656 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



site being indented upon it. thus malving them 

 need a little extra care in uncapping; with the 

 larger section, slotted top and bottom only, 

 there is very little impression on the corres- 

 ponding comb. R. W. McDonnell. 

 Gait, Ont., Aug. 15. 



SHIPPING AND INTRODUCING VIRGIN 

 QUEENS. 



" ONE SWALLOW DOESN'T MAKE SPRING ; " DR. 

 miller's EXPERIENCE. 



July 12, John Hewitt, "' A Hallamshire Bee- 

 keeper," sent me by mail two virgin Punic 

 queens from England. Tliey were six days old 

 when mailed, and were ten days on the way, 

 making them sixteen days old at the time I re- 

 ceived them. I introduced thera to nuclei that 

 had been formed three days previously. No un- 

 sealed brood was in the nuclei, and I cut out all 

 queen-cells before introducing. 



The queens were dropped on top of the frames 

 in the dusk of the evening, without putting 

 with them any of the workers which accompan- 

 ied them. In one of the cages the bees were all 

 alive and lively. The queen immediately ran 

 down among the bees in the hive when dropped 

 on the combs. In the other cage one of the 

 workers was dead, and the queen appeai-ed a 

 little sluggish. I found that all the food in the 

 cage had been eaten except a few grains that 

 appeared very hai'd and dry. When I attempt- 

 ed to put this queen on the top of the combs she 

 Si^emed bent on crawling up my hand, and final- 

 ly took to flight. 



In spite of the general teaching, that, when a 

 queen flies away, if you will wait it will always 

 come back, I think I have never before had any 

 come back. But I stepped back so as to give it 

 a fair chance; and although it was getting so 

 dark it was not easy to see, I thought I saw it 

 alight and go in among the bees after flying 

 around for a minute or two. 



The second day after, July 14, I found each of 

 the queens all right in their hives. July 18, 

 both queens were laying nicely, and have con- 

 tinued to lay well ever since. 



Of course, I am not able from the above to 

 say any thing about the character of Punic 

 oees; but I think it a matter worth taking note 

 of, that these queens, as well as two others that 

 I received last year, were safely introduced 

 when sixteen days old, after making a journey 

 across the ocean and a long way across the con- 

 tinent. Formerly it was considered a very diffi- 

 cult thing to introduce a virgin queen unless she 

 was very young, perhaps less than a day old. 

 But Mr. Hewitt insists that, by taking the pre- 

 caution to Introduce them in the evening, giv- 

 ing them to bees that have been queenless for 

 48 hours, with nothing from which a queen 

 could possibly be raised, there need be no trou- 

 ble in the case. 



If success can always be had in introducing, 

 is it not possible that the sale of virgin queens 

 may get to be a matter of some importance? 

 Certainly it is easier to furnish virgin queens 

 than laying ones. It is no unusual thing to find 

 a dozen queens just ready to come out of their 

 cells, in a strong colony that has cast a swarm. 

 If these are to be sold as laying queens, there 

 must be the trouble of keeping each one some 

 days in a separate colony or nucleus to await 

 the time of laying. How much easier to put 

 the young queen immediately in a cage and 

 mail it! The person receiving the queen will, 

 to be sure, be under the necessity of furnishing 

 a nucleus, or some other place in which to put 



the queen, but this he would be obliged to do in 

 any case. 



It may be said, that the fertilization of the 

 queen should occur before shipping; and there 

 is weight in this if only black bees reign at the 

 receiving end, or only Italian at the shipping 

 end; but in many cases it would be about as 

 safe at one end as at the other, so long as the 

 matter of fertilization is so little under control. 



If it is necessary to wait till a queen is six 

 days old before shipping, it will not be so easy 

 as to take her right from the cell ; but even then 

 it need not be such a very great deal of trouble 

 to cage all the young queens in a hive for a few 

 days. Still, it might not be for the well-being 

 of a queen to be shut up the first six days of her 

 life. I have never taken any very great inter- 

 est in the shipping of virgin queens, and per- 

 haps less is said about it now than formerly; 

 but sometimes a thing is dropped as of no ac- 

 count, and afterward taken up with general in- 

 terest. The one thing that I know in this case 

 is, that it does not seem a very difficult matter 

 to ship a virgin queen a long distance and then 

 have her promptly introduced and do well aft- 

 erward. 



WHEN TO PUT ON SUPERS. 



A correspondent writes from Arkansas that he 

 does not find in the books proper instructions as 

 to putting on supers, and says, " When I got my 

 bees I put them into a hive with full frames of 

 foundation, and super with full frames. It has 

 often occurred tome that I did wrong in putting 

 on the super before the bees had the brood- 

 chamber full." As the books say nothing about 

 it he wants me to write about it in Gleanings. 



Why. friend H., you will find all about it in 

 the ABC, on page— page— page— well, now, I 

 can't just turn to the page ; but just turn to 

 "Comb Honey, How to Secure." Well, now, 

 just as sure as any thing, you're right. I felt 

 sure I'd find there all about it; but it tells when 

 to contract (and I doubt whether I'd contract at 

 all), and tells when to tier up; but a beginner 

 who bought a hive with all appurtenances com- 

 plete might easily suppose, as nothing is said 

 about it, that the bees are to have the whole 

 business at the outset. 



Well, you're right about how much the bees 

 are to have in the spring — only the brood-n(>st 

 till that is filled; and the general rule is, to 

 watch for the time when the bees begin to put 

 bits of white wax on top of the combs, and then 

 pur on supers. The objection to putting supers 

 on sooner is, that it does not keep the hive suf- 

 ficiently warm. With a very strong colony, or 

 in a warm country, the objection would be less. 

 In my own practice I don't watch for the bits of 

 white wax, but put on supers as soon as conven- . 

 lent after I see clover in bloom, that being my 

 source of surplus. That gives me plenty of 

 time to get supers on without being hurried, and 

 I'd sooner have them on a week too early than 

 a day too late. Moreover, by that time the 

 weather is so warm that no great damage is 

 done by having the extra room. Of course, if 

 something else than white clover was the source 

 from which I got my surplus I should be guided 

 accordingly, always aiming to get the supers on 

 a little before the time they will be needed for 

 the main flow. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Aug. 3. 



[Perhaps you and your friend are about right, 

 doctor, that not enough is said in the ABC in 

 regard to just when the surplus receptacles 

 should be put on the hive. Page 76 of the ABC 

 book, however, considers the matter pretty 

 thoroughly, and may be we shall find some- 

 thing still more definite elsewhere. If we do, 

 we wfll try to have it incorporated in the next 

 edition.] A. I. R. 



