388 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



One day I noticed a few bees working 

 in one of the hives, but supposed they 

 had found a little honey. The next day 

 the number was considerably increased, 

 and they were working in two hives that 

 were about a foot apart, the entrances 

 being towards each other. They kept 

 getting stronger each day until the 

 fourth day (I think it was about 10 

 o'clock a.m.) I heard a roaring, and 

 saw a very large swarm of bees, or 

 rather 2 swarms. They settled on these 

 2 hives, and went right in as fast as 

 they could go. A queen was in each 

 hive, and they divided fairly well. It 

 might have been an accident that the 

 queens took separate hives, but it was 

 hardly an accident that the bees came 

 here. 



Again, last Summer I had a very large 

 swarm come out. The bees clustered, 

 and I hived them nicely in a good, clean 

 hive, as I thought. The next forenoon 

 they came out and started for the tim- 

 ber, which was close. I followed them ; 

 they went slow, and I nearly kept up. 

 They went straight to a squirrel-hole in 

 a hollow limb, and went in as fast as 

 they could get in. Now, did they know 

 where they were going to, when they 

 started ? 



. While 1 think a large majority of bees 

 select a place to go to before they 

 swarm, I think some do not, but wander 

 aimlessly around, and finally perish. 



Hartford, Iowa, Feb. 20, 1892. 



Polsoniiii M\h In Itie Apiary. 



WM. C. WOLCOTT. 



I notice by recent articles in the Bee 

 JouKNAi., that some bee-keepers have 

 been troubled with skunks in their api- 

 aries. I think that my way of getting 

 rid of these pests is better than those of 

 some others. 



My bees, in the Summer, are from 30 

 to 60 feet from the house. I have short 

 pieces of board with one end on the 

 ground, and the other end resting 

 against the hive bottom-board, near the 

 entrance to the hive. 



A few years ago my bees were some- 

 what troubled with the skunks. In the 

 morning, when I went out, I found 

 several boards knocked down, and some 

 entrance-boards on the ground. 



I used no trap to catch the skunks, 

 but got a bottle of strychnine and an 

 egg. I brok(>, a hole in the small end of 

 the egg, and then took strychnine enough 

 to make a ball about as largo as a com- 



mon-sized pea ; I pulverized it very fine, 

 and put it in the egg and mixed it with 

 the egg, which I then put by the hive. 



After the skunk eats the egg, it will 

 be found dead within three rods of the 

 hive. I have killed a number of skunks 

 in this way, but never had one get more 

 than three rods from where it ate the 

 egg. I never have had one leave any 

 unpleasant odor around the house. I 

 found one dead with the egg-shell under 

 its neck, where he ate it. I have not been 

 troubled with skunks for five or six 

 years. 



Eldorado, Wis. 



Mating of Queen-Bees, Etc. 



JOHN D. A. FISHER. 



I have read and re-read with much 

 interest Mr. Geo. S. Wheeler's article on 

 page 106. From his stand-point, queen- 

 breeders could sell tested queens that 

 they call pure, and yet they would be 

 mismated and produce hybrid bees with 

 three-yellow bands. From this stand- 

 point all a queen-breeder would have to 

 do, would be to keep his queens very 

 yellow, and he would be sure to get the 

 three yellow-banded bees ; whether the 

 queens mated with Italian or black 

 drones, the yellow bands would come all 

 the same. 



My experience has been very different 

 from the above. I have bought some 

 large and beautiful yellow Italian queens 

 from noted queen-breeders. I have 

 reared young queens from these beauti- 

 ful mothers, and whenever one of these 

 young queens mated with a black drone, 

 she produced hybrid bees. 



Last June I had a very large, bright 

 yellow queen. She was the largest and 

 the prettiest virgin queen I ever saw. 

 How I did want her to mate with one of 

 those beautiful Italian drones then flying 

 in my yard ! But to my disappointment, 

 when her young bees began to hatch, 

 about half of them had no yellow bands. 



I have two beautiful yellow Italian 

 queens in my yard now, that produce 

 bees about half of which have no yellow 

 bands. 



I cannot agree with Mr. Wheeler, that 

 an Italian queen mated with a black 

 drone will produce all well marked 

 worker bees. It would place our noted 

 queen-rearers in a position that they 

 could not guarantee a queen to be pure. 

 If a man would send to me for a selected 

 tested queen, and I had a beautiful 

 yellow and largo queen that had pro- 



