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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



QUEEN-BEE ITEMS. 



A queen bee is very tenacious of life. 

 We have sometimes injured the head, 

 or other parts of their bodies, and have 

 seen the queen turn over and appar- 

 ently dead, but in a few minutes she 

 would revive and come up as lively as 

 ever. 



The clipping of the wings of a queen 

 is cruel, unnecessary and notof the least 

 advantage to the apiarist. In fact, it is 

 a decided disadvantage, and for more 

 reasons than one. 



Never handle queens with the hands 

 or fingers, especially a queen that has 

 oorae out with a swarm. If one is per- 

 spiring freely, the moist hands will give 

 the queen an unnatural odor, and her 

 colony will disown her. Queens med- 

 dled with under such circumstances, 

 (swarming time), are almost sure to be 

 destroyed. Use a dry stick, or any- 

 thing to aid the queen if she cannot help 

 herself by reason of defective wings, 



A good queen, when in the act of de- 

 positing her eggs, always has her head 

 pointing towards the bottom of the 

 hive, while an inferior one, when she 

 lays, is seldom found in that position. 

 This accounts for the fact that while 

 the eggs of the former are all laid in 

 one position, (perpendicular), those of 

 the latter are deposited in all ways. 



When a queen commences to lay, she 

 deposits a few eggs on one side of the 

 comb and then goes to the other side 

 and lays in those cells exactly opposite. 

 This she continues to do till the entire 

 oomb is filled. 



But few of the thousands of those 

 who keep bees ever heard a queen 

 "pipe." The fact that the piping is 

 heard but once a year, and that just be- 

 fore a second swarm issues, is why so 



few beekeepers have experienced any- 

 thing of the kind. By placing the ear 

 to the side of the hive on the evening 

 of the seventh day, or on the morning 

 of the eighth day after the first swarm 

 issued, the piping of the young queens 

 may be distinctly heard. The piping is 

 made with the rapid vibrations of the 

 wings before the queens leave the cells 

 and, curiously enough, no two queens 

 give the same tones. While one queen 

 pipes on a high key, another does so in 

 a low, base tone, and still another ap- 

 pears to be located a long distance 

 away. The reason why the piping is 

 done is not exactly or clearly under- 

 stood. When the piping commences, 

 the caps of the cells are cut nearly off 

 and the young queens are ready to 

 emerge therefrom. The piping seems 

 to indicate that the unhatched queens 

 are ready to lead off the second swarm, 

 or it may be made by one queen in 

 order to ascertain whether there are 

 other aspirants to the throne of the 

 colony. — Am. Apt. 



LOCATING AN APIARY. 



In beginning bee-keeping the loca- 

 tion is one of the most important things 

 to be considered. As bees ascend with 

 difficulty when heavily laden , I would 

 have the apiary located in a valley, that 

 after obtaining a load of stores on the 

 neighboring hills, they may, as they 

 return with their load, have a descend- 

 ing flight. Low ground is also better 

 protected from heavy winds. Learn 

 which are the best honey yielding 

 plants and trees, and try, if possible, to 

 locate within reach of leliable pastur- 

 age. While bees will go three or four 

 miles if necessary, the best results are 

 obtained, as a rule, by having an 

 abundant pasturage within at least two 



