AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



567 



different treatment to be successful at 

 all times in having queens received. 

 Little has been said by which the be- 

 ginner may distinguish the different con- 

 ditions, and thereby know how to meet 

 them. In my experience, no colony is 

 so stubborn about accepting a queen as 

 one that has been hopelessly queenless 

 for a few days, especially if the brood is 

 all, or nearly all, hatched from the cells. 

 We would naturally suppose a colony in 

 this condition would be only too glad to 

 get a queen. But in the majority of 

 cases she will be balled and killed unless 

 care and skill are combined in introduc- 

 ing. I think the reason of this diiBculty 

 is that during their utterly hopeless 

 condition, a worker, better developed" 

 than the majority, has improved her op- 

 portunity by exercising a queenly in- 

 fluence, and would ultimately result in a 

 laying worker ; as a worker seldom lays 

 until the colony has been hopelessly 

 queenless for a considerable time, but 

 they are there, and who knows what 

 their influence might be. 



The safest way to give a queen under 

 these conditions is to confine the bees to 

 the brood-chamber by placing a quilt on 

 top and closing the entrance. Take a 

 couple of sticks and drum on the hive 

 until the bees have gorged themselves 

 full of honey, then open the entrance 

 and smoke them thoroughly to utterly 

 subdue them, then shake the bees from 

 the combs in front of the hive, and let 

 the queen loose. She will go in with the 

 bees, and will have become the same 

 scent, and own the right of way before 

 the bees have sufficiently recovered from 

 their stupor to molest her. 



For requeening there is no easier way 

 than to remove the old queen in the 

 evening, and introduce the following 

 morning by laying the cage on top of the 

 frames under the quilt. 



The reason for not giving the new 

 queen at the time the old one was taken 

 away, is that when the bees find them- 

 selves queenless, they become very much 

 excited, and are moving about very un- 

 easily, as if in search of their queen. 

 This search usually lasts about eight 

 hours, and then they become reconciled 

 to their loss, and do the next best thing 

 by starting queen-cells. At this time 

 there will be no trouble in introducing. 



Again, we often have a valuable 

 queen that we can't afford to take any 

 chances on losing. I know of no better 

 plan of introducing to a colony contain- 

 ing old bees than to place a couple of 

 fruit-jar, or Hill, feeders on top of the 

 brood-nest, and give them a half-pint 

 of feed in the evening, and in the morn- 



ing fill the feeders about half full, and 

 lay the cage between them, first remov- 

 ing all the candy but just enough to 

 keep the bees out a few minutes. I have 

 never known a queen to be lost by this 

 plan. 



A great many practice giving a val- 

 uable queen to hatching brood ; this Is 

 usually a safe plan, but I don't like it, 

 because too much time is lost before the 

 bees are old enough to get down to busi- 

 ness. If it is done in the forepart of 

 the season, they don't get built up until 

 after the honey- flow ; and if it is done in 

 the afterpart of the season, they are 

 very liable to go into winter quarters 

 with very few young bees, and then you 

 will have a case of spring dwindling the 

 following spring. 



The virgin queen is a hard queen to 

 introduce outside the regular swarming 

 season, but where it must be done it can 

 be done safely by the feeder plan. But 

 why let the queen hatch out before in- 

 troducing ? Would it not be better to 

 give a cell, or a pulled queen ? Although 

 I have never tried a pulled queen, I see 

 no reason why it is not an advantage 

 over either the virgin queen or the cell. 

 Because it is certainly easier than to 

 give a virgin, and by giving a cell we 

 often give inferior queens, and some- 

 times dead ones, whereby seeing the 

 queen we know better what we are 

 doing : besides, a queen at this age is 

 invariably well received. 



Franklin, Pa. 



Florila n California. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DR. JESSE OREN. 



Please permit me to reply to Mr. W. 

 A. Pryal, of California — only this one 

 time (See pages 433 and 282). My 

 strictures were in reply to Dr. Gallup's 

 over-drawn eulogy of California, as be- 

 ing " the best State in the Union." I 

 made no objection to this, other than a 

 change from "the best," to '' one of the 

 best.'" In that pleasantry to Dr. Gallup, 

 I conceded too much, and claimed too 

 little. Now, I like logic ; but I cannot 

 understand how Mr. Pryal jumps at his 

 conclusions. He appears to me to be 

 nervous, uneasy and fearful lest some- 

 thing I have said might injure Califor- 

 nia. Not so; California and Florida 

 stand on their own merits, and neither 

 of us can materially affect the destiny of 

 either State by anything we can do, or 

 say. 



