AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



403 



Fkiknd Miller : — I read your article 

 on page 244, where you say : "I can 

 think of one argument that would be 

 more convincing than any yet brought 

 forth in favor of the ' Will ' theory. It 

 would be to find the queen laying in 

 drone-cells that were merely begun." 

 etc. One such case came under my ob- 

 servation last season. The bees were 

 just in the act of building drone-comb, 

 and the queen laid eggs just as fast as 

 they had cells fairly started (about 3^ 

 inch deep, and I think some less). You 

 can put this down as being a, fact. Will 

 or no will, I had that comb full of 

 drones, and they hatched out drones, 

 too. I saw it all. I did not have many 

 colonies, and you may know I peeped in 

 quite often and saw what they were 

 doing. 



But there is one thing that beats me, 

 and I cannot make out how it came 

 about. I got two queens from Mr. 

 Alley, introduced them safely, and in 

 about eight or ten days both colonies 

 swarmed. I was near at hand, and I 

 had a strip of queen-excluding zinc in 

 front of both. I saw the queens trying 

 hard to get out. I watched quite awhile 

 until nearly or quite all the bees were 

 out and in the air. I took the zinc strip 

 off, and the queens were fast in the zinc. 

 I caught and caged them, and hung the 

 cage outside of a new hive with full 

 sheets of foundation ; the bees came 

 back in about half an hour, and I let the 

 queens go in. I saw them go in. I put 

 the zinc strips back (Tinker zinc, 17/ 

 100 perforations), put on the supers, 

 and thought all was 0. K. 



I did not examine those colonies for 3 

 or 4 weeks, and when I did, I found in 

 one a very dark queen (Alley's were both 

 very yellow) and brood, all in working 

 order. In the other I found no brood, 

 and very few bees. I looked long and 

 well, and finally found a small queen 

 not much, if any, larger than a worker- 

 bee, and black. 



Now the questions are, where did 

 Alley's queens go ? and where did the 

 bees get their black queens, especially 

 the last named '? They never had any 

 brood, I am sure — only a little honey. 



If I follow directions for introducing 

 sent with queens by mail, and lose the 

 queen worth $2.00, who is to blame, I 

 being a novice ? D. Lindbkck. 



refer to the present case, for you say 

 they were "introduced safely," and 

 they certainly must have been, as they 

 issued with the swarms 8 or 10 days 

 later. 



It is not the safest thing to venture a 

 guess as to the case without knowing 

 more about it, but one way which might 

 possibly happen, was that a young 

 queen had hatched out and the old 

 queen had been held in up to the time 

 the young queen was ready to leave. 

 Again, a small swarm with a black 

 queen may have united with the swarm 

 while it was out, or entered the hive 

 shortly afterward. 



If I were sure you were not bigger 

 than I, I would hint that you might be 

 mistaken as to that small black qu-een 

 being a queen at all ; for if she had 

 been there three or four weeks, it seems 

 she ought to have had some brood. Per- 

 haps some one else will give a better 

 guess. 



Marengo, Ills. 



A Plan for Cellar Spring Feed- 

 luif of Bees. 



Written Jor the American Bee Journal 



BY F. H. WALKER. 



The case of those two queens is cer- 

 tainly an unusual one. To answer your 

 last question first, queen dealers some- 

 times guarantee safe introduction if 

 directions are followed, but you hardly 



It is evident that some of the most 

 valuable information in the Bee Jour- 

 nal is a repetition of methods of some 

 simple device used by some of our less 

 prominent bee-keepers, and I have been 

 greatly helped by some of the sugges- 

 tions and ways of contributors to the 

 Bee Journal. So I hope to give a 

 little "boost " to some of them in my 

 way of spring cellar feeding of bees, 

 which seems to do away with spring 

 robbing after putting them out for the 

 summer, and also saves some of those 

 that are likely to breed too much and 

 become short of honey during the winter. 



This should be done just before the 

 warm weather that comes in the spring 

 before we wish to put the bees out, be- 

 cause in feeding many colonies it is apt 

 to raise the temperature too high, unless 

 they are aired out at night. I usually 

 look, or lift them all over, beginning at 

 one side, and pack them up, and when I 

 find a light one, I put it on top, ready 

 for their food, as I do not like to disturb 

 the combs while in the cellar. So when 

 I have looked them all over, I have the 

 light ones all on top, or by themselves, 

 ready to nurse. 



I use the Mason glass fruit jars (2 

 quart), and after filling them with a 



