THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



137 



[For thp Amoricac Bne Journal.] 



Uniting Bees in Box or Movable Comb 

 Hives. 



I noticed au incfiiiry in the Bee Jouknal, 

 volume third, p^ge 57, as to the best method of 

 laniting bees. My mode of procedure is tluis: 

 If the bees are in box hives, drive out the bees 

 you wish to unite, in an empty box. First, in- 

 vert tlic hive containing tlic bees, and set the 

 emptj' box on top. Tlien take two small sticks 

 or use tlie palms of your hands, (sec Lanfji^troth 

 on the Hive and Honey Bee, 'dd edition, page 

 155,) rap the sides of the hive smartly from ten 

 to fifteen minutes, and the bees with their 

 queeu will be found clustered at the top of the 

 box. Now blow some smoke into the hive 

 with which you wish to unite them, to drive 

 the bees up among the combs. Close the en- 

 trance, and drum the hive, as in the former 

 case, from three to five minutes, till a loud 

 humming islieard within. Then carefully turn 

 the hive bottom side up; take the box contain- 

 ing the expelled bees, and shake them into the 

 inverted hive; set tlie latter right side up, and 

 the work is done. Tt may be well to look at 

 them ten or twenty minutes afterwards; and if 

 found fighting, blow smoke into the hive for a 

 minute or two, which will give them all ou(i 

 scent, and they will mingle without further 

 trouble. But when the work is properly per- 

 formed, this latter operation is seldom rec^uired. 



Where movable comb hives are used, the 

 operation is cjuickly performed. First blow 

 smoke into each hive. Close the entrance, and 

 drum them as above directed until the bees 

 have filled themselves with honey, which will 

 be in four or five minutes. Remove the honey- 

 board from each hive, lift out the combs from 

 the hive you wish to unite, and shake the bees 

 olT on tlie top of the frames of the other hive; 

 close the hive, and your work is done. 



Henry S. Lee. 



EVANSBURG, Pa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Raising Queens. 



[For the American Bee .Tournal.] 

 Italian Bees and Red Clover. 



I cannot make my bees raise queens from 

 worker eggs, with any degree of certainty. 

 Does it make any difference whether the eggs 

 are in new or old comb? 



Last spring I forced a swarm from a frame 

 hive, giving the swarm two sheets of brood 

 comb, and set the old hive on the stand of a 

 strong stock, which I removed. They did not 

 build any queen cells, though I gave them a 

 sheet of comb containing eggs, at lour different 

 times without success. At last I gave them a 

 sealed queen cell on Friday, and on Monday 

 following — in three days — the queen had laid a 

 circle of some four or five inches of worker 

 eggs. It is now the best stock I have; but it 

 gave me no surplus honey. 



The forced swarm swarmed twice. 



What was the cause of the failures? 



C. T. Adams. 



West Medway, Mass. 



In reply to the question — " Has any one not 

 raising queens for sale ever had Italian bees to 

 work freely on red clover?" — proposed by Mr. 

 McCune in the Bee Jouunai,, vol. 3, page 58, 

 Mr. Long says, on page 75, '" 1 propose to an- 

 swer this question to his entire satisfaction. 

 Mr. Laugstroth reciuested Mr. R., myself, and 

 several others, to step into his clov(!r patch, 

 which was close at liand, and satisfy ourselves 

 on the subject. We did so, and found the 

 Italians working upon the bloom, without see- 

 ing a single black bee." 



Mr. L may have answered Mr. McCune's 

 question, but the answer is not entirely salia- 

 factor)^ to me. Are there any black bees in 

 Mr. Laugstroth's neighborhood? Mr. L. is en- 

 gaged ill the sale of ciueens. If he rears his 

 own queens, supplying his cu.Stomers with a 

 pure article, he must of necessity have first 

 Italianized all the bees in his immediate vi- 

 cinity; in which case there would have been 

 no black bees to work on red clover. The 

 Italians will ]irobably sometimes work on red 

 clover, and so will the natives; but will they 

 work on the red clover when the natives will 

 not? Will they collect and store fjny more 

 honcj^ in a season, than the natives, in conse- 

 quence of their superior ability to collect it from 

 red clover? To many of the readers of the 

 Journal this question may seem of little cou- 

 secjuencc; but to beekeepers residing in locali- 

 ties where the main dependence lor bee pas- 

 turage is white clover, with but little of that, 

 and where ttiey are surrounded by large fields 

 of red clover, it is of considerable importance; 

 and some of them at least, before purchasing 

 the long-billed variety, wish to know \.\ie facts. 

 If tlie statements made by most of those who 

 are engaged in the sale of queens were accepted 

 as evitleuce upon this point, the proof would 

 be conclusive. Mr. Quinby, in "Beekeeping 

 Explained," new pages 311 and 312, says : '■ I 

 had two colonies nearly all changed, several 

 hybrids, and a number in which I had just in- 

 troduced the queeas. I had about sixty native 

 colonies, and all Italians marked with the yel- 

 low stripe, which would have made about three 

 good swarms, in one apiary. White clover was 

 blossoming in abundance and the early red or 

 pure clover in small ciuaiitities. Here was a 

 chance to see if thc^y frequented the red clover 

 more than the natives. I found nine Italians 

 to two natives on this plant. The two excep- 

 tions might have been black hybrids." In a 

 note, at the bottom of page 313, he further says: 

 "This was important to me. If the honey 

 from white clover could sustain sixty or eighty 

 colonies, that from the red would sustain nearly 

 as many more, and I could krep double the num- 

 ber each y'ar." In his circular for 18G7, he 

 also says: "/ have no opportunity to see them 

 tcork on red clover, as little is raised in this vi- 

 cinity.'" What is the trouble here? Has Mr. 

 Quinby or his neighbors suddenly ceased rais- 

 ing red clover? Or has he discovered that, as 

 bee pasturage, it is of no practical value to the 



