150 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan., 



invariably more belligerent than the first cross ; 

 and I have failed to perceive in them any supe- 

 rior qualities Avhich the pure Italians do not 

 possess in larger measure. 



I have some curiosity to know how Mr. Wright 

 has ascertained that his mongrel race are greatly 

 superior to the pure Italians in their range of 

 fli-ht and acuteness of scent ! I have several 

 colonies now, a majority of which are some- 

 what less than half Italian. They have received 

 pure Italian queens this fall, and within a few 

 days the pure Italians in those hives have been 

 bringing in loads of pollen, procured somewhere, 

 I know not wliere nor from what, while only now 

 and then does one of the mongrels bring in any- 

 thing ; and yet the latter outnumber the former 

 perhaps live to one. This fact (and it has been 

 ascertained by careful observation), would seem 

 to place the pure Italians ahead in acuteness of 

 scent or range of flight, or in something equally 

 important. If Mr. Wright, by some lucky acci- 

 dent, has hit upon a cross which possesses 

 superior qualities, which qualities can be perpetu- 

 ated, I shall be glad to know and acknowledge it; 

 and Avill be glad to procure a queen of him. Bvit 

 I apprehend that he will find that he has been 

 hasty in his conclusions. It may be well for 

 him to continue bis experiment in that direction, 

 and report results of more extended observa- 

 tion. 



M. Mahin. 



licw Castle, Ind., Nov. 2, 1871. 



[Far the American Bee Journal.] 



Introducing Queens. 



Bince I commenced to raise queens I have 

 tested many methods for introducing them to full 

 colonies. Last season I introduced a good many 

 queens successfully in every case, in a simple 

 and easy way ; and I have no doubt others can 

 do it equally well. Mj new method is this: 

 Remove the queen from the hive to be re-queened 

 (and it matters not what kind of hive the bees 

 are in— whether with frames, or without frames). 

 Three days later, fumigate all the bees with to- 

 bacco smoke, or wet them down with sweetened 

 water, scented with essence of peppermint. Then 

 introduce the queen at once, and she will be 

 kindly received. Remember, the time for leav- 

 ing the hive queenless is tJiree dai/s, and not 

 longer, while the hive contains brood. As soon 

 as the queen is introduced the bees will cease to 

 work upon the queen cells, and none of them will 

 be capped over. In a few hours after the queen 

 is introduced, eggs can be found in the cells. 



I introduced a few queens last season, without 

 first removing the queen from the hive to be re- 

 queened. I cannot recommend it as a safe way 

 in all cases ; but perhaps by giving this method 

 a trial, a way for introducing queens safely, 

 without first removing the queens, may be dis- 

 covered. The theory is this : most beekeepers 

 know that when a queen has been caged or re- 

 moved from her colony three or four days, that 

 she is then not more than half as large as she is 

 when in a full stock, laying two thousand eggs 



a day. Well, we should say that she is in good 

 fighting trim, or much more so than a queen that 

 is in a full stock, and laying her two thousand 

 eggs jier day, with her aljdomen full of eggs, &c. 

 Now, if we can introduce a strange queen (one 

 that has not been in a full colony for three or 

 four days) by cheating the bees, so that they will 

 not know one queen from another, as I do when 

 I introduce with tobacco smoke, we shall have 

 two queens in one hive, and if they happen to 

 meet in "mortal combat" in the course of a few 

 hours after the queen is introduced, it will be 

 seen at once that the strange queen has the ad- 

 vantage over her antagonist (the old queen), as 

 her condition is much the best for fighting, she 

 not being burdened with thousands of eggs. 



I was successful in three cases. In the fourth 

 case the bees kept the two queens for ten days, 

 and the one introduced was missing one day 

 when I looked to see how they were getting 

 along togetlier. The queens introduced had 

 their wings clipped, and thus I could distinguish, 

 one from the other. I hope some of your read- 

 ers will more fully test this plan next season. 

 My plan for introducing with tobacco smoke was 

 given in the Journal for July last. 



It seems Alley is not the only man who makes 

 a "smoke house" of his beehives and "vomits 

 his bees to death" (See Amer. Bee Journal for 

 November, page 98). I wondered why it was 

 that your correspondents so misconstrued what 

 I said about giving bees tobacco smoke. One of 

 them recommended giving bees chloroform in- 

 stead of tobacco smoke. Well, I am of the 

 opinion that not many readers of the Journal 

 took much stock in the chloroform concern. I 

 have used tobacco smoke for twelve years in 

 liandling bees, and never saw any ill effects re- 

 sulting from it yet. 



I still have anotlierway of introducing queens. 

 It is not original with me. I got it from Mr. 

 George S. Wheeler, of New Ipswich, N. H. Mr. 

 W. removes the queen, and then crushes her,_ 

 and daubs the queen to be introduced with the 

 dead body of the one removed. He says he has 

 been successful in every case. I tried it on one 

 queen, and did not succeed. I found the bees 

 going through. the hugging process, and so re- 

 moved the queen, and introduced her success- 

 fully three days later. 



Many beekeepers have an idea that queens can 

 be introduced only during warm weather. This 

 is not the case. I introduced them late in 

 October, and have introduced one since Novem- 

 ber came in. 



H. Alley. 



Wenham, Nov. 8, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Eggs laid in Queen Cells by the Queens. 



Mr. Editor :— I see on page 139, December 

 number of the Journal, a circumstance re- 

 lated by Mr. Grimm, of his seeing a queen 

 withdrawing her abdomen from a queen cell and 

 finding an egg in it ; and also some editorial 

 remarks in regard to the shape of the cell, *S:o 



