184 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



The essentials of the successful in- 

 troduction of queens are these : — 



The bees must of course be queen- 

 less ; and the bees and queen to be 

 introduced must become thoroughly 

 acquainted and scented alike ere the 

 latter is liberated. At the time when 

 the queen is liberated the bees must 

 be undisturbed, in order that neither 

 the queen nor bees may become ex- 

 cited or frightened. 



Some parties claim that even where 

 a fertile or laying queen is to be in- 

 troduced the colony should be queen- 

 less at least three days ere the new 

 queen is given them. This, in our 

 experience, we have proven beyond 

 dispute is not necessary, and further 

 we find the loss in introduction smaller 

 where the laying queens are intro- 

 duced or liberated by the bees within 

 forty-eight hours after the old queen 

 has been removed, than where the 

 colony remains queenless three days. 



With virgin queens, however, the 

 three days' method is the only safe 

 one. 



About three weeks since, we sowed 

 a piece of silver hull buckwheat and 

 now it is in bloom which to us seems 

 like a rapid growth. We have sown 

 in all three acres of buckwheat for 

 our pasturage. 



We have been examining the Cle- 

 thra alnifolia (swamp alder) which is 

 found in abundance along the roads 

 near the lake, and in the swamps 

 near our apiaries, and it has proven 

 so valuable as a honey plant, yielding 

 such rich, beautifully colored and fine- 

 ly flavored honey that we propose to 

 surround our whole estate (eight 

 acres) with a double hedge of it, 

 and also use it for shade in our apiary. 



Towards the last of August and 

 early in September, especially in sec- 

 tions where buckwheat is abundant, 

 a few swarms may lie expected to is- 

 sue. 



The wise apiarist will, as a rule, 

 remove or destroy the cells and re- 

 turn the bees to the hive from which 

 they came, because if the weather is 



not very favorable, and the fall flow- 

 ers abundant, late swarming will 

 prove the destruction of both the old 

 and young colonies, as it is so late 

 in the season that sufficient young 

 bees cannot be reared to keep up 

 the proper temperature during win- 

 ter. 



In some cases, and especially 

 where one wishes to save the cells, it 

 is well to keep the old colony queen- 

 less three days, remove the cells to 

 the "nursery" and then introduce 

 the old queen, or any other, as per 

 method given elsewhere. 



We have been overworked thus 

 far this season, but we are looking 

 forward with pleasant anticipation to 

 the time when we shall be able to 

 carry out the many plans that we are 

 maturing to make this department 

 many times more valuable and in- 

 structive both to the expert and nov- 

 ice than it now is. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



NEW YORK AND FLORIDA. 



As the earth slowly approaches 

 the great winter, as known among 

 astronomers, our summers continu- 

 ally grow shorter until a few hundred 

 years hence, spring and fall will 

 pass insensibly from one to the 

 other without any summer at all. 

 Those that become interested in the 

 vicissitudes of the weather observe 

 our seasons gradually changing 

 enough to be noticeable in a very 

 few years, as we have late springs and 

 earlier falls, which will make it nec- 

 essary for even the hardiest plants 

 in the vegetable kingdom to grow 

 spontaneously. Also it is materially 

 affecting the successful survival of 

 our pets (the bees), which in time 

 will become extinct in the north, like 

 the mastodon of a past tertiary j)e- 



