156 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



stocks extra strong only at the yielding of the 

 cloY s -S 1 bass-wSod, (linden ;) but the nicrease 

 of Iruit-blossoms and dandelion i^ra.ucu^m) the 

 last two years, has induced us to save the old 

 bees and get the stocks on the swarming ponit, 

 at least a month earlier. We M^ant the expe- 

 lience of others on this branch of bee-keepmg ; 

 and more on the hotbed and forcing b^use o 

 outside heating arrangements, as ^ve ^'"^y^^}^'^ 

 but few experimental trials on outside stiniu at- 

 ino- • but enough to convince us there is protit in 



^^^ef\S;:'r^Ss will be kind enoughnot 



sum cannot be obtained again clear of expense 



The word patent^ keeps many f^;«»J^"^!^^ .^^^^ in 

 even making any iniproyement foi feai o n- 

 fringing on some one^s right. Had tbe honey- 

 machine been patented, it would have kept t^ e 

 bee-keepers back at least ten years, and no pel - 

 son wo lid have been benefited more than they 

 may be now, by accepting and keeping up wjth 

 the improvements made. We know ot but fe^v 

 SentJthat pay to educate the buyer how to use 

 Ihein with Slice' gs ; and without such ^o^^^ 

 acquired, they do not generally succeed, till thty 

 have used up one or more of the ^^J-^^^les or go 

 discouraged-saying the article is ofno use, and 

 thereby discouraging others from ^^J^^^^fJ^ 

 the detriment of the inventor, and the gieat dis- 

 advantage of the public. _^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^ 



Si. Charles, III. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Trouble with Queen Cells. 



Mr Editor -.—Will you, or any of your kind 

 and^uunemus correspondents, tell me whether 

 queen cells require to be inserted in the same po- 

 sitiou again as they were before removal, and 



ow thel should be fastened. The mtormatum 

 would be important to me as well as perhaps 

 many others. Up to this time I never could tmd 

 Siything in any writings on apiculture very p- 

 cise on this point. It is true, some state that he 

 bees will sometimes destroy such "^«e,f f^^J^^^^^' 

 and others again say that the bees w> toste a 

 inserted ce'.l. Now, both these points have failec. 

 with me, but I am more particularly interested in 



'^ofexamining a colony, I foundthat it had 



lost its queen sometime previous as it conUxined 



queen cells sealed over, but neither eggs nor lai- 



?a, in the cells-nothing but sealed ^vorker broody 



I removed all the queen cells, as I had some 



sealed Italian queen cells m a nucleus box and 



the colony I am speaking of were black bees. I 



took out a comb, cut a hole in it, just fitted to re- 



ceve aqueen cell taken from the nucleus box, 



and acfjusted jt nicely, so that in [act, it fitted as 



naturally as if placed thei-e by the bees. But 



these soon gnawed away all a^und it, ?« that I 



expected to see them make a ^tiH better job of t^ 



But lo ! they soon brought it to the bottom of he 



hive, and there, s^u'roumling it acted as though 



they did not mean to destroy it. bo I took up 



the cell, and first cutting a little wedge out of the 

 comb which held it before, cutting downward 

 from the opening made by the first insertion, and 

 put it between the crotch. The cell was now 

 clear above and below, and attached only by ita 

 sides, as when cutting it out I had left it encir- 

 cled by a course of worker cells. The bees acted 

 iust as before, and soon got the cell down on the 

 floor attain, though without mutilating it m any 

 wiv I was now almost at my wit's end ; so i 

 took up a piece of comb, three inches square, 

 and cut out a hole to receive the cell again 

 After inserting it I had a wirecloth cage so inade 

 that, put in the piece of comb with the cell, it 

 iust filled the cage, except leaving suflicient space 

 for the bees to get to the cell between is sides 

 and the comb surtace. I now though if the bees 

 act as before, the cell will at least no fall to the 

 bottom of the hive. They really did p^w till 

 the cell reached the bottom ol the cage, by which 

 time it was discovered that the inmate was dead, 

 caused, I suppose, by the fall it received I then 

 procured another, and to keep it trom tailing also 

 I caa-ed it in the same manner as before, leaving 

 the narrow side open for the access of the bees. 

 These acted as on the former occasion, gnawing 

 awtiy portions until they could go no turthei. 

 Sometimes tbey would have the cell \aymg on its 

 side, and then again sta^iding on its end- in 

 fact, they kept rolling and rocking it constantly, 

 yet never mutilatin.^it in the least till the time 

 when its inmate should have left the prison It 

 was then found to be dead. I now tried a thud 



time, with no better success. 



All this is, to me at least, exceedingly stiange. 

 Is there any special mode of introducing a queen 

 cell that will a?wa2/s prove successful? 1 so, i 

 should be very much gratified to be instructed 

 hrio do it, for future use. After these repeated 

 failures, I gave the bees a piece of hroad comb 



inserting it in the same "P^'^^g ^^^^^ t f^^?ened 

 queen cell was placed ; they immediately fastened 

 it well, and proceeded to rear a queen vvuy 

 would they not foster and use the sealed queen 

 cell that was ofiered to them ? ^ ^^^^^^^^^ 



Kleinhurgli, Canada. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Sugar Candy. 



In the Bee Journal for December, D. H. 

 Co-sl all inquires how sugar candy should be 

 made for feeding bees. I always buy the com- 

 mon sugar sticks, sold by confectioners. 

 Liquid Bee Feed, or Syrup. 

 I consider a thick syrup made of white sugar, 

 fully equal to honey for bee-feed. 



^ ^ J. H. Thomas. 



Brooklin, Ontario. 



Bees have about sixteen thousand eyes, or 

 eiiht thousand in each of the compound organs 

 placed laterally upon the head. 



