170 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



wp offer, that, 1st, its mother was the only Italian 

 queen within 20 miles, and the nearest cross- 

 bred queens were 18 miles; 3d, black drones 

 were in an adjoining apiary; 3d, the queen 

 was one of five sisters reared from the aforesaid 

 queen, all hatching on the same daj% and 

 reared from eggs laid on the same day, and 

 their brothers (Uie drones) were hatched G days 

 before them; 4th, 4 of the sisters, after impreg- 

 nation, all produced progeny similar to their 

 mother, and this one different. Fertile Italian 

 workers, and uufecuudated queens, have better 

 drones than queens, reared from similar eggs, 

 and mated with a black drone. Another 

 marked characteristic of such cross-breeding is 

 that the bees are more irritable and unmanag- 

 able. Continued cross-breeding with only oc- 

 casional additions of strains of black blood, 

 together with the imperfections of forced queens 

 and drones, will rapidly reduce the standard of 

 purity of Italians. The evidences of this degen- 

 eration are unfortunately too apparent in very 

 many apiaries. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Contrast of Difforently-managed Hives, 



No. 1 has ten pounds of honey to commence 

 with in the spring. No. 2 equal, with the ex- 

 ception of the honey. Each stock can get 

 enough supplies till the white clover blossoms. 



June 10th. No. 1 uses the honey in the hive 

 to raise a stock of young bees, and can swarm 

 and make surplus honey generally before the 

 flowers fail. 



No. 2 commences June 10th, when they can 

 get feed enough, fill their combs with brood; in 

 twenty or thirty days, when the young bees are 

 ready to work, the yield of honey fails, and 

 the stock can neither swarm nor make surplus 

 honey. Remedy : feed No. 2 one or two dol- 

 lars worth of sugar, and get a swarm and sur- 

 plus honey, and the old stock good for winter- 

 ing. 



If movable comb-hive sare used, and there are 

 over ten pounds of honey in the hive in the 

 spring, change combs, and benefit each stock, 

 as the empty cells in each hive will soon be 

 filled with brood, and the j'oung bees be ready 

 to work and pay the owner for the little time 

 spent in changing combs. 



James M. Marvin. 



St. Charles, Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey Gathering. 



The increase of honey in six artifi-^ial swarms 

 of Italian bees, placed in hives of empty combs, 

 June 20, 1806, with one comb of eggs and honey 

 in each hive, was as follows, viz : the least in- 

 crease in one day was 5 pounds, 14 ounces; the 

 largest increase in one day was 7 pounds, 2 

 ounces. Decrease in weight during the night 

 in each hive from 9 to 15 ounces. The amount 

 varied but a few ounces for five days, when they 

 became too heavy for the weights. 



James M. Marvin. 



St. Charles, Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal and Gazette. 



Groat Number of Queen Colls and 

 Queens Secured from One Hive. 



On the twentieth day after the first swarm 

 had come out, I killed the unfertile queen of 

 an Italian stock of lioney-bees on account of her 

 being poorly marlccd, and introduced a brood- 

 comb from another hive. Eight days after- 

 wards I examined that stock, and found forty- 

 three perfect sealed queen-cells. Nine of these 

 I removed on that da3% and calculated to remove 

 some more on the 10th. On taking off the 

 honey-board, I noticed a young queen on top of 

 the frames, and immediately secured her. At 

 tlie same time I heard another queen teetinrj, 

 and some more quawking. I examined the 

 brood-comb, and caught one more queen. Being 

 afraid that some more queens might be at liberty, 

 I placed the combs with all the bees on it into, 

 an empty hive, hanging the two hatchecl queens 

 in cages into the swarm. I then went for a 

 dozen riueen-cages. With these on hand I took 

 out my brood-comb, listening for quaicldng 

 queens, and immediately heard one. With my 

 knife I opened the cell wherein she was, and 

 she came out. Securing her, I went on with 

 the same game until I had fourteen queens in 

 all. 



Having no more queen-cages on hand, I went 

 away to procure some. On returning to the 

 comb, I found on it two queens out of their 

 cells. These were both secured. At the same 

 time five more issued, and I saw one of them 

 kill another, the slain one falling to the bottom. 

 About a minute later two more queens hatched. 

 Seeing another confiict going on, and one slain 

 on the ground, I took ott' all the five remaining 

 on the comb, and dropped them into the grass 

 beside the hive before I caged them. Even 

 there a feud commenced between two of them, 

 and I could only part them by giving them a 

 dose of tobacco-smoke. 



After securing those, I again examined the 

 brood-comb, and found two more hatchecl 

 queens, which I caged. I then removed three 

 more queen-cells, and as it had become dark 

 before I got through inserting them, I took the 

 brood-comb into the house. Holding another 

 examination there by candle-light, 1 secured 

 one more ciueen, and only two more cells re- 

 mained sealed on the comb. 



After putting away the hive with the brood- 

 comb, I hung the whole number of queens in 

 cages into the mother hive, and found that I 

 had secured twenty-four queens. The bees fed 

 all the queens over night, and I succeeded next 

 day in placing each one of them in a separate 

 nucleus. 



Only three of them were killed. One 

 of the queens in a cell on the brood-comb had 

 hatched during the night, and the brood-(",omb 

 with bees and queen was returned to the parent 

 hive.. 



I had killed the queen of this hive early 

 in the forenoon, and in less than un hour the 

 bees were in great agitation b»foro I put in tlie 

 brood-comb. At this time the bees had very 



