1870.] 



TOE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



81 



will be to throw aside the glass and make artifi- 

 cial swarms. Then there is no danger of any 

 going off', besides being tlie fastest way of increas- 

 ing bees, wlien the operator understands the prin- 

 ciple well. But had 1 been wholly like the Dutch 

 huly, I sh(;uld never have succeeded in making 

 artificial swarms. In my first efforts, I ruined 

 dozens of swarms before I succeeded. 



I am aware there is much yet to learn about 

 bees, and my motto is to try and try again. So 

 come along, Mr. Ignoramus, with your sugges- 

 tions. If you do not teach me anything, you 

 perhaps instruct somebody else, as there are many 

 new beginners that read the Journal ; and the 

 Journal is the place to receive and impart bee 

 knowledge. 



H. Nesbit. 



CyntUana, Ky., Sept. 6, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Jourual.] 



Great Number of Queen Cells and Queens 

 Secured from One Hive. 



Mr. Editor :— In volume 2, number 9, of the 

 American Bee Journal, Mr. A. Grimm gives a 

 case, under the above caption, of forty-three 

 Cjueen cells on one frame of comb. I have had 

 two similar cases this season. The first one had 

 twenty-eight cells on one frame ; the other had 

 forty-seven cells on one, and five on an adjoining 

 frame — making fifty-two cells at one time, in one 

 hive. 



Early in the spring I experienced the greatest 

 difficulty in getting my bees to start queen cells 

 in full stocks. Having an extra choice queen, 

 which I intended to raise from exclusively for 

 the present ; and not being willing to risk the 

 loss of her in moving her from one stock to an- 

 other, I adopted a different course. (By the 

 way, I always start queen cells in full stocks — 

 never in small nuclei.) I removed the hybrid 

 queens from three strong stocks in succession, 

 and in five days after their removal, I cut all the 

 cells then started, and gave each stand a frame 

 of brood and eggs from the choice stock. On 

 opening those stands a few days after, to see 

 what number of queen cells they had started, I 

 was doomed to disappointment. The first one 

 had only three cells, and two of these were built 

 too close together to be separated. The other 

 two stands did very little better. Getting tired 

 of this slow process, I removed the queen from 

 another strong hybrid stock ; then exchanged 

 the whole of the brood combs with the choice 

 stock, brushing off the bees into their own hive. 

 In this way I got some sixteen cells. 



On the 6th of .June two very large swarms got 

 together. I divided and equalised them, and 

 thinking each had a queen, I left them and went 

 to other work. One of the queen's wings being- 

 cropped, I had jjut her on the cluster before the 

 other swarm issued — the two stands sat about a 

 rod apart. About an hour after this one of the 

 stands became restless, the bees flying out and 

 in, but neither going back to the old stand, nor 

 to the one I had just separated them from ; nor 

 settling, either, except on the tops of the weeds 

 and grass, two rods below the two stands, and 



under the limb they had swarmed on. It then 

 occurred to me that the cropped queen might 

 have dopped in the grass, and I started to look 

 for her. But what a sight presented itself to my 

 eyes — a great, big, long snake ! No, not a snake, 

 but a bee procession, a rod long and from three 

 to five inches wide, travelling on foot, through 

 the grass and weeds, to the nearest stand, headed 

 by her majesty — who just entered the hive before 

 I could seize and secure her. This was the stand 

 from which I had just separated them an hour 

 before. I then had my work to do over again, 

 which 1 did in a few minutes, but got both queens 

 in one hive, though I did not then know it. I 

 had w^atchcd closely, and saw only one queen 

 enter. By this time other swarms claimed my 

 attention, so that I hastily took a frame of brood 

 from another stand, and gave it to the one I was 

 not certain had a queen — intending to give them 

 one as soon as I ascertained it needed one. They 

 went to work, as though all was right ; and I 

 paid no more attention to them till the second 

 day after, when I opened the hive to examine. 

 I found they were building straight and nice 

 worker cgmb. I did not then raise the frame of 

 brood, as the nice worker comb satisfied me that 

 they had a queen ; that is, according to the au- 

 thority of book authors and others, that bees 

 will never build worker comb without the pres- 

 ence of a queen. But here is an exception ; and 

 I have in my practice come across many excep- 

 tions to general rules, where bees are concerned. 

 On the 19th this stand swarmed, and taking ad- 

 vantage of my dislike to work on Sundays, went 

 to parts unknown, though I saw them go. I 

 was then engaged in hiving four others, and they 

 refused to await their turn to be waited on. 

 Next morning early, I raised the brood comb al- 

 ready mentioned, and secured seventeen fine 

 queens, counting twenty-eight perfect cells in 

 all ! The hive was about filled with comb, but 

 only about one-third was drone comb— the rest 

 being worker comb. Nothing ever jouzzled me 

 more than this case. I cannot account for it 

 without going counter to the established rules, 

 that bees without a queen will build drone comb 

 exclusively. But, as I said above, this swarm 

 was extra large, and having a frame of brood 

 given them at the start, may have taken a notion 

 to divide again, and so built worker comb while 

 raising the queen cells. Or, will some one say 

 the old queen was present. Well, if she was, 

 why did the bees build about one-third drone 

 comb? Will some one give us a similar case 

 — such as a newly hived large swarm starting 

 ciueen cells at once, while they have a queen. I 

 am almost positively certain that they had no 

 queen; yet there is much about the case that 

 bothers or puzzles me. A good job for Gallup ! 

 On the 27th of July, I removed a queen from a 

 strong nucleus, to send her oft'. The nucleus 

 hive was 12x12x18 inches, with three frames and 

 partition board. It had been started with two 

 frames, but an empty frame was afterward in- 

 serted in the middle, to give the bees more room 

 to work. This frame they had filled out to 

 within two inches of the bottom. I had dis- 

 turbed the nucleus a few days before, to stimu- 

 late the queen to lay before removing her. In 

 six days after her removal, on oiiening the 



