1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



45 



but sally forth only to return to the 

 exact spot where they first marked their 

 home, there to die a homeless wanderer. 

 Now while, as a rule, this is perfectly 

 true, no matter whether the hive is 

 moved at night or in the daytime, yet I 

 find that there are two exceptions, one 

 of which is in the case of a swarm and 

 the other is their first flights in the 

 spring. While the bees always seem to 

 know where their old location was. so 

 that the swarm or bees, in the spring can 

 return if they desire to, still a swarm 

 does not so desire, except from loss of 

 (lueen. nor do the bees in the spring, if 

 set out in the following manner, which 

 is the wav I always do it : 



I first light my smoker and proceed 

 with it and a spring wheelbarrow to the 

 cellar door, at which place both are left, 

 when I go in and get one of the colonies 

 and place it on the barrovi'. As soon as 

 this is done I puff a little smoke in at the 

 entrance of the hive, so as to keep the 

 bees from running out and stinging me 

 or getting lost, which they are sure to do 

 if no precaution is taken ; and of all the 

 bees to sting, such bees as are suddenly 

 awakened from a long winters nap, are 

 the worst. Then, all such bees as go out 

 before the hive is placed upon its stand 

 are lost, as they mark their location 

 wiiere they leave the hive, inid >o never 

 find it again. Also, the smoking causes 

 them to be slower about coming out, so 

 tliat swarming out and confusion are 

 avoided. As soon as the smoke is puffed 

 into tiie hive, the cellar door is shut 

 (having an assistant to close it would be 

 still better) so as not to raise the temper- 

 ature and thus arouse the bees inside. 

 The hive is then wheeled to where it is 

 to stand in the summer, the entrance 

 adjusted and the outside cover put on. 

 In setting out I do not carry all out at 

 one time, but I set out ten to twenty 

 in the morning, scatttering them well 

 over the yard, and then as many more in 

 the afternoon, commencing at from two 

 to three o'clock, according to the warmth 

 of the day. setting last about amongst 



those set out in the morning. In this 

 way all robbing and mixing of bees is 

 avoided. Of course, it is understood that 

 the bees are only set out on pleasant days, 

 with the murcury at fifty degrees or more 

 above in the shade. 

 Borodino. N. Y. 



SOME QUEENS I KNEW. 



BV .1. O. GRIMSLEY. 



THE loafer at the crossroads store 

 makes his appearance with perfect 

 regularity and, taking his seat on 

 the dry goods box which he occupied the 

 day before, proceeds, after giving his 

 jack-knife a few " whets" across his 

 brogan, to whittle in the same notch. 

 So here I am on the same box — Some 

 Queens I Knew — ready for another bout 

 at carving. 



When one turns his back on the fut- 

 ure and begins looking backward, as a 

 usual thing he is in a bad row of stumps; 

 but there are times when a glance back- 

 ward has quite a different effect to what 

 it did on Lot's wife. We bee-keepers 

 especially are greatly benefitted many 

 times by a glance backward. 



Often do I think of this when a cer- 

 tain queen I knew comes to my 

 mind, and I can but wonder at what 

 the future may prove. This queen was 

 one 1 purchased from an Arkansas 

 breeder, and was highly recommended. 

 The man I bought her of said she was a 

 tested breeder and that her colony had 

 stored already 120 pounds of honey in 

 sections that season, and there was an- 

 other case nearly ready to take. We 

 must admit that 144 pounds of section 

 honey is no bad record. The price 

 agreed upon was $6; and the queen was 

 successfully introduced to a full colony 

 in my apiary. Imagine my surprise 

 when her bee>; began to show up very 

 irregular in color. "Tested as a breeder," 

 but surely, such a queen could not pro- 

 duce uniform royal offspring. Her bees 

 while being very irregular in color, were 

 all three-banded. Some would show 

 the three bands onlv when filled with 



