1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



157 



they should be on end for the winter ; 

 it is best to have a good supply of 

 pollen in the combs ; vigorous queens 

 and plenty of bees bred the latter part 

 of the active season are essential. 

 The colony is to be put into this 

 condition before severe freezing and 

 not disturbed after that, if the best 

 results are expected, until settled 

 and moderately warm spring weather 

 has returned. 



As the apple-bloom comes in May, 

 stimulative feeding for this harvest 

 may commence in March. At that 

 time the bees will have been breed- 

 ing for over a mcmth, and gentle 

 stimulation with thin food at night 

 without permitting any loss of heat 

 and without manipulation nor dis- 

 turbance, will not induce flying out 

 during unseasonable weather. The 

 stores in the combs being ample, 

 brood-rearing will go on apace, and 

 apple-blosso7ns will find iis ready tvith the 

 bees for the harvest. — Bead at the Indi- 

 ana State Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



Washington, D. C. 



(From Am. Bee Journal.) 



AUTOMATIC SWARMING-QUEK- 

 lES AND COMMENTS. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent sent me two or 

 three questions to answer, and they 

 proved to be of such interest to me 

 that I have concluded to give them to 

 the readers of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, together with some comments 

 thereon . 



1st, " It is well known that when 

 a hive is full of bees, so that they be- 

 gin to think of ' laying out,' they will 

 crowd into an empty space which may 

 be about the hive, much sooner than 



they will go on the outside of the 

 hive. Taking advantage of this fact, 

 suppose that as soon as the sections 

 are filled with bees, they being well 

 at work, and before the swarming-fe- 

 ver comes upon them, we bore a two 

 or three inch hole in one side of the 

 hive, and on the inside of the same 

 put a piece cf queen-excluding metal. 

 Next we will bore a corresponding 

 hole of the same size in an empty 

 hive, cover the same with queen-ex- 

 cluding metal, and set this empty hive 

 right up against the other having the 

 bees in it, so that the holes match, 

 and then put a queen-cell in this emp- 

 ty hive. Now the point I wish to 

 know is, will there not in time be a 

 new swarm of bees in that empty 

 hive?" 



That this will work just as outlined 

 above I have my doubts, but I think 

 there may be something in it with 

 some modifications which may be of 

 benefit to the bee-fraternity. From 

 past experience I judge that, did the 

 bees go into the empty hive and care 

 for the cell until it hatched, the queen 

 on going out to meet the drone, would, 

 on her return, enter the wrong hive 

 and be killed, thus spoiling our work. 

 But what is there to hinder placing a 

 comb of honey and one of brood in 

 the empty hive, and then giving the 

 queen- cell ? I would now warrant 

 the bees from the old liive to go 

 through the queen-excluding metal, 

 take care of the brood nest and cell, 

 and care for the queen just the same 

 as if she were in an isolated hive or 

 nucleus, when in due time she will 

 become fertile and go to filling the 

 combs with eggs. From all of my 

 experience in the past, in rearing 

 queens as given in my book, in hav- 



