1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



243 



or until queen -cells are started. If the 

 queen is left in the stock removed to 

 a distance from the old stand, on no 

 account permit the bees in the new 

 hive to raise the new " mother," for 

 two reasons. (1) Their day for acting 

 as nurses is past, and this being so 

 they lose time before making a start 

 at queen -raising, and (2^ their span of 

 life is so short that before the new 

 queen can be raised, mated, and has 

 time to re -people the hive the old bees 

 have died out and the stock has dwin- 

 dled down to a condition which ren- 

 ders it useless. The best course, there- 

 fore, if the queen is left in the remov- 

 ed stock, is to introduce a new queen 

 as soon as possible after a period of 

 twenty-four to thirty-six hours have 

 elapsed. Some bee keepers, I know, 

 have a deal of trouble in finding the 

 queen, especially when she is wanted, 

 but if a new "mother" is pocurred, 

 and kept ready for use, it is very easy 

 (after the lapse of time mentioned) to 

 tell which hive contains the queen by 

 an examination of the combs for 

 queen-cells, which will be found start- 

 ed in that portion of the stock left 

 queenless. 



In making three colonies from two, 

 the "Guide Book" is again a safe 

 guide, as it always is, for I must say 

 there is hardly a phase of bee-keeping 

 in which I have not received help and 

 enlightenment from it. However, to 

 proceed, choose a fine day as before, 

 and take four or five frames of brood 

 and eggs from a strong colony, hut no 

 bees, these latter l)eing shaken or 

 brushed off them and allowed to run 

 back into the hive, place these beeless 

 combs of brood so lemoved into a new 

 hive, add frames of comb and close up 

 the brood nest from which the frames 



were removed, taikng special care that 

 the queen is in no way injured in the 

 brushing and shaking process, in fact, 

 the safest course is not to interfere 

 with the frame on which she is found 

 at all, but to leave it in the hive. 

 Now remove another strong stock to a 

 new stand, and place the hive with 

 the frames of brood on the stand of 

 the removed stock, which will receive 

 all the flying bees from the stock so 

 removed. The new stock should not 

 be allowed to raise the fresh queen, as 

 all the bees in the hive are too old, 

 representing — as they do — the field 

 force of the removed stock, and the 

 above remarks as to re-queening ap- 

 plies equally to this case. My advice 

 is — increase slowly, nor think that a 

 large number of stocks always give 

 the best results. Many things require 

 consideration in the management of a 

 large number of hives, and the axiom, 

 "to keep your bees in as few colonies 

 as you can," has much more in it than 

 appears on the surface. — H. W. Brice, 

 Thornton Heath, Surrey. 



(From Gleanings.) 



TEMPERAMENT OF BEES. 



HOW FAR SHOULD WE TAKE IT INTO 

 ACCOUNT ? 



BY S. E. MILLER. 



Do we often make mistakes in 

 managing our bees, in thinking that 

 one colony should act and do just like 

 another colony under the same con- 

 ditions? Do we make due allowance 

 for the difference in disposition or 

 temperament of our numerous col- 

 onies ? A colony of bees must, to a 

 certain extent, be considered as an 

 individual so far as the mind — or, 

 perhaps, more properly, their instinct 



