THE AMERICAN. BEE JOURNAL. 



79 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Introducing Queens. 



Of all the plans given to introducing queens, 

 I prefer the following, and consider it one of 

 the most successful ones: Destroy the reigning 

 queen, and as soon as the young queen raised 

 hy the bees has destroyed all the queen cells, 

 and before she has become fertile, destroy her 

 also. Secure the queen to be introduced in a 

 queen cage; place her among the bees; leave 

 her thus for twenty-four hours, and then liber- 

 ate her, and she will be well received nine times 

 out of ten. The queen must have honey in the 

 cage. It will not do to depend on the bees to 

 feed her. 



The reason why I think this plan is the best, 

 is that the bees have last been acquainted with 

 an unimpreguated queen, and will more readily 

 accept a fertile one. I have often introduced 

 queens after depriving the bees of a queen just 

 hatched, and without confining her, with good 

 success. But let this be attempted when a fer- 

 tile, laying queen is removed, and we will fail 

 nine times out of ten. The disposition of the 

 bees, however, is so various, that no rule can 

 be given that can always be relied on. I will 

 give an instance of a stubborn colony that came 

 under my observation this season. A swarm 

 of bees was deprived of its queen. In four 

 days tlie queen cells were all destroyed, and a 

 caged Italian queen introduced. The bees re- 

 fused to receive her for four days, when they 

 had no more power to raise queens. The queen 

 was then released. Next morning I found her 

 dead on the floor board. Another Italian queen 

 was given them in a cage. They could not be 

 induced to accept her. When the queen was 

 taken away, the bees manifested all the symp- 

 toms of queenlessness, and the most stringent 

 attachment to the queen. They would rush out 

 of the hive, and fill the air in every direction 

 in search of her. The cage was then placed 

 on the limb of a tree, and the bees soon clus- 

 tered around her the same as a swarm. I then 

 liberated her, and returned the bees to their 

 hive. In an hour after I found the queen en- 

 closed in a compact cluster of bees, and in the 

 last extremity. I thought I would try Mr. 

 Hubler's plan, as given in the first volume of 

 the Bee Journal. I fumigated the bees to 

 such an extent that some of them did not re- 

 vive, and placed the queen among them. Next 

 morning I found her dead.* 



R. B. Oldt. 



New Berlin, Pa., September 39, 1860. 



» Probably tills queen had been fataUv injured when en- 

 closed in the cluster from which she was rescued bflbrfi the 

 fuiaigation of the workers. — Ed. 



■» « a» t ■! 



Bees collect some part of their stores from 

 what is commonly called honey dew. This is an 

 exhudation found on the leaves of trees in 

 very hot, sultry weather. The chestnut and 

 oak are the principal trees which produce this 

 substancein any quantity. It is often found 

 also, on the maple, the sycamore, tlie linden' 

 the hazel, and the bramble. ' 



For the Acerican Bee Journal. 



Profits of Bee-ke^piiis, 



I will give you a few figures about my bees 

 for two years. On the 4th of August, 1864, I 

 bought at a sale two hives of Italian bees for 

 thirty dollars |30.00 



April, 1865, I bought five extra hives, 

 Langstroth's patent 25.00 



April, 1866, I bought ten hives of I. I. 

 Rossels and extra boxes 40.60 



Total expenditure in two years $95.00 



Contra, Cr. 

 In the summer of 1865, I sold honey 



amounting to $40.00 



Used in the family 30.00 



And sold two stocks for 30.00 



Sept., 1866, sold honey to date, for.... 50.00 



Honey on hand worth 40.00 



Used in the family 20.00 



Have on hand seven stocks, (for 



which I am ofi'ered $35.00 each,) worth 140.00 

 Eight hives not used 32.00 



Total amount $382.00 



Balance $287.00 



The first season, 1865, I had five swarms from 

 two old stocks; and in the second, only two 

 swarms from five stocks. One stock that did 

 not swarm, gave me fourteen boxes of honey, 

 each containing five and a half pounds, or sev- 

 enty-seven pounds in all. My hives are at this 

 time all full of bees and honey. E. D. P. 



Dayton, Ohio. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



To Preserve Queens and Queen Cells. 



For the benefit of the readers of the Bee 

 .Journal, I will give my experience in preserv- 

 ing queen cells and queens. It will be found 

 beneficial at least to those who have Italian 

 bees. After the bees have swarmed, and just 

 before the young queen in the old stock is ma- 

 tured, cut out a queen cell. Trim off the comb 

 from the cell as much as possible. Secure this 

 cell in a queen cage, made as follows: roll up a 

 piece of wire gauze large enough to fit around 

 a large closed thimble; I'asten together and se- 

 cure to the thimble with thin annealed wire; 

 close the other end with a wooden stopper, first 

 filling the thimble with honey. The thimble 

 should have wire gauze over the opening, to 

 prevent the queen from bedaubing herself witli 

 honey. Apiece of honey-comb, with unsealed 

 honey in the thimble, would probably be better 

 than strained honey. The cage should be placed 

 in the centre of a hive in a perpendicular posi- 

 tion. A small piece can be cut out of a comb 

 to receive the cage. The cage should bt; sev- 

 eral inches long when finished, to give the 

 queen plenty of room when hatched. The re- 

 sult and a few of the advantages arc these: the 

 queen will hatch, and if she have plenty of 

 honej^ she can be kept ^there , till the reigning 

 queen begins to lay. If she should be lost, all 



