216 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[March. 



"Well, I met the father a few days after, and 

 ■wanted him to let me seinl for the Journal 

 for him ; but, no, he could not afford it ! IVIr. 

 Editor, this was a year ago, last June. At 

 that time he had three stocks. Now they are 

 like the meat a man was trying to sell. When 

 asked, if he had killed it, he said no ! Did it die? 

 No, it just gin out! So with my neighbor's 

 bees — they ''just gin out ! " 



I have never known of a swarm of bees, in my 

 experience, to leave without clustering first ; and 

 for myself I have had no trouble in getting 

 swarms to stay, when put in a good clean hive. 



I made a slight move last summer, in the 

 Italian bee direction ; and received a queen from 

 Mr. A. Grimm, and let me here say, that I con- 

 sider him very prompt in his dealings, as I got a 

 return in one week after sending. Well, 1 got 

 m\ queen introduced iiU right, but in looking 

 through my stocks three months after, I found 

 my treasure dead on the alighting board, and 

 tlie hive left queenless. So I am set another 

 year behind in Italianizing, but intend to try 

 figain next year, if nothing liappens to prevent. 



My bees are wintering nicely so far, thanks to 

 Mr. Gallup. May his shadow never grow less. 

 How I should like to take a few lessons under 

 his guidance. 



Hoping I shall be able to increase your sub- 

 scription list before long, I remain, yours, &c. 

 Geo. T. Bdrgees. 



Lucknow, Canada, Dec. 18, 1871. 



[For tbe Americau Bee Journal.] 



Introducing a queen into a hive that has sent o£F 

 a prime swarm. 



If I remember right it is stated soinewhere in 

 the Journal that a fertile queen bee can be 

 successfully introduced into a hive that has 

 given a prime swarm, if this be done at the mo- 

 ment M'lieu swarming has ceased. I tried re- 

 peatedly to introduce fertile queens three days 

 after swarming, keeping them caged the pre- 

 vious three days ; and though I destroyed every 

 queen cell before liberating my queens, 1 lost 

 them in every instance where I had not re- 

 moved the parent stock to a new location. 

 Only when 1 waited till the seventh day after 

 swarming, destroyed all the queen cells, and the 

 queens already hatched, (if any) likewise, and 

 then delayed six hours longer, could 1 succeed 

 invariably by simply liberating the queen at the 

 entrance of the hive. 



Last summer I tried the method claimed to 

 be uniformly successful, and have to report that 

 I failed four times out of six. Only two queens 

 were accepted, and the two stocks that accepted 

 them, proved to be as productive in Surplus 

 honey as other strong stocks that had given no 

 swarms ; while the lour that killed the offered 

 queens and gave no second swarm, gave me no 

 box-honey at all. I cannot estimate the value 

 of a fertile queen thus successfully introduced 

 in the first half of the month of June, at less 

 than seven or eight dollars. But if ■« e should 



always lose four out of six queens, it would in 

 the end be a poor speculation to introduce fer- 

 tile queens into hives that have given prime 

 natural swarms. I suspect that others had 

 better success, or they would have reported 

 their failures. I report my experience only to 

 caution others not to risk valuable queens in 

 this manner as I did. I am well satisfied that an 

 apiarian will much improve many of his mother- 

 stocks, by selecting and inserting a sealed queen 

 cell from a hive that has given a prime swarm a 

 week previous and has piping queens. The 

 stocks so treated will not swarm a second time, 

 and have a fertile queen almost as soon as one 

 can be successfully introduced. 



Adam Grimm. 

 Jefferson Wis., Dec. 37, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Chloroform and "Blunders." 



Mr. Editor : — Have any of the subscribers 

 to the Journal ever used chloroform in handling 

 bees ? If so, how does it work? I do not be- 

 lieve it will work well ; but one of my neighbors 

 says he will try it next season, if he loses a few 

 swarms by it.* 



In my communication in the January Jour- 

 nal, you give the date of my transferring two 

 stocks of bees to movable comb hives as August 

 21st. It was done August 2t)th. You also 

 make it read "three hives full," whereas it 

 should be "their hives full." f 



Now I want to take up brother Gallup, for he 

 has infringed on my hive, and goes galloping 

 over the description of it as if he was the sole 

 inventor. Now I have been thinking of this 

 kind of hive for the last six months, and in fact 

 my hives for the last year were of the same size, 

 except in length. I only had ten frames instead 

 of twenty- four and thirty- two. Now I have one 

 made with twenty-six frames, and am going to 

 see if I can get fifty (50j gallons of honey from 

 it next season. At all events brother Gallup 

 did not get the dollar from me for a description 

 of my own hive. 



I want some Italians next season and shall 

 probably call on brother Grimm, or some other 

 reliable queen raiser for a supply. 



With many good wishes for the success of 

 the Journal, I remain, as ever, truly yours, 

 J. W. Cramer. 



Oneida, Ills. 



* A Number of our subscribers employed chloro- 

 form successfully and satisfactorily last summer, 

 using one-tenth or one-eighth of an ounce for a 

 dose. — [Ed. 



t These were typographical errors, which despite 

 of every care, are as apt to occur in our own articles 

 as in those of our correspondents. They are annoy- 

 ing and vexatious, especially when queen cells are 

 converted into (jreen cells, and frames into franes. 

 If the 6Y«.v/i were always forthcoming when the latter 

 metamorphosis takes place, we should incline to cry 

 eureka and think the philosopher'' s stone was Ibund 

 at last, for that would indeed be a substantial trans- 

 formation. — [Ed. 



