56 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



in their hives (during the eight days 

 the young queens are flymg) with 

 drone-guards. 



It is true the drones and queens 

 originating from the same Itahan 

 queen are akin, but no harm will re- 

 sult in this case, and it is "Hobson's 

 choice" any way, and besides it is im- 

 possible for a drone and queen to be 

 nearer than half brother and sister, 

 because the poor drones never had 

 any father. If everything is all 

 right we may expect to find eggs on 

 the fourteenth day from hatching, 

 but should none be found by the 

 twentieth day we had better give 

 them another ripe queen cell. 



Now, unless we are shrewd, we shall 

 find it well nigh impossible to hunt 

 up and kill the twenty black queens 

 (or even one for that matter), and I 

 would suggest the following plan : 

 place an empty comb or a full sheet 

 of foundation in each colony. In 

 from three to five days open care- 

 fully and remove said comb, and we 

 may expect to find the queen upon 

 it : if not, repeat the operation next 

 day. 



The queen cells should be handled 

 carefully and guarded from the bees 

 with a wire cloth shield as follows : 

 Cut a circular piece about four inches 

 in diameter and mould it over the 

 end of the forefinger into a cone 

 large enough to contain a cell. Pierce 

 the apex with a lead pencil for the 

 queen to escape from, place therein 

 the cell and plug up the large end so 

 the bees cannot get access to the 

 cell except at the small end. Place 

 the cell thus prepared where the 

 bees can cover it freely and all will 

 be well. Otherwise many of the 

 cells will be destroyed and cause 

 much vexation. Of course, more or 

 less of these young queens will "turn 

 up missing," or be mismated. In 

 either case we must supply cells 

 again as before. These remarks ap- 

 ply to movable comb-hives. 

 Lynn, Mass. 



ALL WOIs^KER COMB, 

 S WARMING, AND 

 COMB HONEY. 



WiUimantic. Conn., Jan. 2. 1887. 

 Editor Amkkicax Apiculickist: 

 In yi)ur l;l^^t i-^f^ue of the '"Ai)!" 1 saw a letter 

 from I\lr. G. M. Dooliitle wlio says "when 

 swaniiin:;' time arrives 1 simply exchaiijje the 

 brood in tlie liive from \vhi('li the swarm is- 

 sues for empty frames or fi ames of founda- 

 tion (generaJly the former; tlie plan is known 

 as the Hutchinson plan altliougli it originated 

 with me) while llie swarm is in tlie air and 

 liive them on tlie returning plan." Wliat I 

 woulil like to know is, what does IMr. Doolittle 

 do will) the paient stock; also what is done 

 with the new swarm? 



I am not at all acquainted with what is 

 called the "Hutchinsou plan." I have olteu 

 read of it. 



Yours truly, 



A. T. Troavbkidge. 



ANSWEKS BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Replying to Mr. Trowbridge, per- 

 haps I cannot do better than to go 

 over the past a little and tell liow I 

 was led along to the methods I now 

 employ, so that he and other readers 

 of the Apicultukist may under- 

 stand what is known as the Hutchin- 

 son plan of workingfor eonib lioney . 

 As early as the year 1871, I began 

 to disagree with the apicultural au- 

 thorities that 2,000 or more cubic 

 inches was the proper size for a 

 brood-chamber, and especially so 

 or a new swarm, for in nearl}' all 

 eases I found that in the fail the 

 bees would have from fifteen to 

 twenty pounds of choice honey, 

 more than they needed for winter, 

 ■which honey required one-fourth 

 the room in the hive to hold it. 

 While the comb was being built for 

 this, and the hone}' stands in it, 

 the bees would not go into the sec- 

 tions of all, so that beside being in 

 an unsalable shape this honey was 

 a positive damage to me by way of 

 keei)ing the bees out of the boxes. 

 If we are to secure a good ^ield of 

 section honev, the bees must go 

 into the boxes at the commencement 

 of the honey flow, and this early 

 storing in the hive kept them from 

 so doing ; while, later on, the incli- 



