134. 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec, 



Thus it appears that if fiiend Bickford. or any 

 one else, had obtained a patent for this invention. 

 Mr. A. B. C, or Mr. O. P. Q., might come for- 

 ward, contesting his claim to the originality of 

 the 'new manufacture," and show that he 

 could at most have only the merit of being the 

 mere t e-intro ticer of the convenient little ante- 

 frizzier.- Alas, there is positively nothing now 

 under the sun, nowadays. We knew an old 

 hidy — a most excellent good-natured and kind- 

 hearted lady, we remember she was — who having 

 no gloves, always used her apron to protect her 

 hands irom the roughness of the brush-handle. 

 Yet not h)ng since a shrewd Yankee, with an 

 eye to business, contrived a neat though some- 

 what fantastic pinafore for the same purpose ; 

 and souglit to get a patent for it as " a new and 

 useful invention I" What new thing conies next? 

 Nobody, in these latter days inv'tUs anything — 

 that's a settled if not conceded point. They 

 merely inirodure new "notions;" and queer 

 notions some of them are found to be on in- 

 spection. 



But — revnons a non 'inovtons — we have no 

 doubt that the snggusted use of wax, the by- 

 product of the honey bee, could still be made 

 with advantage and ])rofit — supplying to the 

 busy seamstresses of every neighborhood relief 

 from a daily felt want, in a neat and a< ceptable 

 shape, to the manofactm-e of which they would 

 gladly extend a liberal patronage. — [ Bb. 



[For the American Bi=e Jo'urual.] 



Eeniarks on Various Topics. 



Mr. Editok : — It is aboixt time for me to i enew 

 111 y subs' ription for the seventh volume of the 

 Journal; and wiiile wi'iting I will give you 

 some facts pertaining to bceculture— the honey 

 season in this locality ; the raising of queens, 

 and how I introduce them to queenless colonies, 

 and how I obtain queen cells. 



TO OBTAIN GOOD QUEEN CELLS. 



I unqueen a strong colony. In this way I get 

 cells more natural, and the best cells are always 

 at the bottf>m or lower edge of the comb, or in 

 some aperture. These cells are always longer 

 and more fully developed than those on the face 

 of the comb. Now here, friend Price has gone 

 down on artificially raised queens like a thousand 

 of brick ; yet I have llfty (^50) colonies of bees, 

 all of which have ai tillcially raised queens, and 

 some of these are tliree years old. In selecting 

 my cells for breeding V)urposes, I use only the 

 largest and best ones. There will be some found 

 not much larger than drone cells. All such I 

 throw away. Perhaps it is here that friend Price 

 has made his mistake, causing liim to condemn 

 avtiticially raised queens. Possibly, too, that 

 revolvable hive which he uses addles his queens. 

 \\ hen I tirst commenced breeding Italian queens 

 I used all the cells I could get, but soon found 

 that to be wrong, as I would always get a lot of 

 sinall short-lived queens. After discoveiing my 

 mistake, I used only thelarg st and most natural 

 shaped cells, and the queens I now raise are long- 

 lived and handsome. 



A SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE. 



I have to relate an occurrence in my apiary, 

 this season, that is rare, namely : A colony that 

 builds queen cells, and the old queen still remain- 

 ing in the hive. I opened this hive in April and 

 found sealed queen cells, and the queen in the hive 

 without a wing. I began to suspect the bees 

 were about to supersede her, though there was 

 plenty of brood in all stages, from eggs to 'hatch- 

 ing bees. She is a queen I have been breeding 

 from these three seasons. I ]>aid ten dollars for 

 her, when I bought her from Mr. Langstroth. I 

 removed the queen cells, and introduced them in 

 nuclei. In a lew days, opening the hive again, 

 J found more queen cells, and removed them also. 

 The bees kept on building queen cells, and I 

 kept on removing them as fast as they were 

 se;iled up. They have queen cells to-day, and the 

 old queen remains in the hive up to this time. 

 During Ihis period I missed removing one cell, 

 which hatched, and the young queen was killed 

 and dragged out of the hive. This is the tirst 

 case of this kind I have had ; others, perhaps, 

 have had the like, — Mr. Langstroth, possibly. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



There have been a great many different opin- 

 ions with regard to introducing queens. Queens 

 may be safely introduced at certain times, in 

 almost any way. Near swarming time, oi' when 

 bees are gathering honey rapidly, queens will be' 

 more readily received. 



I have introduced queens in different ways, 

 and under difterent circumstances. When I first 

 began to raise Italian queens, and introduced 

 them to black colonics, I was led to susj ect that 

 the bees Ind to remain without a queen six hours, 

 and first become conscious of the loss of their 

 queen, before another could be safely introduced. 

 But 1 have since found that to be unnecessary. 



In making artificial swarms, before closing up 

 the hive, after removing the old queen, I have 

 introduced the new queen in the old hive, some- 

 times by sprinkling with sugar water scented 

 with peppermint ; others by caging for forty- 

 eight hours ; and found them all well received. 

 Others I have left in the cage three days and 

 liberated them among the bees, after daubing 

 them with honey. These were also well re- 

 ceived. 



I find it best to make your swarms, and let the 

 old hive remain till about sun-down the same 

 day you make your swarm, or say six hours. By 

 that time the most of the old workers will leave 

 the old hive and return to the new hive on the 

 old stand. I then introduce the queen, first 

 sprinkling the bees with sugar water scented with 

 peppermint. I find they are almost invariably 

 well received, and the old hive remains without 

 a queen only a short time. 



I have introduced queens just hatched, and 

 found it could he done without any trouble. 

 When I have introduced a queen several days 

 old, the bees would at once confine and destroy 

 her. I have had the bees to confine queens after 

 they have been liberated two days and com- 

 menced laying. It appears that the bees get 

 alarmed by the opening of the hive and clincli 



