THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



125 



ure of skipping back, as the queens 

 could not pass the traps. What coiilil 

 I have done wlien tlieycaine out thick 

 and fast had it not been for the trap ? 



Those traps were worth §5 apiece 

 to me this season. 1 have hived nine- 

 ty-two swarms this year and have not 

 lost one. By the way, that self-hiver 

 is a dandy. Received it at niglit and 

 the next day secured a swarm as nice 

 as you please and many others. 'Tis 

 sure shot any time. 1 could go on 

 for a long time praising these traps 

 and queens and not overdo the thing 

 eitlier. 



Enclosed find cash for one Punic 

 queen ( I must try them) , also for four 

 more golden Carniolans. — A. J. Har- 

 ris, Anandale^ Jfinn. 



INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS. 



Another correspondent wishes to 

 know how I introduce virgin queens 

 which come to me through the mails. 

 Well, I do not akcays do it ; yet when 

 I have suitable notice of time of ship- 

 ment, so that I can prepare for them, 

 I am nearly always successful. Young 

 virgin queens, just hatched, can be in- 

 troduced much more surely than those 

 which are from two to six days old, 

 as are those which come from abroad. 

 I had an order not long ago for a doz- 

 en virgin queens, and after sending 

 half of them, I Avas requested not to 

 send more, as all had been lost so far ; 

 and this was from one of our most 

 noted queen-breeders. Not long ago 

 I saw. in the Canadian Bkk Journal, 

 something from friend Jones, on this 

 subject, in which he said that all 

 should know how to introduce virgin 

 queens, or something to tliat effect ; 

 but after reading carefully all that was 

 said on the subject, 1 failed to find 

 how to do it explained. There are 

 two ways to do this with oldish vir- 

 gin queens, and onlu two ways, that 

 I know of . The first (and I consider 

 it the best plan) is to make a colony 

 queenless for from four to nine days 

 before the introduction is tried, then 



droj) the virgin queen in honey, look- 

 ing out that she does not fly away in 

 getting her into the lioney, after which 

 she is to be rolled in the same, and, 

 with a teaspoon, dip])ed up and turned 

 down between two frames from the 

 top of the hive. If the colony or 

 nucleus has been queenless long 

 enough to h;ive sealed queen-cells, not 

 one in ten will be killed, providing 

 said colony does not desire to swarm, 

 no matter whether the queen-cells in 

 the hive are destroyed by the apiarist 

 or not. In fact, as a rule, I prefer not 

 to destroy these cells, for the bees 

 seem to rather let the virgin queen do 

 it. If they have a desire to swarm, 

 the virgin queen will generally be 

 killed in spite of all precautions. 



The other plan is to take all the 

 combs out of the hive where you wish 

 to put the virgin, placing the queen in 

 a cage having good candy in one end 

 of it, to an amount sufficient to take 

 from 12 to 20 hours for the bees to 

 eat through to her. By this time they 

 know that this queen is their only hope, 

 so will accept her, but the combs and 

 brood must be kept out of the hive 

 till she becomes fertile ; for if put back 

 sooner, the bees will often kill her and 

 raise another from their brood ; and 

 they will often kill her if only combs 

 having no brood are placed in the hive 

 Avithin 48 hours after the bees have 

 liberated her. I consider the intro- 

 duction of virgin queens as impracti- 

 cal, only as we wish to do it as a 

 means of changing "blood." If Bro. 

 Jones makes it practical, will he please 

 tell us in detail just how he does it. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Canadian Bee Journal. 



The introduction of virgin queens 

 to full colonies is certainly impracti- 

 cal. About 2000 young queens, 

 mostl}' those from six to ten da3'sold, 

 are introduced each season in our apia- 

 ry, none, however, are ever introduced 

 to full colonies. If to be introduced 

 to the latter the same method of in- 

 troduction as is used to introduce vir- 



