nies without killing any bees, may be 

 said to combine the science and art of 

 cultivating bees. Most novices in api- 

 culture are impelled by a desire to in- 

 crease the number of their colonies as 

 rapidly as possible. To attain this re- 

 sult, some have recourse to artificial 

 swarming ; they divide, 2 and even 3 

 times, colonies which often are already 

 very weak ; but instead of advancing 

 they go backward. Others resort to 

 speculative feeding to stimulate the 

 queen in her laying and to bring about 

 the development of brood in order to 

 obtain a large number of natural 

 swarms. This latter method will pro- 

 duce the desired result, if it is applied 

 with a proper understanding of the 

 subject ; and, above all, if it is em- 

 ployed at the proper time. 



Feeding may commence in the be- 

 ginning of May, to bring about early 

 swarming. In movable frame hives, 

 this is done by inserting full cards of 

 capped honey, or, in case these are lack- 

 ing, lukewarm syrup of the consistency 

 of mucilage— 2 parts white sugar and 1 

 part water brought to a boil, and fed 

 every 3 to 5 days. Bees, like human 

 beings, like warm food better than cold, 

 and when it is prepared in this manner 

 they will more readily accept the sweets 

 offered them. 



When syrup is fed, the feeder should 

 be placed at the entrance, and so ar- 

 ranged that the bees enter it readily 

 from the inside of the hive, while out- 

 siders and robbers are excluded. What 

 takes place when bees are fed for the 

 purpose of stimulation ? They regard 

 as the product of nature what the hand 

 of man spreads before them ; they has- 

 ten to leave their habitations and go 

 outside in search of the sweet nectar. 

 All goes well if vernal sunshine and 

 gentle zephyrs favor their excursions ; 

 but if the weather is bad, if rigorous 

 winds follow closely upon seductive 

 sunshine, and overtake the rovers in 

 the open field, the poor workers are 

 chilled, the weak colonies rapidly de- 

 populated, and the brood perishes for 

 the lack of care, and finally the colo- 

 nies succumb. Although so few bee- 

 keepers think of feeding during May, 

 June and July, yet such unfavorable 

 weather often occurs that young swarms 

 and nuclei should be looked after — it 

 will be found to pay. During such pe- 

 riods feed as often as every fifth day. 

 If the honey in the hive is not sufficient 

 it is better to feed now. If one tries 

 spring feeding, even on a single colony, 

 he will find it to increase rapidly in num- 

 bers, especially if the queen is young and 

 the colony has a fair number of bees to 

 start with. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Method of Introducing Queens. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



I presume that as long as no method 

 has been discovered by which queens 

 can be introduced without danger of 

 loss, the subject will continue to be one 

 of much interest to scientific bee-keep- 

 ers. By practicing any of the methods 

 heretofore published I have failed to 

 introduce queens without some vexa- 

 tious and occasional loss. Hence I have 

 given the subject much study, and have 

 of late adopted a plan of introducing 

 which has given me much pleasure and 

 satisfaction in performing the hereto- 

 fore somewhat disagreeable and uncer- 

 tain task of introducing queens to full 

 colonies of spiteful hybrids, etc. 



I employ a cage such as is commonly 

 used to ship queens in by express, - ex- 

 cept that it is altered so that the sliding 

 door is made to stand in a perpendicu- 

 lar position when the cage is set with 

 the wire cloth down, and projects above 

 the cage about % of an inch. The quilt 

 used to cover the bees while introduc- 

 ing has a hole cut in its center about 5 

 inches square, and a second quilt is em- 

 ployed much smaller than the first, 

 which has a slit like a button-hole in its- 

 center, just large enough to slip over 

 the projecting end of the sliding door 

 of the cage. What has been described 

 above is all the machinery used. 



Now let us see how the plan works. 

 I put the queen in the introducing cage 

 — which is provisioned with a phial of 

 new honey — and place it, wire cloth 

 down, in the center of the hole in the 

 quilt, right on the top bars of the^ 

 frames, and spread my second quilt 

 over the cage, making the projecting 

 end of the sliding door pass through 

 the slit or button-hole in the center, so 

 that it " sticks up " above the covering 

 over the bees high enough to admit of 

 being drawn out by the thumb and fin- 

 ger without moving anything else about 

 the bees. I now close the hive and go 

 about my business. In 24 or 48 hours I 

 open the hive as quietly as possible, and. 

 place my thumb on the cage to hold it 

 steady while I draw out the sliding door, 

 thus liberating the queen without ex- 

 citing the bees in the least ; the hive is 

 now closed up gently, and the thing is 

 done. You may now exercise your best 

 judgment as to whether you will look, 

 after her and " see that she is received 

 by the bees," or whether you will trust 

 to the instinct of the bees in a state of 

 quietude. I prefer to take the latter 

 risk, if it is any risk at all. Just 5 days- 

 ago I liberated, a valuable queen in a 



