. I 

 am in favor of insurance, and especially 

 when so small a sum will assist the heirs of 

 a member to so large an amount, as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Anidrews. I took a life 

 policy at the age of 27 years; it has cost me 

 $104.05; I am 34 years of age; dividends 

 make it a little less than 5?80 now. I con- 

 sider that I have so much actually laid up 

 in case of my death, which will certainly 



