8 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Another matter, ou wliicli I would like to 

 liave the views of more experienced bee keepers, 

 is tliis : when removing a strong swarm and 

 substituting a weak one — eitlier for the purpose 

 of making swarms, or recruiting weak stocks — is 

 there no danger, from the great rush of strange 

 bees into the weak liive, that the queen of the 

 latter, unless caged, will be destroyed, before 

 they have time to become acquainted with lier? 

 So many mishaps have resulted from my experi- 

 ments in clianging hives, that I have latterly 

 adopted the plan of caging the queen, or where, 

 as in the case of a common hive, that cannot be 

 done, of substituting queenless stock for a time, 

 until they have become aware of their loss, and 

 then replacing this with the one that is to re- 

 main. 



Stephen Scotton. 



Richmond, Ind. 



[For the Ainericau Bee Journal.] 



Impure Italians, and Queens Mating 

 Twice. 



Sometime since a copy of Kidder's circular, 

 giving description and price of Italian bees and 

 queens, came into our possession. In this cir- 

 cular it was claimed tliat inasmuch as the Ital- 

 ian bee existed nowhere in its purity — not even 

 in its native country, Italy — living as it did in 

 close proximity to our common kind ; that as a 

 natural consequence, one, two, and three banded 

 bees would appear simultaneously, in colonies 

 having purely mated Italian queens ; and 

 purchasers must be satisfied, if even a majority 

 of the workers have the three yellow stripes 

 around the abdomen. 



Now, every intelligent bee-keeper, who has 

 practiced rearing Italian queens, knows that 

 queens from pure mothers having mated with 

 common drones, wi 1 beget workers a majority of 

 Avhich will have the three yellow stripes. At least 

 tills is my experience. But Mr. Kidder's custo- 

 mers receiving such queens must be satisfied, 

 since a majority of their workers are three 

 banded, and by this mode of reasoning sucli 

 queens arc as near an approach to purity as 

 can be arrived at, from their present imperfect 

 condition ! 



Another tenet in bee-keeping, not less absurd 

 and inconsiderate than that taught by Mr. Kid- 

 der, is tlie doctrine that an Italian queen may and 

 often does mate concurrently and consecutively 

 with drones of different species, whereby lier 

 progeny are differently marked — some being 

 common, some Italian, while others partake of 

 the character of both. This idea is being dis- 

 seminated here, by persons engaged in the 

 queen-raising business, and in my opinion is a 

 shrewd invention to blind the minds of those 

 bee-keepers whom they wish to humbug by 

 their spurious queens. Thanks to auch men as 

 LangstroMi, Gallup, &c., for their regard for 

 trutli and tlie rights of others, by refusing to 

 alliiw such errors and impositions to be prac- 

 ticed upon the people, without entering their 

 protest. 



B.y the way, allow me to express my thanks 

 to Mr. Gallup for the freedom and liberality 

 with which he has favored us with the results 

 of his observations and experience in practical 

 bee-culture. He is just the kind of man we 

 want to instrut;t us in the art ; and his ideas are 

 of the first class. The size, shape, and practical 

 workings of the hive he has presented for our 

 consideration, I like very much. Long may he 

 live to enjoy the advantages wlucli his favorite 

 hive and long experience in bee-keeping afford 

 him, 



J. L. McLean. 



Richmond, Ohio. 



[For tbo American Bee Journal.] 



Swarming Without a Queen. 



A colony of bees cast a top swarm, without 

 issuing or the queen leaving the hive. 



This. Mr. Editor, would seem almost incredi- 

 ble, but there is hardly anything impossible 

 nowadays. The following account of the ac- 

 cession of a swarm to the apiary of James Mc- 

 Lean, in accordance with the facts above stated, 

 came under my observation : 



In the summer of 1865, Mr. McLean had a 

 swarm issue rather late in the season — too late 

 to secure honey enough to enable it to pass the 

 winter in safety. It tlierefore died, leaving tlie 

 hive, however, full of nice comb. This hive, 

 which was a box in the form of a four-cornered 

 P3^ramid. witli glass on its sides, and a slide, by 

 means of which the operations of the bees upon 

 the combs could be distinctly seen. Tlie comb 

 he reserved for a future swarm. The next year, 

 the swarming seasom having arrived, he placed 

 this hive at the side of a populous colony, with 

 its edge a little raised, that the bees, then begin- 

 ning to lie out, might pass up among the combs 

 and protect them from the depredations of the 

 miller. As the number ot bees increased and 

 the storage of honey gradually crowded tliem 

 out, they wended their way up among the 

 combs and finally began to deposit lioney in 

 them. Each subsequent day brought further 

 accessions of honej' to those combs; and soon 

 our attention was drawn to the gradual length- 

 ening out of a queen cell on tlie edge of a comb, 

 which had been started by the bees the season 

 before. This process of queen cell construction 

 progressed from one degree of formation to 

 another, until it readied completion. Tiien, to 

 our astonishnif-nt, after the lapse of sufficient 

 time, a young queen emerged from the cell, to 

 assume undisputed possession of so pleasant a 

 habitation. 



In process of time, tliis liive began to be re- 

 plenished by bees reared from its own combs ; 

 its intercourse with the parent hive ceased ; its 

 independence became established ; and it now 

 ranks among the first colonies of the apiary. 



Que^y. — i3id the bees remove an egg from 

 the parent hive, and place it in this cell ; or did 

 the queen lay it there ? 



John L. McLean. 



Richmond, Ohio. 



