124 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



. or care bestowed upon it by the bees. 

 As a second swarm does not issue un- 

 til it has a queen to accompany it, it 

 does not follow that it will have a 

 queen on the ninth day from the is- 

 suing of the first. The first swarm of 

 the season in our apairy had sealed 

 queen cells when it left the hive, and 

 might have cast a second on the ninth 

 day if I had not divided it up into 

 nuclei. The swarm following it had 

 not even started cells, and so could 

 snot have had a queen to accompany 

 the swarm. 



QUEENS TN THE NUCLEI. 



To-day is the ninth from the issu- 

 ing of the first swarm, and we exam- 

 ined the nuclei to see if the queens 

 had emerged from the cells. I found 

 that one queen was out, but that she 

 had not had time to destroy another 

 ripe one, which I removed with the 

 point of a sharp knife, aud gave to a 

 queenless colony. I simply slipped 

 the cell between the combs, covered it 

 up warm and left it. When I exam- 

 ined the nuclei I gave to each a comb 

 of eggs and larvae, but without bees, 

 for it of course came from a hive con- 

 taining a laying queen, and they 

 might sting the young one. The nu- 

 clei now contain- egg^ and larva', and 

 the bees will not desert it when the 

 queen goes out on her bridal tour. 

 When the young queens are fertile 

 anb laying I can introduce them to 

 other colonies, or build them up into 

 strong new ones. If I remove these 

 queens from the neuclei, I will let 

 them start queen cells and then give 

 them a mature cell. If the cell was 

 given as soon as the queen was re- 

 moved, the bees would destroy it un- 

 less covered with a protector, but after 



they have cells of their own. they re- 

 spect it, and when the young queen 

 appears among them they seem to 

 think that it is one of their own. 



INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS. 



Introducing virgin queens to full 

 colonies that have been but a short 

 time queenless is no easy matter. 

 Some persons introduce them in .the 

 same way as fertile ones, by caging 

 them. When a young queen crawls 

 out of a cell the bees do not appear 

 to notice her, regarding her as a help- 

 less baby, but if she was three or four 

 hours old they would attack her with 

 murderous intent. Therefore, when 

 you introduce a virgin queen, do it 

 when she is young, and do not touch 

 her with the haucls if it can be avoid- 

 ed. Let her run in among the bees 

 unnoticed if possible. Young queens 

 are more apt to be received by nu- 

 clei than by strong colonies. — Mrs. 

 L. Harrison in Prairie Farmer. 



HINTS TO BEGINNERS — MANAGEMENT FOR 

 AUGUST. 



There are sections in which no hon- 

 ey is gathered this mouth. Still other 

 sections will have its largest yield 

 from now until frost. Take the State 

 of New Jersey — the largest part of 

 the bee-keepers there depend wholly 

 on the fall flow. As to our section, 

 we look for flow enough in the fore 

 part of the mouth to keep up breed- 

 ing, and in the latter part the golden 

 rod and alters commence and we get 

 just as much, if not more, from them 

 than we do from the spring flowers — : 

 and have only to say, if honey is plen- 

 tiful, continue the same treatment as 

 prescribed for July. Keep each hive 

 supplied with boxes; continue ex- 

 tracting aud get frames of foundation 

 nicely diawn out for the fall flow, es- 

 pecially if you are in a section where 

 there are quantities of buckwheat 

 raised, and take the sealed combs 



