68 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the finishing touches to the October is- 

 sue of the Apicultiirist, and his letters 

 and MSS. were in a rather promiscuous 

 heap upon the table. We also noticed 

 a large pile of "Thirty Years Among 

 the Bees," ready to mail, besides quite 

 a number of Apicidtiirists. There were 

 also several crates of fine comb honey 

 and cans of extracted honey which had 

 just been brought from a local fair 

 which Mr. A. had just been attending. 

 Both quantity and quality showed that 

 Eastern Massachusetts had enjoyed a 

 good honey-yield. 



A call to dinner transferred our talk 

 to the dining-room. While engaged in 

 doing justice to Bay State substantial, 

 who should come to share them with us 

 but Bro. Pratt, of Beverly, Mass. After 

 dinner we all felt remarkably well and 

 good-natured, and we adjourned to the 

 bee-yard. Bro. A. had just put up his 

 last shipment of queens ; and as they 





:/ .■>■ 



•I,AST SHIPMENT OF QUKEXS FKOM THE BAY 

 STATE APIARY, SEPT., 18'JO. 



were piled up nicely on the cover of a 

 •Bay State hive we brought our camera 

 ito bear upon them, Bro. A., and the 

 queen-rearing portion of the Bay State 

 apiary. He was manipulating a Bay State 

 hive and we caught a very good view. 

 Forty full colonies were in the home yard, 

 besides over two hundred queen-rear- 

 ing hives. The little hives and tin feed- 

 ers were scattered promiscuously, with 



entrances toward all points of the com- 

 pass. 



We expressed a desire to see the yel- 

 low Carniolans, and were immediately 

 shown a colony that would ordinarily 

 pass for very good Italians. But these 

 bees, when the hive was opened, showed 

 all the traits of the dark Carniolans. 

 No veil nor smoke was used. Quick 

 motions near the comb or over the hives 

 were not resented. As to honey gather- 

 ing qualities, we should think that East- 

 ern Massachusetts is not the locality to 

 test them for prodigious yields ; but 

 Bros. Alley and Pratt both have great 

 confidence in the superiority of this 

 strain over all others. 



We were next shown the colony in 

 which was installed the celebrated $ioo 

 queen. This colony had thrown off a 

 swarm quite early, and during the sea- 

 son sixty frames of brood had been 

 drawn from the parent colony alone for 

 queen-rearing. But whatever prodigies 

 the colony had done, we noticed that 

 they were very active ; and though it 

 was during the last days of September, 

 they were busy at work ; and, allowing 

 the Rambler to judge, it was the best 

 colony in the Bay State apiary. 



HOW ALLEY INTRODUCES A FERTILE QUEEN 

 WITHOUT CAGING. 



While talking about introducing 

 queens, Bro. A. said he would show us 

 how to do it. Taking a fine large fer- 

 tile queen from a nucleus he stepped to 

 a full colony, removed the cover, and 

 dropped her, in an unceremonious man- 

 ner, among the bees. We watched her 

 a few moments. The bees were friendly, 

 and she marched straight down between 

 the combs, the reigning majesty. The 

 colony had been queenless three days, 

 and it was just the proper titne to intro- 

 duce her. Much earlier or much later 

 than seventy two hours would have re- 

 sulted differently. 



HOW TO INTRODUCE A VIRGIN. 



We will now go with Bro. A. and in- 

 troduce a virgin queen to a nucleus. 

 The tobacco smoker is lighted, and the 

 caged queen, perhaps just from the nur- 



