234 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



as recommended by many. On an average the 

 queens are larger and brighter-colored, and I 

 think more prolific than those reared in nuclei. 

 I suppose my friends, Mr. Smith and * # * have 

 found out ere this why I am opposed to closed 

 top frames, in the practical management of an 

 apiary, from personal experience. 



On the ninth day I take out the frames, and 

 for every queen cell that can be removed with- 

 out destroying it, I form a nucleus. When pro- 

 curing bees for these nuclei, it is best to do it in 

 the fore part of the day, as then the great ma- 

 jority of the old bees are out at work, and the 

 young bees remaining at home, having never 

 flown out, will adhere to the nucleus wherever 

 it is placed. On the tenth day cut out the cells, 

 and insert one in one of the combs of each of 

 your nucleus colonies; and in from four to six 

 days each nucleus will contain a youne; queen. 

 But before these queens are ready to fly, paint 

 the entrances of your nucleus hives of different 

 colors, or give them some obvious, distinguish- 

 ing mark, or have them front different ways, so 

 as to make them different from each other, and 

 from neighboring hives, so that the young 

 queens, returning from their excursions, shall 

 make no mistake, but be sure each to enter its 

 own proper hive. 



Should any of the nuclei fail to rear a queen 

 the first trial, give it another queen cell if you 

 have any on hand ; if not, break it up at once; 

 or, by adding more bees and supplying them 

 with worker eggs and larva?, set tliem to raising 

 queen cells— though I much prefer to have these 

 raised in large colonies. 



The old queen should be returned to the 

 parent hive as soon as the queen cells are re- 

 moved; and if the stock is reduced in numbers, 

 exchange combs with some other strong colony, 

 thus strengthening them up at once. 



By the 12th or 14th of June, if the weather 

 has meantime been favorable, the nuclei will 

 nearly all contain fertile queens. 



About the time the white clover comes into 

 blossom, which in this part of the country is 

 from the 12th to the 16th of June, I swarm or 

 divide my bees. The process as I manage it is 

 very simple; at least 1 think so. My hives are 

 all made with ten frames each. I set an empty 

 hive at the side of the one I wish to swarm or 

 divide. After smoking the bees to quiet them, 

 I remove few of the frames with the bees ad- 

 hering to them, and place them in the empty 

 hive. Ascertain which hive contains the old 

 queen and mark it, so as to make no mistake in 

 introducing a queen. Set each hive from one 

 to two feet to the right and left of the spot 

 where the old hive stood, and fill up each hive 

 with empty frames, alternating one empty one 

 between two full ones. Next day I introduce 

 the young queen to the queenless hive, confin- 

 ing her in a cage from twenty-four to thirty 

 hours, at the end of which time she is usually 

 well received. Should one of the hives thus 

 placed lose too many bees, move the most 

 populous one further from the old stand, and 

 move the other as much nearer to it. 



To make these operations successful, all the 

 colonies should be strong in numbers before di- 

 vision is attempted. The hives should be as 



near alike as possible in shape, appearance, and 

 color, that the deception may be more complete. 

 My swarms made in this way last summer 

 bad filled their hives with combs, and were at 

 work in the honey boxes before my neighbor's 

 bees were prepared to swarm. While my 

 bees gathered an abundance for winter, and a 

 nice surplus besides, my neighbors got no sur- 

 plus, and nearly one half of their last year's 

 swarms starved in the past winter. My bees 

 are Italians, procured of course from Mr. 

 Langstroth's late importations. Those who 

 contemplate Italianizing their apiaries this sum- 

 mer cannot do better than to send to Mr. L. 

 His guarantee of purity can be dopended upon. 



Henry S. See. 



EVANSBTJRG, Pa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Hatching Queens. 



Mr. W. W. Cary, in the April number of the 

 Bee Journal, seems to think that Gallup is 

 somewhat mistaken about queens hatching in 

 seven or eight days. But I can assure him there 

 was no possibility of a mistake. I had only 

 four swarms and one nucleus that I had win- 

 tered over. Early in April I removed the queen 

 from the nucleus, and all of the brood and eggs, 

 and substituted a frame containing unsealed 

 larva?, &c, from my Italian swarm. The 

 combs in all of my swarms or stocks were built 

 the season previous, consequently all was new 

 comb, and there was no queen cell of any de- 

 scription on the comb. I set the dates on the 

 hive with a pencil. The comb was transferred 

 at noon, and on the eighth day, about sunrise, 

 the queen had hatched out and destroyed the 

 remaining six cells. On the ninth clay, at one 

 o'clock, she came out and was fertilized; on the 

 eleventh day, from the time the comb w r as given 

 to thenucleus, the young queen had commenced 

 laying; and in three months from the time she 

 commenced laying she died of old age. 



My neighbor, Mr. G. A. Wright, brought 

 three boxes containing combs and bees hereto 

 raise queens; and I gave each nucleus a small 

 piece of comb of about one inch by tw o, con- 

 taining unsealed larva? and eggs. On the 

 eighth and ninth days after this, the first queen 

 had hatched, and destioyed the surplus cells in 

 each box. Mr. Wright came to separate the 

 cells on the ninth day, and found.be was one or 

 two days too late. He was governed by the 

 books, which say that ten days is early enough. 

 Furthermore the books say that larva? over 

 three days old cannot be changed to a queen 

 But what does the Bee Journal say 1 See 

 vol. 2, page 38, in a foot note, and you will find 

 these words : " It is now ascertained that larva? 

 five and even six days old may be successfully 

 employed for this purpose, and occasionally are 

 so used by the workers." Now, allow three 

 clays in the egg and six clays in the larva? makes 

 nine days, and seven daysmorein the pupa? state 

 makes the full sixteen clays. Forced queens 

 with me have very often come out in eight or 



