THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



65 



is a better hive for A. I. Root tliau 

 the hive Mr. Doolitlle uses. 



There are many men and as 

 many minds on the best liives. 

 There are but few poor hives in 

 the hands of successful apiarists. 



ANSWERS BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. No. Ventilate by enlarging 

 or contracting the entrance. 



2. Consider them only a peace- 

 able strain of the black bee. 



3. Prefer swarming to non- 

 swarming. 



4. I think so. I use the Gallup 

 frame. 



FINDING A QUEEN. INTRODUCING A 



QUEEX AT SWARMING TIME. SAVING 



CELLS FROM A COLONY THAT HAS 



SWARMED. 



Query "No, 15, 1- How c.nn a full 

 slock be induced to find a queen for you? 



2. Just after a swarm has departed 

 will tlie bees accept a queen run iu at 

 the entrance ? 



3. Can a beginner wanting to raise 

 a few queens do better tliau to raise 

 tlieni from his best mothers by swarm- 

 ing impulse? C. H. B. 



ANSWERS BY R. C. TAYLOR. 



1 . Cover the entrance of the hive 

 with a piece of perforated zinc and 

 shake the bees from the combs in 

 front of the hive. The workers 

 will enter the hive, while tlie queen 

 will be excluded by the zinc. 



2. They will generally accept a 

 virgin queen. 



3. No. 



ANSWERS BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. I generally find the queen my- 

 self. 



2. Not often in mv yard. 



3. No. 



ANSWERS BY A. E. MANUM. 



I. By shaking all the bees out on 

 a woollen blanket spread over a shal- 

 low box (say the cap to an L. hive), 

 then wait and watch. 



2. Yes, if a virgin queen ; and 

 sometimes they will accept a fertile 

 queen, though not always. 



3. No, if you have good stock, 

 rear your own queens. 



ANSWERS BY DR. TINKER. 



1. The bees upon opening a hive 

 of shallow brood-cases will often 

 be seen to be agitated in the vicin- 

 itj' of the queen so that she is easily 

 found. I have thought the queen 

 gave a note of warning that caused 

 it. 



2. Yes, as a rule, but they will 

 often prevent the queen from tear- 

 ing down an}^ cells, the result be- 

 ing a swarm upon the piping of 

 the queen first to mature. 



3. A beginner had better rear all 

 queens in swarming time if his best 

 queens lead out swarms. But with 

 a good book on queen-rearing any 

 one can rear good queens at any 

 time in season. 



ANSWERS BY C. W. DAYTON. 



1. It cannot be done except as 

 the eye of an experienced apiarist 

 can observe the bees paying par- 

 ticular attention in the direction 

 where the queen is situated. The 

 bees may be observed to act much 

 like a flock of sheep following their 

 master. Their movements are of- 

 ten misleading and can be pro- 

 duced only under certain and per- 

 haps impractical manipulations. 



2. Sometimes that method is 

 successful and often unsuccessful, 

 1 have found it best to introduce 

 with cages under nearly all ciicum- 

 stances, and then let the queen 

 out when she does not know it. 

 It appears sometimes as though it 

 was the conduct of the queen that 

 caused trouble, other times it was 

 the bees. 



Some years it seems easy to in- 

 troduce queens in almost any way 

 we please and again it is just as 

 impossible. 



