204 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



is attained. Such a colony differs from a na- 

 tural swarm in this, that the boes havinj: been 

 taken at unaivares, did not take with them a 

 supply of honey, and might suffer from want, 

 if long conlined bj' stress of weather. It is 

 prudent, therefore, alwaj's to insert in these 

 hives, on placing them in their new location, a 

 comb Avell supplied with honey; and it is iiot 

 amiss to give them a comb with matuiing brood, 

 as they will thus be sooner reinforced with 

 workers, and will be kept from deserting their 

 hive, as they are otherwise at times disposed to 

 do. 



Nearly all my artificial colonies were formed 

 in this manner, and not one failed to thrive. 

 An incredible quantity of bees may safely be 

 removed from a good colony in the course of 

 the summer; and the number of stocks may 

 then be very largely increased, if pasturage 

 continues to abound during a protracted period. 

 The removal of bees for the supply of an arti- 

 ficial colony can be greatly facilitated by insert- 

 ing a frame with empty comb in a populous 

 colony. On this the workers will speedily col- 

 lect, and, when lifted out, they are easily 

 shaken off to the ground by a stidden jar, and 

 may be allowed to run into the hive intended 

 for them. 



Where the advantage presented by two se- 

 parate apiaries cannot be enjoyed, a different 

 l)rocess of multiplication may be resorted to on 

 the somewhat Hibernian plan of forcing volun- 

 teer sioarms, by removing the (|ueen trom such 

 stocks as we wish to divide. Queens will then 

 be raised, and, if the weather be favorable and 

 the bees be encouraged by occasional feeding, 

 swarms will issue in about two weeks; and these 

 again may be rapidly built uji by transposing 

 them with some populous colonies, or queen- 

 cells may be given to small nuclei composed 

 chiefly of young bees, which, if kept in a dark 

 chamber for forty-eight hours, will mostly ad- 

 here to their hive wherever placed. If kept 

 supplied with brood, they will not desert their 

 home; and by transfer to a large hive when the 

 young ciueen begins to lay, and the regular in- 

 troduction afterwards of brood-combs taken 

 from strong stocks, the new colony may be ra- 

 pidly built up and got into a flourishing con- 

 dition. 



DZIERZON. 



Reaumur put some nesis of wasps under 

 glass-hives, and succeeded so effectually in 

 reconciling these little restless creatures to 

 them, that they carried on their various works 

 under his eye. If others were to follow his 

 example, there is no doubt many parts of their 

 history still in darkness would soon be eluci- 

 dated. 



In collecting honey, bees do not solely con- 

 fine themselves to flowers. They will some- 

 times very greedily absorb the sweet juices of 

 fruits. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Suggestion. 



Experience has decided in favor of the supe- 

 riority of the Italian over the common black 

 bee. The difliculty of securing pure fecunda- 

 tion of the queens of the first-named variety 

 is the principal obstacle to its general introduc- 

 tion and exclusive cultivation. 



The fact is well known that to prevent the 

 evils of breeding in and in, young queens in- 

 stinctively direct their matrimonial flights to a 

 great distance, in order to meet drones from 

 unrelated colonies; hence, as the black variety, 

 domesticated and wild, is the more common, 

 very many of our young Italians will become 

 impurely fecundated, though all of our own 

 stocks are pure Italians. 



In certain localities this difficulty is obviated 

 by raising and fecundating such queens where 

 no black drones exist. This may be accom- 

 plished on the islands in Lake Erie and Long 

 Island sound, and also on some of the extensive 

 prairies in the West. Such localities are, how- 

 ever, not within the reach of a majority of the 

 bee-cultivators in the United States. 



Some other reliable expedient is desirable. 

 Let me suggest one which may perhaps on trial 

 prove successful. 



Any desirable number of young Italian 

 queens can be reared in small nucleus hives at 

 midsummer, when flowers are yielding a i)ro- 

 fusion of stores, provided the apiarian can com- 

 mand one colony of pure Italians to turnish 

 worker eggs. No difficulty interferes till the 

 young fiuecus, on or subsequent to the fourth 

 day of their existence in the perfect insect state, 

 issue from the hive and fly in search of drones. 

 For this movement they usually select clear, 

 mild, and calm weather, about mid-daj', a 

 period when the drones take their out-door 

 exersise. 



It is now well known that the union of the 

 two sexes takes place only while they are on 

 the wing. I have good reasons for believing 

 that this meeting can be superintended and re- 

 gulated at the will of an expert. 



Suppose that at the close of the third day of 

 a queen's existence she be restrained in the hive 

 by the mode suggested in Mr. Langstroth's 

 Treatise on Tlie Honey-Bee, till a coincidence 

 of time and circumstances renders it proper for 

 her to make her excursion abroad. All thing-s 

 prepared, aided by an assistant, carefully secure 

 her and tie to one of her legs an end of the finest 

 and lightest filament obtainable of cotton, silk, 

 or spider's web of suitable length and strength. 

 Perhaps the spider web, obtained in the man- 

 ner figured and described in IlavperH Maga- 

 zine^ March, 1867, p. 455, would answer the 

 purpose. Tissue, a line, gossamer-like filament 

 of silk, found in a few of our best dry-goods 

 establishments, would be the preferable article. 



In tying knots in such filaments, while per- 

 forming certain analagous operations, I have 

 found it convenient to employ the aid of a well- 

 adjusted pnir of dissecting forceps. 



The other end of the filament should be se- 

 cured in one hand of the experimenter. 



Thus managed, approach the front of a hive 



