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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL," 



once among the workers when liberated by sim- 

 ply lifting the cage. But a still better mode of 

 confining her is'by means of a frame covered 

 with wire gauze, and made to fit the hive closely 

 both front and rear, and touching alike the 

 honey-board and bottom. The comb on which 

 the queen is found, with the bees thereon, is re- 

 moved to a part of the hive having no commun- 

 ication with the entrance; another comb, with 

 bees and honey, is set by its side, with the usual 

 interspace ; and the gauze-covered frame is then 

 inserted between these and the rest of the combs. 

 The queen is thus kept confined among workers, 

 without restraining her personal liberty; and the 

 bees in other portions of the hive, conscious of 

 the presence of the queen, will remain content 

 and prosecute their labors with customary as- 

 siduity, and usually without starting queen 

 ce ll s — . 1S they would do if a close division board 

 were inserted. 



Three or four days thereafter, on the eighth 

 day of the young queen's age, or, if the Avea- 

 ther be unfavorable, on next fine day, in the 

 evening after the common drones have ceased 

 to fly, open a hive containing pure drones of the 

 desired race, take out one or more combs on 

 which drones are congregated, carry them to or 

 near the hive in which the young queen is con- 

 fined, and set them obliquely on a bench or 

 stool. The drones will soon take wing, and 

 hover about the place. Now open the queen's 

 hive, take out the comb on which she is confined, 

 liberate her and set the comb obliquely on the 

 alighting board in front of her hive. In a few 

 moments, the queen, attracted by the hum- 

 ming of the drones, will take wing and quickly 

 disappear, but usually returns in about fifteen 

 minutes, and enters the hive, to commence ovi- 

 positing three days later. 



As soon as the queen leaves, the combs 

 should be replaced in the hives from which they 

 were respectively taken, and these properly 

 closed. 



By this process the pure fertilization of the 

 queen bee is as completely under control, as that 

 of any domestic animal whatever. 



From the following occurrence, interesting 

 in various other respects, it would seem not to 

 be necesaary even to set the comb on which the 

 queen is, at the entrance of her hive before she 

 takes flight. On the 10th of October, 1867, I 

 received' from Mr. Vogel a beautiful Egyptian 

 queen, and introduced her in a populous colony. 

 I may here state also, in passing, that I had 

 confined the old queen of this colony, in 

 a cage six inches long, on the 24th of August 

 or forty-seven days previous. The bees nursed 

 this queen carefully ; built no queen cells 

 (which they rarely do in the fall, if the queen 

 is ca^ed) ; the queen seemed quite healthy when I 

 removed her; and the bees showed the usual evi- 

 dence of uneasiness and concern, when she 

 was taken away, and refusing for several days 

 to accept the Egyptian queen introduced in her 

 stead. The colony occupied one of the com- 

 partments of a six-chambered pavilion; passed 

 the winter in good condition ; and by the mid- 

 dle of May contained Egyptian bees exclusively, 

 with very many beautifully marked Egyptian 

 drones. 



A comb with drone brood was taken from 

 this colony on the 20th of June, 1868, and given 

 to an after swarm of common bees from which 

 the queen was removed shortly after. On the 

 6th of September, there were no longer any com- 

 mon drones in my apiary, nor in any other in 

 my neighborhood. I had reared Egyptian 

 queens in several nuclei, and deemed it needless 

 to confine them at this late period, as pure ferti- 

 lization would follow if they were left at liberty. 

 In one of these nuclei the young queen was 

 hatched on the 20th of August ; but, from the 

 27th of tint month to the 5th of September in- 

 clusive, the weather was so rough that no 

 drones were seen living. The 6th was a splen- 

 did mild day, and 1 concluded to examine the 

 nucleus to ascertain whether any eggs had 

 been laid by the queen, now seventeen days old. 

 The comb case in which I usually suspend 

 combs on such occasions, was standing some 

 eight paces distant from the nucleus, in the rear 

 of a large bee pavillion from which bees were 

 flying in great numbers ; and as it was heavy 

 and inconvenieut to move, I preferred carrying 

 the combs there after examination, where they 

 could be covered to protect them from robbers. 

 Finding no eggs in any of the cells, I was about 

 to return the combs ; but re-examining one of 

 them while standing at the comb case, I saw 

 the queen moving among the bees. But, ap- 

 parently attracted by the humming of the 

 drones which were then flying in multitudes, 

 she took wing at that instant and flew away, 

 unaccompanied by any of the bees. I imme- 

 diately returned the combs to the nucleus, closed 

 it, and placed a trusty assistant in front to watcli 

 the entrance, and note ti.e return of the queen, 

 if she came back. This was at three minutes 

 past one o'clock. The assistant was instructed 

 to close the entrance, whenever he had occa- 

 sion to turn his eyes from it, so that the queen 

 could nut enter unobserved. In about fifteen 

 minutes we saw a cluster of droDes passing 

 about twelve feet overhead, among which we 

 supposed the queen to be. It passed rapidly, 

 and disappeared. We continued to watch for 

 three quarters of an hour, and as she did not 

 return, we gave her up as Jost, concluding that 

 she had been unable to find her way hack. I 

 regretted the more to lose her as she was a beau- 

 tiful bright yellow queen. We now engaged in 

 other work about the apiary, till near two 

 o'clock, when our attention was attracted by 

 an unusual excitement among the bees in tiout 

 of the nucleus. The bees were returning home 

 in crowds, though the sky was entirely un- 

 clouded. Conjecturing that the missing queen 

 was at hand, we resumed our watch, and soon 

 after saw her hovering in the air in a few feet 

 above the hive. In a moment she alighted at 

 the entrance, attended by a crowd of bees, and 

 promptly entered the nucleus. This was at five 

 minutes past two, and she had therefore been 

 absent one hour and two minutes. Twelve 

 days later, on the 18th of September, I found 

 large laivse in the cells, and capped brood on 

 the 21st. The queen had evidently been fecun- 

 dated on the 6th. 



We were surprised to see so large a crowd of 

 bees accompanying her on her return, as she 



