THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



223 



on the following dtxy, I take out the cage, re- 

 move tlie old queen, and substitute the Italian 

 queen lor her in the same cage, "which I set aside 

 lor a while till the queen becomes quiet and re- 

 signed. I then besmear it on all sides with pure 

 nice honey, and replace it hi the same position it 

 occupied before in the hive. Now closing the 

 hive I leave it in this condition several days, 

 four days being best, according to my experience. 

 Then, opening the hive again, I destroy all the 

 queen cells that may have been started, take out 

 the cage, remove the slide and cover the opening 

 with a thill plate of wax, to keep the queen con- 

 fined. Replacing the cage in its former position 

 and closing the hive, let the bees liberate the 

 queen at tlieir leisure. The cage may be taken 

 away after she has left it. I will guarantee 

 that by this method queens, whether fertilized or 

 not, may always be safely introduced." 



Mr. Masbaum said : — "I have this yeaLtaken 

 bees from several colonies, shaken them together 

 thoroughly, and immediately given them the 

 queen I desired to introduce, and she was always 

 readily accepted. 



A few weeks ago, by way of experiment, 

 I drove out a swarm from a straw hive, and 

 alter securing the old queen and returning her 

 to the parent stock, I gave a new queen to the 

 swarm. Although these bees had been accus- 

 tomed to the presence of a fertile queen of 

 the previous year, and the one given to them 

 was a 3'oung one only fertilized a few days be- 

 fore, she was kindly received and accepted. I 

 must state, however, that I let the driven swarm 

 and the given queen remain together, shut up in 

 an empty hive, fully twenty-four hours before I 

 gave them combs. Had combs been given to 

 them immediately, the result might not have 

 been so favorable." 



Mr. Klipstein stated that "a well tested and 

 sure mode of introducing queen bees is as fol- 

 lows : After the old queen has been removed in- 

 troduce her intended successor the same evening, 

 merely besmearing her with honey, and placing 

 her where the larger mass of the bees is congre- 

 gated. The stranger queen may also be be- 

 smeared with honey taken from the hive in 

 which she is to be introduced, and set at large on 

 one of the brood combs. 



Removing the old queen in the morning and 

 introducing her successor in the evening, is prob- 

 ably advantageous simply because the bees Avill 

 retain their consciousness of queenlessness per- 

 fectly till evening, without yet adopting measures 

 to supply their w^ant. Mr. Dummer, of Romberg, 

 in the Bavarian Palatinate, communicated this 

 method to me, assuring me that he had repeatedly 

 introduced queens, whether fertile or virgin in 

 this manner with the most gratifying results." 



What are the Essential Conditions of 

 Early Swarming? 



Translated for the American Bee Journal. 



AVhen practical men are just commencing the 

 study of a science which should direct their daily 

 labors, they must not be treated as patient and 

 trained students eager to explore the whole Tem- 

 ple of Nature ; but rather like cautious and some- 

 what unwilling candidates, wiio must be lured 

 into its outer ve.stibules, by wisdom conveyed in 

 pleasant and familiar words. 



This was the seventh question for discussion, 

 on the progj-amme of the Sixteenth General Con- 

 vention of German Bee-keepers at Nuremberg, 

 September, 1860. 



Dk. ZmvANSKY. — I am a decided advocate of 

 simplification, and constantly endeavor to intro- 

 duce it wherever practicable. Hence I desire to 

 apply it to the subject before us, which would 

 then be made more easily intelligible. As it 

 stands I conceive the proper answer is — " There 

 is only one essentinl condition of early sicarmivg,''^ 

 and that is to be found not in the bee community 

 but in the bee-keeper himself. It consists in an 

 accurate and thorough knotcledge of the nature of 

 the bee. If the bee-keeper has such knowledge, 

 he will know also the wants of his bees, and, 

 knowing these, he will be careful to have them 

 fully supplied at the right time, and will thus 

 always have the colonies in his apiary duly pre- 

 pared for earl J' swarming. 



By virtue of hi« knowledge of the nature of 

 the bee, the bee-keeper is aware that he can ex- 

 pect to have early swarms only from populous 

 colonies ; and he will consequently take care to 

 winter only strong stocks. But in order to do 

 this, he will, firsts select strong stocks in the fall ; 

 secondly^ he will be careful that they shall remain 

 strong during the winter ; and thirdly., will man- 

 age that by early breeding the population shall 

 increase rapidly in the spring. 



Let me now recapitulate in order. 



First. If the colonies intended for wintering are 

 to be strong in the fall, they must have healthy., 

 prolific, and still young queens. The grand 

 secret for effecting this is, ntver to permit the 

 queens in your apiary to approach the feriod of 

 su'perun7iuation, but to renew them frequently. 

 When doing this, furthermore select queens bred 

 not earlier tJian in July or August. Such queens 

 will continue laying late in the fall, resume it 

 vigorously at the close of winter, and have plenty 

 of brood early in the spring. In every case the ' 

 queen must always be rega<i-ded as the most im- 

 portant member of the famiiy, as it depends on 

 her altogether whether the colony is in any 

 respect to be praised or not. 



In every apiary there will always be found some 

 stocks weaker than others, at the close of the sea- 

 son ; and it becomes important to equalize the 

 whole, if practicable. This is done by transfer- 

 ring combs of brood from the stronger stocks to the 

 weaker. Where the number requiring to be thus 

 reinforced is not large, so that they can quickly 

 be adequately supplied, the result is always satis- 

 factory. But if the weak colonies happen to be 

 disproportionately numerous, the attempt thus to 

 equalize them all would unduly weaken "the 

 stronger, and hence be disadvantageous. In such 

 case, the proper course is to break up some of 

 those weak stocks, or unite several. 



Secondly. If the colonies are to remain strong 

 during the winter, they must in addition to hav- 

 ing young prolific queenes, be supplied with 

 sufficient stores for their support. 

 It has been a subject of frequent debate, what 



