THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



31 



Pure Fertilization. 



Since our last issue full accounts of the pro- 

 cess employed by Mr. Kohler and others, to in- 

 sure the pure fertilization of Italian queen bees, 

 having reached us in the Bienenzeilung and 

 other foreign periodicals, we take the earliest 

 opportunity to place them before our readers. 

 We trust that some of our correspondents are 

 in a position to test the matter promptly, and 

 having done so, will communicate the result to 

 the Bee Journal, for the benefit of its readers. 

 "We begin with 



The Kohler Process, 



described in a letter from Mr. Kohler himself, 

 as follows : 



" Now, as to the process itself. It grew out 

 of an observation I made that, on many fine 

 forenoons and afteruoons, the air is still suffi- 

 ciently warm to permit the queens to fly at 

 times when drones have not yet issued fr< m 

 their hives, or after they have ceased to fly. 

 Hence we must devise a mode of inducing Ital- 

 ian queens and drones to issue at times when 

 common drones are not or are no longer flying, 

 UDtil the young queens reared and matured 

 have become fertilized. The period during 

 which drones usually fly rarely extends beyond 

 four or five o'clock in the afternoon. Hence if 

 we have one or more colonies containing young 

 queens which we certainly know have not yet 

 been fertilized, we place these during three, four 

 or five days in a quite dark and right cool cel- 

 lar, and with them also a hive containing a 

 large numher of Italian drones. Then, when 

 a fine, clear, warm day occurs, we watch our 

 stocks or colonies of common bees, to ascertain 

 when their drones have ceased to fly, and as 

 soon as practicable thereafter, the Italian 

 colonies are to be brought out of the cellar and 

 replaced on their stands, giving each of them a 

 teacupful of diluted honey. The queens and 

 drones, wearied of long confinement, and the 

 bees excited by food and eager for release, will 

 now rush forth precipitately, and pure fertiliza- 

 tion of the queens is sure to be effected. "We 

 should, however, be careful to return to the cel- 

 lar, every colony the queen of which has not 

 been seen to return with the evidence of fertili- 

 zation ; and this must be done on every occa- 

 sion, until it is certain that the object has been 

 accomplished. This is necessary, because it is 

 well known that some queens make lepeated 

 excursions before they succeed in encounter- 

 ing drones ; and this is the more likely to hap- 

 pen when the excursions are made at a time 

 when the number of drones abroad is restric- 

 ted to those of the Italian race alone, contained 

 in only one or two hives. 



You will be satisfied, even before making the 

 experiment, of the efficiency of this process ; 

 still '■•there's nothing like trying,' 1 ' 1 and you will 

 of course do that, to add conviction to belief. 



But I will now communicate some additional 

 information, which I feel sure will be gratify- 

 ing to you. I do not know whether you prefer 

 natural to artificial swarmiDg. In my practice 

 I combine both, because I can thereby, with 



the least possible trouble, manage to Italianize 

 a dozen colonies by means of a single one. My 

 process is as follows : Remove the stock from 

 which a swarm has just issued, and set it in the 

 place of another right populous colony. In nine 

 days it will swarm again, by mea- s of the bees 

 received from the colony removed. We now 

 remove it again to the stand of another popu- 

 lous stock, and it will swarm again o > the 

 second or third day. Continue this removal 

 immediately after swarming, so long as tceting 

 and quawkiug continue to be heard in the colo- 

 ny at nightfall. Under favorable circumstan- 

 ces, ten or twelve swarms may thus be obtain- 

 ed, as the first swarmim? stock furnishes the 

 queens and the others supply the bees. Hence 

 if you have one or two Italian slocks and feed 

 them carefully early in the spring, beginning 

 about the 20th of March, if the hives are well 

 supplied with pollen, or can gather it plenti- 

 fully, we may feel assured that tliose Italians will 

 swarm hrst ; and if then transposed as directed 

 with common stocks, a'l the subsequent swarms 

 obtained will have Italian queens though the 

 bees be of the common kind. 



The advantages secured by this process are 

 very great. In the firs' place we obtain prime 

 swarms with Italian queens, and these queens 

 are almost invariably larger and liner than those 

 which bees produce under compulsion. Again, 

 ■\\c are enabled to Italianize a colony with all 

 ease — nothing more being required than the re- 

 moval and transfer of two stocks to new loca- 

 tions, and the work is done. I am enabled, also, 

 to place the swarms anywhere in my apiary or, 

 elsewhere ; and thus escape the bother and 

 perplexity ofttimes occasioned by artificial col- 

 onies, which cannot be conveniently or safely 

 placed where Ave would prefer to have them. 

 Furthermore, we know precisely when to look 

 for a swarm a ter the first has issued ; for the 

 second will come on the ninth day after the 

 hive has been transferred to the stand of a 

 strong stock ; the third on the third day after 

 the second transfer ; the fourth on the follow- 

 ing day, and so on. If queens are heard teet- 

 ing and quawking in the hive, at eve after re- 

 moval, it maybe carried into a dark cool cellar, 

 and we may have it swarm next day at such hour 

 as suits us. Feed it moderately, and a swarm 

 will issue immediately after it is replaced in its 

 stand and feels the influence of light and heat. 



1 would add one remark. The process for 

 ensuring pure fertilization is reliable orly when 

 employed at the beginning of the season, while 

 pasturage is abundant, and before any of the 

 common stocks begin to expel their drones. It 

 frequently occurs that particular colonies hav- 

 ing raised young queens, begin to expel their 

 diones as soon as those queens have been fertil- 

 ized and begin to lay. I observed this in 

 several instances last season. In such cases 

 the drones no longer maintain regular periodi- 

 city in their daily flights, but some are occasion- 

 ally seen on the wing from early in the morn- 

 ing to late in the evening. It is hence advisa- 

 ble to engage in rearing queens early in the 

 season and to hasten that by judicious though 

 moderate feeding. 



Trusting that you may be able to make your 



