1S91 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



133 



fine comb honey and cans of extracted honey 

 which had just been brought from a local fair 

 which Mr. A. had just be(Mi attending. Both 

 quantity and quality showed that Eastern 

 Massachusetts had enjoyed a good honey-yield. 

 A call to dinnci' transferred our talk to the 

 dining-room. While engaged in doing justice 

 to Bay State substantials, who should come to 

 share them with lis but Bro. Pratt, of Beverly, 

 Mass.? After dinner we all felt remarkably 

 well and good-natured, and we adjourned to 

 the bee-yard. Bi'o. A. had just put up his last 

 shipment of queens: and as they were piled up 

 nicely on the cover of a Bay State hive we 

 brought our camera to bear upon them, Bro. A., 

 and the queen-rearing portion of the Bay State 





I.AST SHIPMENT OF QUEENS FROM THE BAY 

 STATE APIAHY, SEPT., 18tK). 



apiary. He is manipulating a Bay State hive, 

 and we caught a very good view. Forty full 

 colonies are in the honu^ yard, besides over two 

 hundred queen-reaiing hives. The little hives 

 and tin feeders were scattered promiscuously, 

 with entrances toward all points of the comjjass. 



We expressed a desire to see, the yellow Car- 

 niolans, and were immediately shown a colony 

 that would ordinarily pass for very good Ital- 

 ians. But these bees, when the hive was opened, 

 showed all the traits of the dark Carniolans. 

 No veil uor smoke was used. Quick motions 

 near the comb or over the hive were not resent- 

 ed. As to honey-gathering qualities, we should 

 think that Eastern Massachusetts is not the lo- 

 cality to test them for prodigious yields: but 

 Bros. Alley and Pi'att both have great confi- 

 dence in the superiority of this strain over all 

 others. 



We were next shown the colony in which was 

 installed the celebrated siOO queen. This colo- 

 ny had thrown oft a swarm quite early, and 

 during the season sixty frames of brood had 

 been drawn from the parent colony alone for 

 queen-rearing. But whatever prodigies the 

 colony had done, w(^ noticed that they wei-e 

 very active: and though it was during the last 

 days of September, they were busy at work: 

 and. allowing the Rambler to judge, it was the 

 best colony in the Bay State apiary. 



now Ar,I,EY INTRODUCES A FERTILE QUEEN 

 WITHOUT CAGING. 



While talking about introducing queens, Hro. 

 A. said he would show us how to do it. Taking 

 a fine large fertile queen from a nucleus he 

 stepped to a full colony, removed the covei', 

 and dropped her. in an unceremonious mannei'. 



among the bees. We watched her a few mo- 

 ments. The bees were fi'iendly, and she marched 

 straight down between the combs, the reigning 

 majesty. The colony had been queenless three 

 days, and it ^yasjustUir proper time to intro- 

 . duce her. Mucii eai'iier ur much later than 72 

 hours would have resulted dift'erently. 



HOW TO INTRODUCE A VIRCilN. 



We will now go with Bro. A. and introduce a 

 virgin (pieen to a nucleus. The tobacco smoker 

 is lighted, and the caged queen, perhaps just 

 from the nursery, is taken to the queenless 

 nucleus. A green plantain leaf is inserted in 

 the entrance, the cover removed, and a couple 

 of whiflfs of tobacco smoke, and another as the 

 queen is dropped, and the cover is replaced. 

 We thought that was doing things qnit(> rapid- 

 ly, and removed the cover to look a little longer. 

 Bro. A. says. '• Wait a few minutes, and we will 

 examine them again." He keeps a record of 

 the condition of the nucleus, with a shoetack 

 system. The Rambler will not undertake to 

 describe the vai'ious positions, slants, and an- 

 gles, and what they mean. 



About this time we returned to the nucleus, 

 and found every bee in the bottom of the nu- 

 cleus in a stupetied condition; and when their 

 senses i-etni'ued. the virgin queen was accepted. 

 The plantain leaf soon wilted, and the bees 

 could pass to their work. It struck the Ram- 

 bler all of a sudden that these 300 nuclei, so well 

 stocked with bees, would make several good 

 colonies, and we asked what was to be done 

 with them. 



'•Oh," said he, "some frosty morning I will 

 brush the bees off into the grass. It doesn't 

 pay to unite and feed up. The bees usually die 

 during the winter, and they might as well die 

 now, and save all of the bother. I purchase 

 bees in the spring to supply the waste." 



The little combs are packed away in barrels, 

 and secui-(^ly headed up to keep mice awav 

 from them. 



MR. AULKY. MR. PRATT (AN INVETERATE CIG- 

 ARETTE SMOKER), AND THE RAMBLER, 

 TALKINfJ BEES. AND THE TWINS 

 EATING HONEY. 



The full (o'onies were wintered outdoors in 

 double-walled Bay State hives. We now and 

 then found a di'one-trap kicking around in the 

 grass. In fact, we should judge that the grass 

 had got a little the start'of Kro. Alley while 

 raising his 1300 queens and editing the ApL 



