THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



159 



one to tlie other, two queens will live without 

 quarreling. 



In such a case, however, each apartment is a 

 hive, and as really so as if they were separated 

 six feet apart. Now, hollows in trees are so 

 formed that two colonics may exist in very close 

 proximity to one another, so much so as to ap- 

 pear as one colony, when taken up by a careless 

 observer. But I do not feel disposed to account 

 for the two queens in the instance related by 

 friend Gallup upon the ground of there being 

 two colonics in his log, althougli he did not give 

 the length. I would account for the two queens 

 in this way. The old queen was becoming un- 

 fertile, and the workers either from learning the 

 fact or instinctively knowing it, set to work and 

 developed another queen. 



True to their nature, a portion of the ))ees 

 guarded the old queen, who being unable to fly, 

 still remained in the hive or log, and if the guard 

 did not forsake her, would have done so until 

 she died. The young and fertile queen, however, 

 would be the real queen of the colony, the old 

 and unfertile queen having been turned off to 

 die, by all the workers save a few who, out of a 

 natural respect for old age, kindly fed and nursed 

 her for a brief time, till the life lamp expired. 

 Who, however, on account of such an exception, 

 is authorized to say that two queens are allowed 

 in one colony? Nor does it appear strange when 

 understood. J. H. Thomas. 



Brooklyn, Ontario. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Italianizing Black Bees in Box Hives. 



As my method of doing this is different from 

 all those practiced by others, which I have be- 

 come acquainted with, I take the liberty of com- 

 municating it. 



A week or so before swarming time, I drum 

 out what is called a forced swarm, set it in place 

 of the old stock, and remove the latter to a new 

 place. I then inseit the cage containing the 

 Italian queen between two brood combs, and 

 liberate her on the evening of the third day. 



I have introduced a great number of queens in 

 box hives, in this way, without losing a single 

 one. 



The case is very different if a queen is to be in- 

 troduced late in the season, when there is no 

 honey to be gathered. Then it is necessary to 

 wait from twelve to twenty-four hours, after re- 

 moving the black queen, before the Italian can 

 be put in caged; and she should not be liberated 

 in less than a week. 



Bees will sometimes receive a stranger queen, 

 uncaged, twenty-four hours after losing their 

 queen; and sometimes they will not receive her 

 in less than a week. During a good yield of 

 honey it is not at all difficult to introduce (jueens. 

 They may then be inserted, caged, tiie moment 

 the other queen is removed, and liberated in 

 forty-eight or seventy-two hours, botli in box 

 hives and movable frame hives, and scarcely ever 

 will a queen be killed. But experience has 

 taught me that this cannot be done in October. 



Jefferson, (Wis.) A. Grimm. 



[For the Americaa Bee Journal.] 



The Italian Bees and Red Clover. 



Mr. Editor: — I have been a reader of the 

 Bee Journal only for the last six months, but 

 have become quite int'srested in its contents, and 

 propose, with your permission, to add my mite. 



One year ago last July, I procured from Mr. 

 Langstrodi an Italian ([ueen, and started last 

 spring with eight stocks, all in the Langstroth 

 hive. Seven of these were hybrids, and the 

 other contained the Langstroth queen. These 

 bees have done better for me, thus far, than the 

 black bees ever did. I have now sixteen good 

 colonies, and took during the summer over three 

 liundred (oOO) pounds of cap honey, besides 

 nearly one hundred pounds in racks. Most of 

 the latter I may have to return in early spring. 

 I will mention in particular one of my stocks. 

 I divided it on the 1st of June, gave to each half 

 a rack or two of emptj^ comb, and in a few days 

 to the queenless half a mature queen. Tliese 

 two hives yielded just one hundred pounds of 

 box honey, and are both in good case for winter. 



I have to-day received the January number of 

 the Bee Journal, and will deviate somewhat 

 from the course marked out in my own mind 

 when I began to pen this article, in order to be 

 a witness to '-Victim" and others in regard to 

 the ability of these bees to work on red clover. 

 I flatter myself that, in some respects, my evi- 

 dence will go further with these brethren than 

 even that of Mr. Langstroth. I have been a 

 minister of the gospel for the last twenty years, 

 and the settled pastor of the congregation in 

 which I now live for the last nineteen years. 

 My people being mostly farmers, and my imper- 

 fect health requiring me to live much in jthe open 

 air, I have given considerable attention to gar- 

 dening, fruit culture, and bee keeping — all for 

 my own comfort and that of my family. 



I reared four young Italian queens this sum- 

 mer for neighbors, at their especial request, and 

 have no idea, while I have ability to preach, of 

 going into the bee business. Both the red and 

 the white clover abound in this region. lean- 

 not now remember of having ever seen more 

 than two or three black bees alight on the for- 

 mer. Of course I will be understood as having 

 only the experience of one summer. But during 

 the first bloom of red clover, and when white 

 clover was also in bloom, I have very frequently 

 taken my friends out to my clover lot to see for 

 themselves; and on equal spaces of ground could 

 almost at any time count as many bees on the 

 red as on the white clover. This was surprising 

 to me, because Mr. Langstroth only claims for 

 them that they will work freely on the second 

 crop. Here, I coufes.s, thej- did not full}'' come 

 up to my expectations. From the great abund- 

 ance of red clover in this region, and the large 

 fields convenient to my bees being kept \xp for 

 seed, I expected that tiie bees would fill their 

 honey boxes from it. But, though busy all the 

 time on it and other fall flowers, I could not in- 

 duce them to store honey above. Satisfied that 

 they could spare some from below, quite late in 

 the seas-on, and as it proved too late for profit, I 

 opened a number of hives and took one rack of 



