THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



267 



boards, and proceed as follows: First re- 

 move the boxes and honey-board with as 

 little disturbance to the bees as possible. 

 Then blow the smoke of a burning cotton 

 rag in at the entrance, at the same time 

 drum on the side of the hive to alarm the 

 bees and make them till themselves with 

 honey so that they will be good natured. 

 Keep the drumming up for 10 minutes, but 

 ■don't drum nor smoke much the first five 

 minutes, as the bees would run up before 

 tilling their sacks and would be as cross as 

 hornets. Alarm them just enough to make 

 them good natured, and then drum smartly 

 and blow more smoke at the entrance. 

 Turn the cap over and look for the queen. 

 If not found drum again and continue so 

 till she is driven out. 



If found, remove her and cover the bees 

 over with a cloth or anything that will keep 

 them in the cap, and then treat them to 

 tobacco smoke, but don't give them too 

 much. Blow in a little and let them rest 

 awhile, and if they are disposed to fly when 

 the cloth is removed give them more smoke. 

 When they are quiet put the Italian queen 

 in and shake them down in a bunch in one 

 end or corner of the cap, so that the queen 

 will be under the bees. Let them remain 

 so until you have smoked the bees in the 

 hive. The idea is to make all the bees 

 smell alike. You can so deceive them that 

 they won't know one queen from another. 

 If this is done at night (best time just be- 

 fore sunset) the bees can be turned on the 

 frames, the cap put on, and the honey-board 

 replaced in the morning. 



Mr. Dadant says he has tried the above 

 method several times, but with only partial 

 success, and further says: "a queen is never 

 safe by this method when honey is scarce, 

 for you cannot prevent strange bees from 

 joining those drummed." Probally a queen 

 is never safe the way he performs the 

 operation. He certainly does not work 

 right or he would succeed every time. I 

 don't remember of ever having one destroy- 

 ed introduced in this way, and I have in- 

 troduced hundreds of them by the above 

 method, and at all seasons of the year, say 

 from March to November. As to strange 

 bees, all the bees are strange to the queen, 

 and all strangers would be introduced at the 

 same time the queen is. I think if strange 

 bees join those drummed that they would 

 stay and not leave. 



I will guarantee to introduce all your 

 freshly -imported queens by the above 

 method, and not lose one; I care nothing 

 about the smell of them, nor how scarce 

 honey is, and I am quite positive that I can 

 do it successfully every time. I wish Mr. 

 D. was close to me so that I could show him 

 how to do it, as he would certainly succeed 

 thereafter. Will Mr. D. try the following 

 plan and report through the Jouristal? 



Unqueen a stock of bees, and in just three 

 •days or 72 iiours thereafter smoke the bees 

 in the hive with tobacco smoke, first plac- 

 ing the cage containing the new queen over 

 one of the entrance holes to the boxes, or in 

 any place where she will be scented the 

 same as the other bees, and then let her run 

 in. Very little tobacco smoke will do. I 

 feel sure that Mr. D. and others will do it 

 successfully every time. The queen cells 

 that have begun will be abandoned and the 

 new queen favorably received. I do not 

 think that one queen in 1,000 would be lost 

 by this latter method, no matter by whom 



introduced. I have introduced hundreds by 

 the former method, and many New Eng- 

 land readers can testify that it was done 

 successfully. 



KEPLY TO MR. BENEDICT. 



A few words in reply to Mr. Benedict, he 

 says: " Friend Alley cannot produce a 

 single word from my pen advising him to 

 purchase queens of me." I can produce 

 several words and letters from his lead 

 pencil praising his stock and advising me 

 to get some of it. The two queens sent 

 back to him were returned in the same 

 cages they came in, and I can prove by the 

 P. M. that I did not leave the office before I 

 re-mailed them, and I can also prove by the 

 same official that two of the queens were 

 black and but one was yellow. Mr. B. 

 desires it understood that the same aueens 

 he sent me were not the ones returned. I 

 wonder if any one supposes that I would 

 send a man 2 yellow queens for 2 black 

 ones? He don't deny that they were not 

 yellow wiien they got back, as he got his 

 big bee-keeping friend to look at them and 

 they both pronounced them yellow, but 

 about the purity neither of them had any- 

 thing to say. H. Alley. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Two Queens in the Same Hive. 



I will now continue about the two queens 

 in one hive. In February I found a queen- 

 less colony; in my distress I thought of the 

 two queens in the same colony. I examined 

 them and found mother and daughter hap- 

 pily together. I took the daughter with 

 sound wings and introduced her into the 

 queenless colony. About the fii'st of May, I 

 stood in front of the hive in which the 

 wingless mother dwelt; I saw with 

 astonishment a y«»ung queen returning 

 from her bridal tour, entering the hive. 

 The next day I saw the wingless mother 

 and young daughter together on the same 

 comb. A week after, I took the young 

 queen out, having seen her laying eggs and 

 made an artificial swarm; ami now a third 

 daughter is living together with her wing- 

 less mother, who is still strong, hearty, and 

 prolific. I will inform you further on this 

 subject as I will soon remove the young 

 queen and look for farther developments. 



Shelbyville, Ky. Fred Kruegek. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queens Laying in Queen Cells. 



Mr. Editor:— Let me suggest an experi- 

 ment to those who think the queen lays in 

 queen cells. Select some hive where the 

 comb is old and filled with bee-bread and 

 unfavorable for cells. Then take out the 

 queen and about the hive insert a nice new 

 frame of worker or even drone comb that is 

 filled about half way down and known to 

 contain no eggs. In 2 or 3 days you will 

 have plenty of queen cells with eggs at the 

 bottom just as queens lay eggs. And if you 

 wish to go a little further you can easily 

 demonstrate that bees will carry eggs in off 

 from the front lighting board, and raise 

 queens from them. I once had a perfectly 

 black colony steal an egg from some other 

 hive, or get it elsewhere, and raise a beauti- 

 ful pure Italian queen— no mistake about it 

 at all. 



