318 



mit of it, and at the same time act as a 

 gauge. I nail on one side and then re- 

 verse the machine and nail on the other 

 side. 



With this machine I can nail from 40 

 to 50 sections per hour, and they are all 

 perfectly true, and much stronger than 

 when nailed without the machine, be- 

 cause they are held perfectly solid until 

 finished. 



Girard, Erie Co., Pa., June 7, 1880. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wonderful Instinct of Queen Bees. 



R. M. ARGO. 



There are many facts of the wonder- 

 ful instinct of queens that ought to be 

 kept in mind by every bee-keeper. Such 

 would prevent the loss of many a queen. 



Last May I received 2 very bright 

 queens from the South, and, in trans- 

 ferring them to the cage in order to 

 introduce them, I carelessly left the win- 

 dows and doors open. My apiary is just 

 back of my saddle shop, on the north 

 side, and all cages are opened in my 

 work room, on the bench before the 

 southern window. One of the queens 

 escaped from the cage, just as I was 

 putting her in, and I grabbed at her 

 twice while she was " marking" the 

 window, but missed her both times. I 

 then put the cage in the window, know- 

 ing she would return to the very place she 

 left; but in a moment every bee from 

 the cage took wing and went off with 

 her. 1 walked out into the street and 

 saw they were about out of sight. Af- 

 ter waiting some time in vain for their 

 return, I concluded they were not in- 

 tending to come back ; but just as I ap- 

 proached the door, I noticed that they 

 were rapidly approaching the window 

 again. At last I saw the queen approach 

 and go in. I then ran in to let the win- 

 dow down, but she was too quick for 

 me, and went off again. I then closed 

 both doors and let down the back win- 

 dow, and stood inside of the front one 

 ready to let it down the moment she 

 came in. 1 put the cage a little further 

 back from the window to draw her in, 

 and on the top of a small nucleus which 

 Iliad on the work bench. In about a 

 minute she came in again. I let the 

 window down ; she flew to the ceiling 

 above the window and was captured at 

 once. I had noticed her " mark " the 

 window as she left ; but even then, if I 

 had been ignorant of the fact that a 

 queen will always return to the very 

 spot she left, I might have lost her for 

 good. 



After communicating this fact to the 



sender of the queen on a postal card, I 

 received the following answer of a sim- 

 ilar case : 



" My apiary and residence is situated 

 about 5 acres from my drug store, and 

 whenever I have queens to ship 1 cage 

 them in my apiary and bring them to 

 my store to give the cages the finishing 

 touch and address them. Last year 

 when I sent queens by express I used a 

 tin tube for water. One day having a 

 lot of queens to ship, on a table in my 

 office in front of an open window, and 

 in taking the cork out to introduce the 

 tin tube, one of the queens got out of 

 the cage and flew through the window, 

 and went out of sight after flying 

 around 2 or 3 times. I thought she had 

 gone back to her hive, but an instant 

 after, to my astonishment, she made her 

 appearance at the window and flew 

 away again. I at once placed the queen- 

 less cage on the window, and it was but 

 a minute before she came and lit on 

 the cage, and I secured her with my hat. 

 She had marked the location , and I have 

 no doubt the hum of the bees attracted 

 her again to the spot. 1 ' 



I recollect losing a very valuable 

 queen in 1867 by being ignorant of the 

 above fact. She escaped while in the 

 act of letting her out of the cage at the 

 hive, and I did not then know that she 

 would return ; so I closed up the hive 

 and went into the shop to work. 



I have a wide Langstroth hive at pres- 

 ent, 18 frames, that has 2 queens, both 

 laying and getting along well. I am 

 watching to ascertain how long they 

 will both remain in the same hive. 



While introducing a queen from Indi- 

 ana May 29, the cloth tied on the mouth 

 of the cage slipped off, just as I was 

 putting it down between 2 combs, and 

 the queen ran out among the bees, and, 

 as they showed every sign of accepting 

 her, I let her remain among them, and 

 all went right. This is the quickest way 



1 ever introduced one. I had just taken 



2 frames each from 3 colonies with 

 the bees and brood, and put them to- 

 gether in a new hive, in which I in- 

 tended to introduce her. I would not 

 advise anyone to try this quick method, 

 for only 1 in 10 may succeed with it. 

 The bees being suddenly mixed together 

 from these different hives, she was 

 readily accepted. 



The season thus far, on account of 

 dry weather and cold, drying winds fol- 

 lowing the few rains we have, is as bad 

 as that of 1878, if not worse. There are 

 very few swarms. Such poor seasons 

 will cause nearly twice as many to quit 

 bee-keeping as there are beginners in a 

 year. 



Lowell, Ky., June IS, 1880. 



