774 



quick as either one of the boys did. Each 

 shot struck it in the neck and either one 

 would have been fatal. 



It was a good-sized yearling, and very 

 fat. We debated a bit as to whether this 

 was the bear that Charles had seen earlier, 

 or whether there were two of them. We 

 finally came to the conclusion that, even if 

 there was another one, after having seen us, 

 and heard us shoot, it would not come back 

 that night. Anyhow, we were quite anxious 

 to get home and show our game, and may be 

 brag about it a little, for it is considered 

 something of an achievement to shoot and 

 kill a bear, even in this new wild country. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Going back the next morning, we found 

 another bear had been in the yard during 

 the night, and upset three or four more col- 

 onies. We kept watch nights after this, 

 until we had the bees moved home; but the 

 one that was left had got aware that some 

 one was around there, and kept out of our 

 sight. All together our loss from this raid 

 was more than $300. Between bears, forest 

 fires, and one cyclone that passed over one 

 of our yards, we have had some strenuous 

 times here in Northern Michigan; but in the 

 vernacular of the wild West, we are "still in 

 the ring" and still fighting. 



Lake City, Mich. 



A FUETHEM REPORT MECAMDING THE SMOKE METHOD OF INTRO= 



BY MORLEY PETTIT 



Some time ago we received three queens, 

 with directions for introducing by the 

 smoke method instead of the cage plan. 

 Reports from this plan are coming in at the 

 present time, and they are very similar to 

 what have been t-eported in Gleanings. I 

 consider that the careful beekeeper who 

 has had experience in experimenting will be 

 successful from the start with this method. 

 It has also been found successful by some 

 beginners, but quite a- number have reported 

 lack of success. The same, of course, can 

 be said of the cage-introducing plan. One 

 young man who tried the latter plan for the 

 first this year lost one out of three — that is, 

 he lost every third queen out of several 

 dozen which he introduced by the cage plan. 

 His success with the smoke method was in 

 the same proportion. Another young man 

 introducing queens for the first time this 

 year, has been almost uniformly successful 

 with the smoke method. 



In our own apiaries, which are being 

 managed by my sister. Miss Pettit, the 

 smoke method is used exclusively. The 

 other day when we were ordering four 

 dozen queens for rcqueening during Sep- 

 tember and October, I said, " Will you in- 

 troduce these by the cage or the smoke 

 method?" Very positively she replied, 

 " The smoke method." and then she told me 

 about one queen which arrived almost dead, 

 and which was viciously attacked through 

 the screen of the cage when put in to be 

 introduced by the cage plan. She closed up 

 the colony and smcked it according to the 

 smoke method described by Arthur C. Mill- 

 er, turned the queen in, and next day when 

 she looked in the queen was bright and 

 strong, laying in the usual way. 



Mr. Davis, of Tennessee, told me at the 

 St. Louis convention that he and his father 

 used the smoke method some years ago, and 

 discarded it in favor of the starvation plan. 

 They starve the queen for thirty minutes, 

 then oj^en the hive and let her loose on a 

 comb. They find this more generally suc- 

 cessful even than the smoke method. 



Guelph, Can. 



[In considering the smoke method of in- 

 troducing queens, or any other method, for 

 that matter, we must all bear in mind the 

 fact that the percentage of failures report- 

 ed might have been as great or even greater 

 if some other plan had been used. The 

 smoke method seems to be holding its own. 

 There are some failures, as must be expect- 

 ed. Some bees seem to be just naturally 

 stubborn. 



In this connection, at one of our swamp 

 yards we recently introduced 24 laying 

 queens which had been sent out from a 

 queen-rearing yard some 15 miles away. Or- 

 dinary 2i4x3V2-inch mailing-cages were 

 used for introducing-cages. On visiting the 

 yard a week later Ave found all of the 24 

 accepted and laying. Our Mr. Geo. H. 

 Rea believes that mailing-cages are more 

 successful for introducing than the regular 

 Miller introducing-cages — perhaps because 

 there is usually a larger amount of candy 

 that must be eaten out. Of course, in case 

 of queens sent through the mails it is a wise 

 precaution to use another cage rather than 

 the one from the breeder, on the principle 

 of erring on the safe side as far as disease 

 is concerned. — Ed.] 



