ISifJ 



(tLeanings in hee culture. 



<.)I5 



•' Do you thiiiU this colony will now accopl 

 this tliird iiin'cn?" 



•• Yes. I do. bociiiisc I have preparpd thorn ex- 

 pressly foi" luM". In the lii'st place, as soon as I 

 found they had killed the second one, I gave 

 iheni hatchinc Itrood. I was careful not to give 

 them a single cell containing eggs or larv;o — 

 ntit i>m'. Al till' end of foni' days from the time 

 of giving ihem the hatching brood, thi^y were 

 in the same condition that they wei-e fifteen 

 days from the time their old queen was remov- 

 ed, and hence in tlie light condition to accept a 

 virgin. IJut. in order to make a sure thing of 



^'l, I sliook the bees olT the combs in front of the 

 live, as you see, and. after re arranging the 

 combs in the hive. I placed a young virgin 

 queen, not over tliree hours old, on the top-bars. 

 and let her run down among the young b(H^s 

 that adhered to the combs; and as I have taken 

 ihefuitlicr precaution to sprinkle the bees with 

 sweetened water, that they may be well filled 

 on entering the hive. 1 feel quite sure the queen 

 will lie unmolested." 



■' Have you other queens to introduce to- 

 night?" 



■■ Yes. but not in this way. There is a colony 

 on the next row that have a laying worker, as I 

 discovered tnis morning: but I could not stop 

 then to lix them up. as I had urgent work to do 

 in another apiary. li' you will wait I will show 

 vou how I do it. First, I will go to the nursery- 

 hive and get a (jueen. I want a very young 

 queen for this purpose. There — there is one 



t'ust hatching in this corner cage. I will take 

 ler. I will put the cage she is now in in my 

 pocket, to keep her warm. Here is the hive 

 with the laying worker. I will first remove all 

 this drone brood and every queen-cell they 

 may have started, and give them this comb of 

 hatching brood. You will see that I have de- 

 stroyed and removed every larva and egg: now 

 I will place the queen on the comb right among 

 these hatched and hatching bees; and now I 

 place the comb in the center of the brood- 

 chamber. Now I will put in these three empty 

 combs to take the place of those that contained 

 drone brood started from the eggs laid by the 

 laying worker, and now the work is done." 



•• Well. Maiium. you have cleared up some 

 things which puzzled me. You know I am run- 

 ning one of my apiaries after your method of 

 removing queens, and I like it very mucli — 

 much better than I thought I would. But some 

 of my virgin queens have been rejected, and I 

 was at a loss to know how to account for it; 

 but I think now all is clear. I had thought of 

 giving my queenless colonies queen-cells, and I 

 called to night to ask you about it. If they 

 will accept a queen-cell, that will save all 

 trouble of fussing with (lueens. I saw in the 

 Review a few days ago. that one man in Colo- 

 rado gives his bees ceils instead of hatched 

 queens. What do you think of it?" 



"Don't you do it. Charles — at least, not as a 

 rule. I have done so occasionally, at some out- 

 apiary, when only two or three colonies needed 

 queens, and 1 had none for them; and to save 

 an extra journey I have given such colonies 

 queen-cells; but usually 1 have had trouble 

 with these colonies, in one way or another, if 

 the cell given them contains a good qu(!en, 

 which is not always the case, and she is accept- 

 ed, which is also 'not always the case,' they 

 are Unhle Uj swarm out with her — more so than 

 if a hatched queen is given them— at least, that 

 has been my ••■xperience. I therefore prefer giv- 

 ing a hatched queen, becausi-. in addition to the 

 reasons I have already given you, I can select 

 my queens before introducing, and use none 

 but the best; whereas, by the cell method one 

 has to ' go it blind ' to a certain extent.'" 



•'When introducing virgins at what you call 



the propter time, viz.. I'l days afti^r removing 

 the old queen, do you liiid there is any choice 

 as to how the queen is given to a colony?" 



'• Y'es, Charli'S, I do. I have tried various 

 ways, such as runninic them in at the entrance 

 just at night, at midday, and in the morning; 

 bv removing one of th(^ combs and placing her 

 on it among the bees and then returning the 

 combs: by iilacing her on the top-bars, and, 

 again, by letting her in through a hoh^ in the 

 hoiieyboard by shaking a portion of the bees 

 from the combs in front of th(^ hive, and drop- 

 ping the. queen among them. IJnt I have suc- 

 ceeded best by the simple way of letting her 

 run in from the top of the sections. I simply 

 raise one corner of the enameled cloth just 

 enough to expose one of the openings between 

 secticms and lay the nursery cage, containing the 

 qu(HMi, ov<'r this opening, with wire-cloth side 

 down: then draw the slide and wait a moment 

 for the queen to run down into the sections, 

 and the work is done. No matter how many 

 tiers of sections may be on — the more the bet- 

 ter. While I have succeeded with all the vari- 

 ous ways I !iave mentioned. I pnifer running 

 them in through the sections; and why? Be- 

 cause by this method the bees in the hive are 

 undisturbed. th(^ operation being performed so 

 quickly and quietly; and the bees find them- 

 selves at once in possession of a queen, without 

 knowing whence she came; and, having enter- 

 ed from the ' attic,' she is first introduced to 

 loaded bees just from the field, or quite young 

 bees, both of which are indisposed to quarrel; 

 and in making her way down through the 

 sections she takes on the scent of the colony, 

 which gives her an unquestionable passport, 

 and all is safe. 



"When you call again, Charles, I will tell 

 you something of my new method of manage- 

 ment, where bees are allowed to swarm with- 

 out giving an increase in colonies." 



Bristol, Vt., Dec. 3. A. E. Manum. 



[We are always glad to get articles from 

 Manum, because they "smack '" so strongly of 

 practical, every-day experience. It is indeed 

 true, that, in order to have success, there should 

 not be any eggs or unsealed larvjB— nothing 

 that will give them any hope of rearing a queen 

 themselves They are then in good condition, 

 realizing their helplessness, to accept a virgin; 

 and a lot of young bees in the hive goes a long 

 way to establish peace. Hatching brood is al- 

 ways good capital. Mr. Manum'sidea of hav- 

 ing a queen pass down through the sections 

 among voung bees and loaded field bees is ex- 

 cellent.! 



SUGAR-FED HONEY. 



.JUST A WORD OF EXI'LAX.VnON, AND NO MORE 



DISCU.SSION I.S cakf;d for at present. 



Editor Gleanings : — I thank you most sin- 

 cerely for allowing me to clearly define my 

 position on the sugar-honey question, but I 

 have iiad my "sav " so fully that I have noth- 

 ing further to offer. Lik(^ yourself, I think 

 nothing will be gained by continuing the dis- 

 cussion at present. There may be an article or 

 two more in the December Review, and possibly 

 a slight editorial reference to the matter, then 

 the subject will be dropped for other important 

 topics that are pressing for recognition. 



If you will allow me, I should like to explain 

 in regard to the one or two points touched upon 

 by " A. I. R." on page 897. The first point, that, 

 if sugar fed to bees becomes honey, then there 

 is an absurdity in adding real (floral) honey to 

 prevent crystallization, is answered by " A. I. 



