450 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



November 



are now very actively engaged in a 

 thorough house cleaning of their new 

 home, mature bees bring in pollen and 

 nectar, and the queen begins to lay 

 eggs as soon as the younger bees have 

 built enough of comb to receive stores 

 and eggs therein. 



To return now to the so-called 

 "parent colony." It may or may not 

 cast off an after swarm, much de- 

 pending on the population of the bees 

 left in the hive. Ordinarily the first 

 young queen emerges from the cell in 

 about eight days after the prime 

 swarm left the hive. If no after- 

 swarm is forthcoming, she may de- 

 stroy her sisters in the remaining 

 queen cells, the workers frequently 

 tearing them open for that purpose. 

 The virgin then runs restlessly around 

 issuing some sharp notes, called by 

 beekeepers as "piping," while her sis- 

 ters in the cells answer her call, and 

 are forthwith destroyed. She mates 

 in about five or six days thereafter, 

 and thus becomes the mother of a new 

 colony. 



California. 



odor of the hive through the wire 

 cloth, and is introduced to freshly- 

 hatched bees at first. Occasional old 

 bees can be admitted, if desired, 

 through the slot, "A," in the cover. 

 California. 



A QUEEN INTRODUCING CAGE 



By A. G. Tucker 



The accompanying drawing will 

 give an idea of the cage I use for in- 

 troducing queens. The cage is made 

 of a size to hold an entire brood-comb 

 and has screen sides and light wood or 

 tin ends, bottom and top. 



The queen is released as soon as 

 received, on a frame of hatching 

 brood, which is placed in the cage and 

 all made tight so as to admit no bees. 

 The cage is then placed in the hive, 

 after removing two combs to make 

 place for it, the old queen being left 

 in the hive where she was. 



In two days remove the old queen 

 and replace the new queen with the 

 frame of the brood back into the hive, 

 removing the cage. 



I find in the push-in-comb cage that 

 the bees are apt to gnaw the comb and 

 release the queen immediately. This 

 is obviated by the present plan. The 

 freshly-introduced queen gets the 



THE THOMPSON SAFETY INTRO- 

 DUCING CAGE 



By James McKee 



In August "Gleanings," 1918, Mr. 

 J. E. Thompson gave to the public a 

 cage method that successfully intro- 

 duced both day-old and laying queens 

 in every instance during experimental 

 tests. 



I at once experimented with the 

 new method and found it remarkably 

 successful. I have used it ever since 

 with great success, and I consider it 

 the best method of queen introduction 

 ever yet invented. I can introduce 

 my most expensive queens in this way 

 without fear of loss. 



By this method the queen is actu- 

 ally introduced before she leaves the 

 cage. The principle of the cag - is as 

 follows: Through a passage, filled 

 with queen candy, about one inch 

 long, over one end of which is nailed 

 a piece of zinc queen excluder, the 

 bees eat into the cage some time be- 

 fore the queen can be released by the 

 bees eating through a longer passage, 

 filled with queen candy, which must 

 be three-quai'tei's of an inch or more 

 longer than the excluder passage. 



California. 



THE ACARINE MITE 



By McCowen Hall 



I was greatly interested in Mr. 

 Bruce White's article on the acarine 

 mite, for under the microscope I have 

 found this mite in old pollen, and it 

 suggests itself that the mite has its 

 origin in this old pollen something 

 like the cheese mite. It may be that 

 in old pollen-loaded combs we spread 

 the disease, but then you would think 

 that you would get it in America, 



which I suppose you do not, do you? 

 I wrote to Mr. Bruce White on the 

 matter and he was very interested and 

 wrote me for further information. 



You see that he says that the mite 

 enters through one or both of the 

 first pair of spiracular orifices and the 

 transference of the mite to the bees 

 would be very easy when they are 

 clearing out the old pollen, would it 

 not? 



I have not always found it present 

 and the other day only found broken 

 parts and empty cases instead of the 

 living mite. 



England. 



AN AMERICAN OPINION 



(The above letter was submitted to 

 H. E. Ewing, the leading American 

 authority on the mites, who replies as 

 follows.) 



Dear Mr. Pellett: 



Your letter of Sept. 15. received, 

 and inquiry in regard to the Tarsone- 

 mid of the honey bee noted. I have 

 studied the Tarsonemid mites some- 

 what for several years and am familiar 

 with the habits of practically all of 

 our described species. They are for 

 the most part plant feeders and suck 

 the juices of plants, causing in some 

 instances the leaves to fade, curl or 

 die. They are quite commonly found 

 about the bloom of flowers but not to 

 the extent that they are found on the 

 leaves. Some of our species are pre- 

 daceous on other insects and one,Pedi- 

 culoides ventricosus, attacks man, 

 causing a severe dermatitis. This 

 species normally feeds upon a great 

 variety of insects. 



In regard to the specific point 

 raised by your English friend, I will 

 state that I do not see any objections 

 to this hypothesis. I have never 

 seen the Tarsonemid of the honey 

 bee and do not know as it has ever 

 been found in this country. I have 

 read with much interest the original 

 papers by Rennie, White and Harvey, 

 as well as the articles in your Bee 

 Journal. 



I am of the opinion that much re- 

 mains to be proven in regard to the 

 biology of the mite at least. These 

 workers are, however, to be congrat- 

 ulated on their very important dis- 

 covery in regard to the honey bee 

 Tarsonemid. 



H. E. Ewing. 



A safe introducing cage 



THE LEWIS TREATMENT FOR 

 EUROPEAN FOULBROOD 



By W. J. Sheppard 



With the approval of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, the Apiary In- 

 spectors of British Columbia have 

 spent considerable time during the 

 season of 1921 in testing the effi- 

 ciency of what is known as the Lewis 

 treatment for European foulbrood. 

 Mr. W. H. Lewis, of Edmonds, B. C, 

 who made many experiments in 1920, 

 announced that he believed he had 

 found a new remedy for this disease. 

 Sufficient evidence has been obtained 

 this year to show that if the condi- 



