GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



thing in regard to wliy a queen is accepted 

 in one case and not in another. It is gen- 

 erally agreed that when a new queen is once 

 quietly among her new family there is little 

 to fear for her safety. If the bees and the 

 new queen can be brought to the same state 

 of mind (sounds queer, but it is the best way 

 we can exjaress it), or distress, or what-not, 

 there is no ground for a fight. When con- 

 ditions return to normal, all tliought of 

 previous differences are forgotten and 

 things are accepted as they then exist. 



Evei"j' one knows that bees retreat before 

 a i^utf of smoke ; tlierefore when smoke is 

 puffed into the hive entrance preparatory 

 to limning the queen in, the bees leave the 

 bottom-board and the bottom-bars of the 

 frames in a general route to get away from 

 the smoke. The consequence is that, when 

 the queen runs in, tliere is nobody at home, 

 and she is alone to fight it out with the first 

 guard she may meet. Such a condition is 

 about as unfavorable to her acceptance as 

 well could be, as all methods have for their 

 prime purpose to get the queen into close 

 relationship with a large part of the colony 

 without causing suspicion or a quarrel. 



It occurs to me that Mr. Miller's uniform 



Bees on milkweed. Photographed by 1). M. Br}-<ant, 

 Etheifelts, Virginia." 



Jiees working on prickly-ash, a scrub-like Im.sh 

 about 12 feet high. Photographed by D. M. Bryant, 

 Etheifelts, Va. [The oiiginal i)hotograph showed 

 upward of 20 bees working on this single branch. — 

 Ed.] 



success is due, whether he knows it or not, 

 almost wholly to using the right amount of 

 smoke in the first place, and then awaiting 

 the iDsychologieal moment to run the queen 

 in when the bees have naturally surged 

 back to the bottom-board in their desperate 

 effort to make an escape. He is, no doubt, 

 able to sense the moment when the queen 

 will find everybody home and none looking 

 for an intruder. May I suggest that the 

 liive be lifted an inch or two, and then 

 bumped down hard enough to bring a good- 

 ly bunch of bees down on the bottom-board 

 a few seconds only before the queen is run 

 in? The philosophy of this suggestion is 

 that the queen becomes intimately mixed 

 with the bees while all are in the state of 

 greatest demoralisation; and by the time 

 things begin to be natural again she has 

 reached the combs (still among her new 

 family), and is at home. By bumping the 

 liive, and so bringing a mass of demoralized 

 bees down to the bottom-board, tliat "psy- 

 chological moment " can be made to order, 

 and utilized, as it would seem, without fail. 

 If tliis should prove to be the deciding 

 factor between success and failure it will 



