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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



made to keep queens in this way, but I think 

 have generally resulted in the loss of nearly 

 all the queens. A second attempt on your 

 part might not prove so favorable. Better 

 results would be secured in a good dry cel- 

 lar on the same plan instead of outdoors. 

 If any one else has tried this or any other 

 plan for keeping queens over winter that 

 has worked successfully, we should be glad 

 to have him report. — Ed,] 



GIVING A QUEENLESS COLONY A QUEEN-CELL 

 WHEN FOLLOWING ALEXANDER'S METH- 

 OD OF INCREASE. 



On page 606, W. H. Crawford wishes to 

 know if any have tried giving the queenless 

 colony a ripe queen-cell in trying the Alex- 

 ander method of increase, page 425. 



At swarming time I took a colony with a 

 queen-cell and put the queen and a frame of 

 brood in an empty hive-body, with drawn 

 combs, with a little honey in them from last 

 year. I put this on the bottom-board; on 

 top of this a queen-excluder, then the rest 

 of the brood with the ripe queen-cell on the 

 queen-excluder. After eleven days I put 

 the top body with brood and queen-cell on a 

 bottom-board in a new location, the same as 

 when increasing by nuclei. The queen 

 hatched and is laying. The colony is work- 

 ing finely. F. G. Ralph. 



Hyrum, Utah, June 12. 



[Your results will be better, I feel sure, 

 to put the laying queen in the new hive be- 

 low, as recommended by Mr. Alexander. 

 If, for some reason, this is not practicable, 

 you can give cells as described. — Ed.] 



WHICH ONE OF THE FIVE SENSES WOULD 

 ACCOUNT FOR THIS? 



I see in the April issue that J. W. Porter, 

 M. D., of Ponca, Neb., asks questions about 

 the five senses. The first part of this month 

 I bought two colonies of hybrids, and they 

 were in common cross-'stick hives; so the 

 first thing was to transfer (for if I owned 

 only two colonies of bees I would have them 

 in proper quarters). But I transferred 

 them, and they seemed to be all right, so 

 they were not near any other colonies, so I 

 just cut out the good honey, and the brood 

 comb was so dirty I came to the conclusion 

 I would let the bees carry out the honey. I 

 set the old hive a little distance from the 

 new one. One of my colonies did not like 

 their new quarters, so they just picked up 

 and left me, and the two old hives remained 

 there about five days. After the colony left 

 I noticed some young bees crawling from 

 the old hive to the one that was vacated, so 

 I went to investigate and found about a pint 

 of young bees and no queen. I had no queen 

 to give them, so I supposed they would die; 

 but I watched them, and on the 9th day they 

 also went to an unknown place. Whether 

 they followed the original colony or not I 

 can not tell, but rather think so. The other 

 young bees went to their hive, and they 



were within 18 inches of one another, and 

 they never made a mistake. 

 Dayton, Wash. C. W. Curteman. 



[The young bees hatching from the brood 

 in the old hive were probably attracted to 

 the new hive, formerly occupied by their old- 

 er sisters, by the colony odor. But it seems 

 a little strange that they should desert a 

 hive that must have had some brood left, 

 and having the same colony odor, for one 

 having no brood. Perhaps the new hive had 

 a fresher odor. 



It is hardly probable that the first lot of 

 bees followed the second lot. — Ed.] 



A GOOD SUGGESTION ON INTRODUCING. 



So many inquiries are made for a safe 

 method of introducing queens by parties re- 

 sponding to my recent ofi'er of queens for 

 sale in Gleanings that I forward a plan I 

 have followed most successfully during the 

 35 years I have been engaged in bee-keep- 

 ing. Place the queen you wish to introduce 

 in a cage with a dozen yoking bees from the 

 colony to which she is to be introduced, and 

 place the cage in position in the hive, imme- 

 diately upon the removal of the queen whose 

 place she is to take. A provisioned cage is 

 best, though an unprovisioned one will ans- 

 wer. Getting acquainted with strange bees 

 is often more reason for bees refusing a 

 queen than any antipathy to herself. I find 

 very few colonies object to a queen intro- 

 duced in this manner. Indeed, most of them 

 fail to realize that they have been queenless 

 at all. My loss does not exceed one or two 

 queens out of a hundred, even under unfa- 

 vorable conditions. B. F. Averill. 



Howardsville, Va. 



[Your suggestion is excellent. It has 

 been mentioned before, but like some other 

 good things has been overlooked. It would 

 not be practicable for a beginner to apply 

 it. -Ed.] 



LAYING WORKERS AMONG HOLY-LAND BEES. 



According to the ABC, laying workers 

 are apt to turn up "wherever the bee-keep- 

 er has been so careless as to leave his bees 

 destitute of either brood or queen for ten 

 day?." I made a colony of Holy Lands 

 queenless and broodless; left it so four days, 

 then gave it a frame of eggs and larvae to 

 build queen-cells. To-day, eight days since 

 brood was given, I found eleven cells sealed, 

 and laying workers busily at work. In some 

 cells (all worker) they have deposited half a 

 dozen eggs. I caught one in the act of lay- 

 ing, killed and examined it, and found it had 

 only one more eg^. So laying workers may 

 also appear where unsealed larvae are pres- 

 ent. This case may, however, be an excep- 

 tion to the general rule. 



J. G. Baumgaertner. 



New Memphis, 111., July 11. 



[With ordinary Italians you would not be 

 liable to find laying workers under, perhaps, 

 a month of queenlessness. The same would 



