THE AMERICAN APICULTUEIST. 



113 



for qaecn-rearing purposes, almost 

 any raw sugar will do. 



EGGS. 



You consider " The fact that 

 any worker egg will produce a 

 queen when the larva is properly 

 nursed, and also that queen cells 

 are liuilt directly upon the side of 

 a comb," upsets my theory. "Dur- 

 ing swarming time the combs are 

 loaded with brood, pollen • and 

 iione3% and the queen is hard 

 pushed for room in which to de- 

 posit eggs, etc." Why, sir, we are 

 entirely agreed about every word 

 of this if you will only say "cells 

 may be" instead of " are built up- 

 on the sides of a comb ; because I 

 find it to be the rule for them to 

 be built around the edges of a 

 comb during the swarming im- 

 j^ulse. Where do we differ? when 

 you admit that the queen lays the 

 eggs directly into the queen cups ; 

 therefore, three kinds, queen 

 worker and drone eggs respec- 

 tively. At the sanie time I have 

 not the slightest intention of say- 

 ing that a worker egg will not give 

 a queen, as that would be quite 

 contrary to my own experience. 

 All I wish to show is that each is 

 deposited with the distinct under- 

 standing that it shall develop into 

 an insect having very different 

 functions to either of the others. 



QUEEN INTRODUCTION. 



Without being too critical, I am 

 sure Mr. Cushman will allow me 

 to correct him upon one or two 

 points. For instance, mentioning 

 one method of direct introduction 

 followed by myself he gives one 

 part of much im\:)ortance. " The 

 queen is first kept warm, and 

 alone without food for thirty min- 

 utes," but he omits the grand 

 point, which is to " insert the 

 queen under a quilt after darkness 

 has set in." Daylight, or even 

 twilight will noti do ; whereas the 



former tinie takes the bees at !i 

 complete disadvantage. Indeed. 

 one of our noted beekeepers, well 

 known to yourselves, sa3's that the 

 bees are simply " fooled" by this 

 plan. It provides for every con- 

 dition that can be named, wliethei- 

 the stock has been long quecnless 

 or oidy recentl}' made so. 



INTRODUCING TO CONFINED BKKS. 



My first notice of this was given 

 in tiie American Bee Journal sev- 

 eral years since. I had long made 

 a practice of making up small lots 

 of bees to send away with newly 

 arrived queens; and being i)laceil 

 with the strangers at the moment 

 of closing the package none of the 

 queens were ever molested. This 

 save<l me mucli time in place of 

 preliminary introduction, and I 

 then resolved to adopt the same 

 for ordinary use in the apiary. 

 For this purpose I believe that em- 

 inent writer, Mr. G. M. Doolittle, 

 first shakes the bees Into a box 

 without combs, gives them the 

 queen and in due course puts the 

 bees ijaek on to combs again to 

 form his nucleus. 



This appears all too much labor 

 to me and I could not afford the 

 time to do it. My own plan is 

 simply to make up a three-frame 

 nucleus of brood, combs and bees, 

 shaking none whatever from their 

 combs. Give plenty of ventila- 

 tion in dark, cool room, insert the 

 queen, and on the third day tliere 

 is your nucleus ready to stand any- 

 where you desire, while in the 

 meantime the queen has laid many 

 eggs. Receiving as I do, as many 

 as twenty-five to thirty impoited 

 queens at a time, they are very 

 soon placed in comfortable rpiar- 

 ters in this manner. They aic 

 given a fair chance without l)eing 

 overworked and are ready for cus- 

 tomers without having interfered 

 with queens presiding over Hour- 

 ishinu' colonies. 



