THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



210 



l'"!)!- the Amorican Bee Journal. 



Mr. Editor : Your article in the March num- 

 ber on introducing queens agrees so near -with 

 my experience, that 1 enclose an article pub- 

 lished in a January number of the Iowa Ilviiie- 

 stead. 11' bees are drummed out of the hive 

 into u box or half bushel, and their queen taken 

 away, they will invariably discover their loss 

 in from live to fifteen minutes. 



After introducing the queen into the box or 

 half bushel, set it up leaning against something 

 in the shade; the same side up that you would 

 if it was full of grain. The sweetening process 

 is not necessary in all cases, only in obstinate 

 ones. 



In Mr. Adam Grimm's article in the April 

 number, he says that two of his seven queens 

 proved to be bastardized, but he says that they 

 must necessarily have been impregnated by 

 Italian drones. Mr. Grimm lives in a timber 

 country, for I have been there, and there might 

 be wild bees near him. 



On the first day of this month I found a large 

 swarm of wild bees in a butternut tree, and I 

 removed them home without disturbing them 

 in the least. They have a perfect queen, and 

 about one dozen perfect drones. This is the 

 fourth wild swarm that I have found, at differ- 

 ent times, with perfect drones saved over win- 

 ter. 



Once in Wisconsin I Jfound a swarm on the 

 first of February with about two dozen perfect 

 drones, and the queen was all right. 1^ think 

 that bees in their natural and wild state are 

 apt to keep a few drones over winter. Mr. 

 Grimm might have had a wild swarm near 

 him, with drones kept over winter, Avhich met 

 his two queens. We should be careful about 

 our conclusions. 



Querist wants to know Avhich is the best 

 ■width for top-bar to frames. Let him, or any 

 one else, make one frame with the top-bar one- 

 half inch thick, sharpened to an edge on the 

 underside. The bees will commence on the 

 knife-like edge, and as they build down, they 

 will build out and up over the side of the bar, 

 and attach the comb to the honey-board. If 

 he takes off the honey-board, and puts on the 

 honey-box, they will continue right up into the 

 box. 



So, Mr. Querist, you can vary the thickness 

 to suit yourself. About 1^ inch thick, or one 

 inch, they will not attach to the honey-board 

 as much as where thinner ones are used. All 

 the comb-guides I use have the underside of 

 the top-bar bevelled to a V thus v, and they are 

 all that Querist will want. 



Elisha Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[From the Iowa Homestead.] 



Introducing Italian Queens. 



Drum out your bees and remove the native 

 queen; then take honey or common white 

 crush sugar, diluted with water, so as to be 

 quite thin, but sweet; sprinkle the bees freely 

 with it, and stir them up with a spoon until they 



arc completely filled with sweet; also sprinkle 

 what few bees remain in the hive with 1 he 

 sweet preparation. Then liberate your Iialian 

 queen with the bees that are drummed out of 

 the hive, and they will accept her forthwith. 

 As they have no comb to deposit their sweet 

 in, they are obliged to retain it, and the queen 

 will become acquainted with the bees, and vice 

 versa. After letting them stand in the box 

 twenty or thirty minutes, return them to the 

 hive again, queen and all. She will be received 

 all right in ninety-nine cases out of one hun- 

 dred. I have repeatedly introduced them into 

 common box-hives in this way with perfect 

 success, and I find no trouble in introducing 

 queens when the bees are gatliering abundance 

 of honey. 



I have tried R. Colvin's, K. P. Kidder's, L. 

 L. Langstroth's, J. W. Sharp's, Flander's, 

 l\Iack's, Bidwell's, Quinby's, and King'splans, 

 but they all keep the stock to be supplied with- 

 out a queen for a longer or shorter period. 



A stock of bees should never be without a 

 fertile queen over twenty-four hours in the 

 breeding season, if it can possibly be avoided, 

 and it certainly can be if the apiarian under- 

 stands his business, and has the right kind of 

 hive. Elisha Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



I would like to know through your Journal 

 what advantage it would be to anyone keeping" 

 bees — "common black bees" — to Italianize a 

 few of his stock, and let them mix with the 

 black bees ? If in a few years it would im- 

 prove his apiary, since it is impossible to keep 

 them pure together ? W. W. C. 



LlGHTSTREET. 



[No advantage whatever would result from 

 such a course. — Ed.] 



"Whenever I have wanted to study fools at 

 great parties, I have always looked round re- 

 gularly for a great beauty. They gather round 

 such a one like wasps around a fruit-woman. 

 And if I had no other reason — I have, however 

 — for marrying the handsomest woman, I would 

 do it for this reason, if for no other, that I 

 might always have the queen-bee sitting in the 

 hollow of my hand, after whom the whole 

 foolish bee-swarm would come buzzing. — Jean 

 Paul. 



It is not from want of pasturage that bee- 

 culture is "a small business" inmost countries, 

 but from want of knowledge of the proper 

 management. Climate and soil will generally 

 be found well enough adapted to the business, 

 when intelligence guides skill, and diligence 

 directs the labor. — Oravenhorst. 



CouKTiNG your hives is of small account. 

 Weighing them tells their real value. 



