THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



167 



queenless not less than nine days and all 

 cells removed. 



Virgin queens msiy also be introduced 

 to any full colony that lias been queenless 

 nine "days after lirst cuttini;; out all cells; 

 but the younir (lueeus, if more than twelve 

 hours old, nmst, be cajied from twenty- 

 four to forty-eiiiht hours. They may be 

 introduced to nuclei in the same manner 

 but are liable to be balled when tliey 

 attempt to Jly out to mate. Probably one- 

 half to two-thirds of the queens so intro- 

 duced will be allowed to mate, the risk 

 diminishing with the strength of the nu- 

 cleus. 



The writer has tried almost every ex- 

 periment to introduce old virgin queens, 

 but with poor success except by the meth- 

 ods here given. The first is well-nigh in- 

 fallible, as it is also in the introduction of 

 laying queens. 



Ntw Fhiladelphia, 0. 



Letter from Wisconsin. 



Mrs. II. Hills. 



I am clear provoked, and may as well 

 tell the readers of the An about it; possi- 

 bly may receive a little sympathy. 



Last season, a good-natured, honest, 

 kind-hearted German beekeeper, living 

 two miles from me, began to vi.sit my api- 

 ary for the purpose of learning new plans 

 lor beekeeping. I consider it a part of my 

 business to give all the information in my 

 power, for I truly believe that a benetit 

 to one, is a benetit to all. Mr. Kohl was 

 very grateful, and even anxious to pay 

 me money for my time and information ; 

 which I decidedly refused. Then he or- 

 dered a colony of bees prepared in the 

 best possible manner for winter, at any 

 price I might name. He brought his hive 

 at mid-summer, and when I was uniting 

 colonies, after the honey-harvest was 

 over, I put two colonies in it, with forty 

 pounds of capped honey, — brood-chamber 

 contracted by division-board, about one- 

 quarter. He to(jk home the colony the 

 first of November, and tilled up, at that 

 time, the emjity quarter of the brood- 

 chamber, with combs of iioney, purchased 

 of me.' I weighed his hive before putting 

 in the bees, and we weighed it when he 

 took it home, deducted weight of hive, 

 and he paid me ten cents a pound for the 

 contents. 



So far, so good. To-day, April 9, he 

 came and told me of the fate of his bees. 

 Says he packed them on summer-stand, 



with four inches of chaff all around them, 

 as he did his other half-dozen colonies. 

 Nimu that colony of bees— which he took 

 home in such line shape, and just crowded 

 full of bees, as one ndght say — has not a 

 double handful of bees iu it, while all the 

 others appear, he says, to be in good con- 

 dition, including even a quite small one, 

 which he bought of me, at the same time 

 he took the heavy one, and at the same 

 rates. 



He says there is abundance of honey 

 left in the heavy colony, but most of it, 

 he says, is "hart." Now what made that 

 honey candy? It was exactly the same 

 honey that I was placing in my own hives, 

 and not one of my colonies has even 

 thoxujlit of dying, that I know of, neither 

 in cellar, or on summer-stand. Perhaps 

 I ought not to make quite so sweeping a 

 statement, for just one, very heavy one, 

 had to be got out of the cellar the first of 

 March, as a good many bees appeared to 

 be dying. I opened it, but did not notice 

 any candied honey. They were great rob- 

 bers last fall, and I thought they might 

 have brought in something injurious; so 

 when taken from the cellar, they were giv- 

 en a card of nice white clover honey, ex- 

 tra, to make sure. They are yet dying off 

 some, but a good heavy colony enough, 

 after all the loss. 



But to the matter in hand. I could not 

 let things go in that way with Mr. Kohl; 

 so this morning gave him another good 

 colony. He did not ask nor expect it, of 

 course, and says he shall pay for it; but 

 I do not wish him to pay for it and shall 

 take nothing, but I am "mad" about it all 

 the same. It is so provoking that that 

 honey should candy! I cannot help think- 

 ing there is something wrong in his man- 

 agement, and he by no means denies it, 

 but says he hopes to learn good manage- 

 ment But why should the small colony, 

 which I let him have, do so well? AVell, 

 I prepared one for neighbor Crocker, at 

 the same time and in the same manner and 

 for the same price; and he put it in his 

 cellar the middle of November, and has 

 not looked at his bees since that date. 

 Said he should get them out to-day, and I 

 am going straight up there, and see if he 

 has clone so. I prepared one for the min- 

 ister, in the same way, except that it had 

 chatf division-boards at the sides of the 

 L. frames. Not understanding just when 

 he ought to get it home, he failed to take 

 it until so late in the season that it wag 

 thought best to leave it where it was un- 

 til spring, which was accordingly done, 

 merely putting on the upper story and fill- 

 ing the same with blankets and cushions; 

 and it is now iu fine condition. 



