THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



47 



her. Besides this, longer confinement is re- 

 quired, for three days are wholly inadequate. 

 All this involves delay ; and "delays" here are 

 ofttimes indeed "dangerous." 



As stated, I prefer this mode of introducing 

 unfertilized young queens, though it demands 

 great care and watchfulness. Sometimes the 

 young queen emerges at night, and the operator 

 must then of course be on hand, and act 

 promptly. He must not procrastinate, or he 

 may wake up and find all his queen cells de- 

 stroyed. It is well to mark the cells in the or- 

 der they were built and sealed over, for the 

 queens they contain will mature and emerge 

 accordingly. 



I do not like to insert queen cells, for they 

 arc generally destroyed by the bees — which docs 

 not happen to those left on the introduced 

 comb. According to my observation, when 

 workers have once guawed open and destroyed 

 a queen cell, it is almost always useless to offer 

 them another, for they arc then prone to repeat 

 the trick, and will serve four or five more in 

 like manner, if they have an opportunity. 



Has any one tried the mode of making artifi- 

 cial colonies suggested by Dr. Donhoff some 

 years ago ? In substance, I think, it is as fol- 

 lows : Queen, workers, and drones — which 

 may all be taken from different colonies, are 

 put together in a hive, which is set in a dark 

 cellar for three or four days. Then, on a fine 

 clear afternoon, it is brought out, set in the sun, 

 fed with diluted honey, and allowed to fly. 

 The entire colony will issue, en masse, will soon 

 settle and cluster like a swarm, and then ad- 

 here to any location assigned to it in the apiary. 

 Would not this also be a means of securing pure 

 fertilization of the queen, if of the Italian race, 

 and only pure Italian drones be selected for the 

 colony ? HrjBLEit. 



Altenburg, Dec. 1867. 



The bee-keepers of Gatinais, Bcauce, and the 

 neighboring villages and districts, in France, 

 meet annually on the 22d of July, at Janville, 

 to consult about their bees, apiaries, the con- 

 struction of hives, changes and improvement in 

 the management of bees, new inventions, pro- 

 cesses and manipulations in bee-culture; and to 

 ascertain the amount of honey and wax pro- 

 duced, so that prices may be regulated accord- 

 ingly. These annual meetings are thus of great 

 practical, scientific, and pecuniary importance 

 to the bee-keepers who participate in them. 



Probably the largest wax bleaching establish- 

 ment and factory in the world, is that of M. 

 Barret, at Tours, in France. The buildings are 

 extensively and admirably arranged, and^more 

 than six hundred persons are usually employed 

 there. The consumption of wax for encaustic 

 painting, wax figures, polishing floors and par- 

 quettes, the manufacture of wax candles and 

 t aj his, in pharmacy, and for general economi- 

 cal purposes is very great in France, alike for 

 home use and for exportation. 



After eating a quantity of honey, we are apt 

 tot hink our tea is without sugar. 



[From the German.] 



Priro Fertilization. Kruger's Method. 



For convenience in operating, to secure the 

 pure fertilization of queen bees, light single hives 

 are indispensable and small nucleus hives are 

 peculiarly well adapted. 



These hives, after being supplied with the 

 necessary workers, drones, brood or queen 

 cells, and well provided with honey, are to b« 

 placed in a reiired or isolated spot, at some dis- 

 tance from the hives in the apiary, even though 

 the bees are brought from a remote locality. 

 They should also be set with the entrances 

 fronting the west, so as to give the bees the ad- 

 vantage of the sun, when they are flying late 

 in the afternoon or in the evening. 



In this position the hives are to be left until 

 the young queens are hatched and ready to 

 make their excursions, which in such small col- 

 onies is not usually before the sixth day. 



On the evening of the fifth day, when the 

 bees have ceased to fly, or early on the morn- 

 ing of the sixth, while all are still at home, the 

 hives are to be closed and carried to a cool dark 

 chamber or cellar, where they are kept till the 

 afternoon of the following day. On the after- 

 noon of that day, if fair, and the sun is shining, 

 at a temperature of 72° or 75° F. in the shade* 

 and the drones of the other colonies have 

 ceased to fly, the hives are to be brought out 

 and replaced on their former stands, with the 

 entrances open. The bees must then be fed 

 with diluted honey made lukewarm. They, as 

 well as the drones, will immediately begin to 

 fly very actively, and the queens, leaving in 

 these circumstances, will meet only such drones 

 as have been selected. 



If the weather be cool or cloudy, the queens 

 will not leave, and the hives must be closed 

 when the bees become settled, and again car- 

 ried to the dark chamber or cellar. In unfavor- 

 able states of the weather, it may happen that 

 ten or twelve days may elapse before fertiliza- 

 tion is effected, and the hives may have to be 

 carried out and in repeatedly ; but the bees 

 need not be fed on each occasion, unless there 

 be a prospect that the weather will allow them 

 to fly briskly. 



"W hen several nuclei have been prepared and 

 stocked with workers for this purpose, care 

 must be taken to provide them with an adequate 

 number of drones; though, when operating to 

 this extent, it is advisable to arrange a separate 

 nucleus containing drones in larger number, 

 and a drone comb with maturing brood. 



These hives or nucLJ having oeen so placed 

 that they can readily be supervised, the bee- 

 keeper who employs this process must be care- 

 ful to watch them closely when the bees are 

 permitted to fly, and observe whether the 

 queen issues. He may frequently see a queen 

 come out, fly about in front of the hive a min- 

 ute or two, and then retire, returning in a short 

 time to repeat the manoeuvre. If any fail to 

 come out a second time, he may feel confident 

 that she will make her wedding flight next day, 

 if the weather prove favorable, and must not 



