441 



Queens reared from eggs or larvse kept 

 from the bees for any length of time, not 

 only makes them remain in the capped cell, 

 but makes them longer about mating and 

 laying, and though they are rather slow 

 layers, they keep steadily at their business, 

 and close watching seems to make no per- 

 ceptible difference with them ; and I cannot 

 see that they are in any way less valuable 

 than other queens. Drones act consider- 

 ably more sluggish when reared from larvse 

 or eggs kept long from the hive. From 24 to 

 72 hours keeping of eggs seems to make no 

 perceptible difference ; but when more than 

 72 hours out of the hive, they are longer 

 hatching. 



Capped worker brood has gnawed out at 

 58°, but were very weak and soon died. 

 Drones emerging at the same temperature, 

 when put into a nucleus, appeared as lively 

 as any others, and seemed to live as long. 



Queens emerging at a lower temperature 

 than 65° to 75° never mated, and often died 

 within 36 hours after gnawing out. 



Queens that were hatched away from the 

 bees and kept away from them, except 3 or 

 4 put in the cage to feed them, and kept in 

 a dark warm place till 4 or 5 days old, and 

 then put on a frame of hatching brood, 

 were invariably mated the second or third 

 day after, if it was at all, clean through the 

 last of June, July and August, and a less 

 proportion will be lost, than if reared in the 

 ordinary way in a nucleus. 



Woodbury, Conn., Sept. 20, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Uniting and Introducing. 



C. W. TAYLOR. 



As the season for uniting bees is now 

 at hand, it may not be amiss to suggest 

 to some of the younger contributors of 

 the Journal, that if they will use a 

 spare hive to put their united colonies 

 in, they will find the operation to be 

 much simplified. It places the bees all 

 on the same footing, and I have found 

 them much more inclined to be peace- 

 able. If there is anything that will 

 rouse the ire of a bee, it is, having his 

 domicile invaded, or intruded upon, by 

 his neighbor. I give the bees a good 

 smoking, and allow them to till them- 

 selves, and I keep each set of frames 

 on its own side of the new hive, and 

 allow the bees to mingle at their lesiure. 

 Should entrance blocks have been used, 

 I take one block belonging to each of 

 the old hives and place it on the side of 

 the new hive to which it corresponds, 

 and clear away all the rest of the old 

 material out of sight and scent of new 

 colony. If the operation has been care- 

 fully conducted, there will scarcelybe a 

 t)66 killed. 



It is curious that the use of the Ly- 

 coperdon, or Puff -Ball which was so 

 much in vogue some 20 years or more 

 ago, both for uniting bees and introduc- 



ing queens, has been so entirely dis- 

 continued. This disuse has arisen from 

 the fear of foul- brood. That it could be 

 so used as to cause foul-brood I have no 

 doubt ; but it is equally evident that 

 there can be no foul-brood in a hive 

 when there is no brood in a condition 

 to be fouled and it is only in such a 

 case that I would advise any one to ex- 

 periment with it. Mr. Langstroth was 

 the first person who called my attention 

 to it, many years ago, and I used it 

 quite freely for a time, and I believe I 

 never failed in introducing a queen 

 with it. When I used it I labored 

 under difficulties, and I had no Bingham 

 smoker by which the dose can be 

 adjusted to a nicety. I had to take out 

 half the frames from the hive to adjust 

 an apparatus in one corner to hold a 

 live coal or two, or a piece of rotten- 

 wood, which I covered with wire to 

 keep the bees from getting into it. Now 

 there is nothing of the kind needed. 

 All that is necessary is to see that the 

 hive contains no queen and no young 

 unsealed brood. Then I smoke 

 thoroughly until the bees begin to drop 

 from the frames. As soon as they have 

 fallen to the bottom of the hive, I dip 

 the queen to be introduced in honey, 

 and place her between the frames in the 

 center of the hive. This is for the 

 sake of any bees that may have been 

 outside during the smoking, but the 

 odor is so powerful and so penetrating 

 that she will soon acquire the scent. 

 It should be borne in mind, that there is 

 nothing poisonous about the Lycoper- 

 don. It is powerfully intoxicating, and 

 in its effects can be placed somewhere 

 between alcohol and opium, it is not 

 exactly either, but resembles both. I 

 know that for a little while after the 

 operation the bees are about as cross as 

 an old toper is after he has been indulg- 

 ing in a spree, and woe to the robber bee 

 that alights near them, as they are 

 coming out of the hive after their 

 smoke. There are whole nations in 

 Asia who make use of the Lycoperdon 

 for its intoxicating effects. They 

 smoke it in their pipes mixed with 

 tobacco, and also manufacture a drink 

 from it. It is also claimed for it, that 

 when taken at a proper age and sliced 

 and fried in butter that it makes a dish 

 superior to mushrooms. I think that at 

 this season of the year, after the queen 

 has done laying and when robber bees 

 are plenty and always on the lookout, it 

 will be found to be very valuable, as it 

 can be used from now until mid-winter. 

 I never was so simple 'as to use the 

 article in warm weather when the hive 

 was crowded with young brood, and I 

 do not suppose that any one who 



