THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



151 



cells, and as they saw the need of drones, 

 the idea struck nie tliat the bees liad as 

 mucli to do with the needs and desires 

 of tlie colony as the (jueens. So I ar- 

 ranged a plan hy winch I forced the young 

 queen to deposit lu-r (list eggs in drone 

 cells. Tins is how I did it. The bees 

 were removed from one of the best colo- 

 nies I had, all the combs, save one, 

 were placed in the hive again, the centre 

 or miildle comb being left out, and a nice, 

 clean frame of drone cond) was placed di- 

 rectly in the middle of the brood-cham- 

 ber. I then placed the queenless bees in 

 the hive and gave lliem a fine, young 

 queen, one of the brightest golden Ital- 

 ians I could find in the iiundreds of nucleus 

 liives in my yard. In a few days I opened 

 the hive and drew out the frame of drone 

 comb and to my surprise and great deligiit, 

 I found that nearly every cell had an egg 

 in it. Tliis comb was then removed to a 

 colony rearing queens, and the drone eggs 

 were welcomed and nursed by the queen- 

 less bees. Another frame of drone comb 

 was placed in the hive with the young 

 queen and more drone eggs were obtained, 

 and thus the supply was kept up for the 

 season with little or no trouble. 



I believe nearly all the bee-books con- 

 tain the statement tiiat young queens will 

 not deposit drone eggs the first year of 

 their existence. This statement is handed 

 down from one author to another, not one 

 of them knowing tiiat such is not a fact. 

 Very few authors of i)ee-books have had 

 experience covering all points in beekeep- 

 ing, hence the reason why wrong state- 

 ments and quotations are made and go the 

 rounds. 



One other experiment to obtain drone 

 eggs resulted in a failure. I really sup- 

 posed I had so arranged some combs that 

 only drones could be reared, but the little 

 rascals were too smart forme and my plans 

 were upset. An old queen and several 

 quarts of bees were placed in a hive hav- 

 ing six frames containing drone comb 

 only, and I supposed, of course, that the 

 bees must rear drones and nothing else. I 

 watched the process day by day and had 

 the satisfaction of seeing an egg in most 

 of the cells; the little worm or grub was 

 nursed, and finally the cells were sealed 

 over, but not as drone cells are usually 

 capped with a projecting round cap; 

 the capping was as smooth on the face of 

 the comb as any worker brood, and worker 

 brood was all the cells contained. Well, 

 I was beaten, disappointed and disgusted, 

 as well. Just then another idea struck 

 me. I began to think I liad hit upon a 

 plan to rear worker bees as large as drone 

 bees. The workers hatched in due time, but 

 they were no larger than any other bees, 



and I had the labor for my pains, except 

 the results of the experiment to pay me. 

 Some one will say " why didn't the bees 

 rear drones the same as in tlie first case 

 given?" The reason is this: The bees 

 used in the first experiment had been 

 queenless several days, while the bees 

 used in the last experiment had not been. 

 Does the reader see the point? 



No one can know these things without 

 actual experience and well conducted ex- 

 periments. We nmst experiment or be 

 governed by theory. I like to go to the 

 bottom of all such things, and then wiien 

 a statement is made the actual facts are 

 at hand to back them up. No author 

 should make statements that he is uncer- 

 tain about. A standard work on any sub- 

 ject should contain actual facts and those 

 founded upon experience. 



Finding a qua en. 



Many beekeepers write us th<at they 

 would like to introduce an Italian queen 

 if they could only find the one in the hive. 

 There are several ways to find the queen 

 of any colony. A black queen in a black 

 colony is the hardest to find (except a vir- 

 gin (jueen) and an Italian (jueen, even in a 

 colony of golden Italian bees, is the easi- 

 est to find. The heavy, rich golden color 

 of a large, yellow queen is easily distin- 

 guished from the small, striped bees that 

 compose the colony. 



The following is the easiest way I know 

 of for the novice to proceed : Take a 

 hive, exactly like the one the bees are in, 

 place it on the ground or on a large cloth 

 (a horse blanket will do), then place a 

 drone-and-qiieen trap at the entrance of 

 it and close any other holes the queen 

 might pass through. Now, all is ready; 

 smoke the bees, take out tlie frames one 

 at a time and examine them carefully for 

 the queen as they are removed ; if not 

 found, shake the bees from the comb ia 

 front of the hive on the ground and place 

 each comb in the hive as examined. Con- 

 tinue to do so until all the combs are out 

 and have been looked over. If the queen 

 is not found close the hive and with the 

 use of the smoker drive the bees in, and 

 at the same time look sharp for the queen. 

 She will, most likely, be found in a very 

 few moments trying to pass through the 

 metal of the trap. 



I believe the above is the surest, quick- 

 est and easiest way for the novice to find 

 a queen. 



This work must not be done in the mid- 

 dle of the day, unless the bees are gath- 

 ering honey, or robbing may be induced. 

 Do it just about sunset. If too late to 



