THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



203 



ditioii, lo furnish hives for the reception of 

 swarms and iirlifieial colonics. So lonj^ as a 

 couib hold up to light 13 still at least semi-trans- 

 paront, it will be serviceable in a Jiive. Such as 

 are l)lack or opaque when thus held ui), should 

 not he inserted in the brood chamber — tliou^irh 

 one placed at tiie end of a range, as a cover to 

 the rest, when tiie hive is only partially lilled, 

 will prove advantageous, if properly used. 

 Tlien when the anterior combs are supplied 

 witii eggs and brood, this comb .should be 

 drawn back sufficiently to permit an empty 

 frame to be inserted. Tlie bees, who would 

 hesitate long to pass beyond the old comb for 

 building, will speedily till the inserted frame ; 

 and the manoeuvre may tiien be repeated again 

 and again, till all the space is occupied ; after 

 which the old comb should be removed. 



7. Safe iiitrodnction of Queens. — Most bee- 

 books contain insiructions for the safe intro- 

 duction of Itahan queens. Nevcvthclcss many 

 bee-keepers, beginners espcciallj', complain of 

 ill luck in the attempt. The surest mode is 

 found to be, not to introduce the queen to the 

 bees, but, on the contrarj"-, the bees to the 

 queen. If tlie bees remain in their accustomed 

 liome, they feel like lords and masters there ; 

 and, though quecnkss, they will verj'- reluct- 

 antly accept an offered queen — much prefer- 

 ing to rear one of their own brood. The case 

 is otherwise, when they are allowed to build 

 queen cells, and all these are destroyed on the 

 ninth or tenth day, when all the brood has 

 been capped, and an Italian queen is then in- 

 troduced. But in many cases, the introduction 

 cannot conveniently be so long deferred, and I 

 then use two wire gauze caps — a larger and a 

 smaller — for the protection of the queen. If 

 possible I select a brood comb, containing a 

 few open cells with hone3^ On this I place 

 the queen, covering her with the smaller cap. 

 Over this I set the larger, broader cap, pressing 

 it down lo the septum or midde partition of the 

 comb. The cpieen is thus secure from all hos- 

 tile attacks by the workers, against which a 

 single cap does not alwaj's afford protection. 

 In the course of forty-eight hours the animosity 

 of the bees usually subsides, and I remove the 

 upper or larger cap. The other also may usu- 

 ally be removed on the following day. 



When an artiticial colony is formed, bj^ trans- 

 ferring woikers from their native hives, or by 

 taking bees from three or four stocks, and loca- j 

 ting them in a new hive, such precautions are 

 not required, when introducing a cpieen. Bees I 

 thus removed to new quarters, or brought to- 

 gether from various homes, are confused and 

 intimidated, and ready to accept a f«?rtile queen 

 when offered. Still the safer plan is alwaj's to i 

 cage her lor a time, and watch the behaviour of 

 of the bees. O. lioxnE. ; 



Altsciiau. 



[Fcir tho American Bco Journal.] 



Hivcn and Management. 



C^^Old queens, or such as are becoming su- ' 

 perannuated, not unfrcquentl}' lay a few drone \ 

 eggs in worker cells, so that drones are occa- 

 sionally found maturing amid worker brood, i 

 "When this occurs a young fertile queen should I 

 be substituted for the old one. i 



As I ])romised lo give a description of tho 

 workings of tbe hive I use, for the readers of 

 the JouuNAii, I shall commence hj saying that 

 it may not be by any means the best hive in 

 use, but as I have tried almost all forms, and 

 this proves the most satisfactory', I shall give it 

 for what it is worth. 



As I said in a previous article, if I was going 

 to winter bees out of doors, I should make the 

 hive deeper, but retain the .same form. The 

 frames, if proper care is taken in making them, 

 will hang true on the rabbetings, even though 

 twenty inches deep. But if nailed up in the 

 common hap-hazard way in the rough, they 

 will have to be fastened permanently at equal 

 distances — which I have tried and rejected long 

 ago. The shape of the hive I have given in 

 a previous number of the .Iournal ; but I have 

 a contrivance on the bottom which I have not 

 described before. Say the hive is twelve inches 

 deep, dress out your stuff twelve inches wide, 

 lacking three-eighths of an inch; rabbet out on 

 the outside at the bottom of the hive and nail 

 on a piece of hoop-iron in the rabbeting, so that 

 it will project three-eighths of an inch below 

 the hive all around. Now, when the hive is 

 set on the board, it rests on the knife-like edge 

 of the hoop-iron, and there is no possible chance 

 for a moth to hide; there is no accumulation of 

 droppings under the edge of the hive for the 

 miller to deposit her eggs in ; and with my man- 

 agement, I have not seen a moth in that kind 

 of hive in three years. I have some champered 

 to an edge at the bottom, and some with boards 

 without champering. In these hives I occasion- 

 ally llnd a moth. If, as Mr. Quinby suggests, 

 the miller deposits her eggs under the edge of 

 the hive, and the bees carry them up on their 

 feet, this hoop-iron arrangement may be a good 

 thing. I am not yet prepared to say that a hive 

 thus prepared is actuallj'' moth proof; but it is 

 certainly better than a channel to raise moths 

 in for the purpose of having the trouble of kil- 

 ling them. 



The entrance is a channel cut in the bottom- 

 board. Now, should you think an inclined 

 bottom-board is a good thing, raise the bottom- 

 board on the rear side until j^ou are satisfied 

 with it ; hut I will assure you that it is no ben- 

 efit whatever. 



If 3-ou want 3'our young queens to mate with 

 drimes of anj- particular hive, move all the rest 

 of your hives back on their bottom-boards from 

 the channel, and close the hole above with wire 

 screening. Now raise the front side of the hive 

 on a IciD-d wood wedge, just sufficient to allow 

 tlie workers to pass out and in freelj-, and so 

 that a drone cannot pass. Then j-our workers 

 have the whole length and breadth of the hive, 

 which is eighteen inches. Consequently it is 

 much better than a patent thumb-screw to reg- 

 ulate the entrance. Move the hive forward on 

 the bottom-board, and you enlarge the entrance ; 

 move it back, and the entrance is contracted, 

 to prevent the bees from clustering out. In hot 

 ^'ealher, move the hive forward over the front 



