170 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



to start cells at all. Of course, when 

 the colony has become queenless by ac- 

 cident, you should give them a queen 

 the first chance, but be sure they have 

 no virgin, or queen-cell, otherwise you 

 will fail. Should I have one of those 

 bad colonies to introduce a queen to, 

 such as Mr. Doolittle speaks of, 1 would 

 put the queen into the hive three days 

 in the cage ; I would take away all 

 brood, and give them empty combs, or 

 combs of honey. Then I would shake 

 the bees all oft" the combs in front of the 

 hive, and turn the queen loose with 

 them, and as soon as they were all in 1 

 would shake them up again, just as be- 

 fore, and then shut up the hive. In a 

 few hours give them a frame of brood, 

 and then let them alone. — Exchange. 



[It appears to us that there is more 

 foolishness written on the sul)ject of in- 

 troducing queens than any other subject 

 connected with bee culture. 



A queenless colony should have no 

 acquaintance with a queen that is to be 

 introduced to them unless the bees have 

 been queenless 72 hours at least. If a 

 colony has been queenless three days, 

 it is perfectly safe to smoke the bees 

 with any kind of smoke (tobacco is 

 best) and let the queen in on the combs 

 at once, throw some grass against the 

 entrance to keep out robber bees, and 

 all will go well. Don't disturb the hive 

 for a week. This is good advice. 



What a queer idea it is to remove all 

 the brood from a colony in order to in- 

 troduce a queen successfully. It strikes 

 us that no person of any exi)erience 

 with bees would advise or resort to any- 

 thing of the kind.] 



HE KNOWS A GOOD THING. 



Mr Alley : — I like the Api above all 

 the other bee-papers. 



Williamsburs:, Ohio. G. W. Felton. 



THAT HUNDRED-DOLLAR QUEEN. 



I received a letter a few days since 

 from one who had some time since pur- 

 chased a daughter of your $100 queen. 

 He said she was the best queen he ever 

 bought. He used her for a queen 

 mother, and she did him a great deal 

 of good. He also remarked that such 

 a queen was cheap at $100. I have 

 sometimes thought I would import a 

 a new race of bees, and also would like 

 to, with others, try my hand at getting 

 '^Apis dorsatii" from India. But if one 

 spends his time and money, runs the 

 risk and worry of importing bees, and 

 then gets slandered, abused, and prop- 

 olized all over generally, as you have 

 been for his pains, there is not much 

 encouragement in seeking new races. 

 By the way, there will be but few bees 

 reach America alive across the Atlantic 

 for some time. 



Brimstone, smoke and sulphuric acid 

 for half an hour, and then held twenty 

 days in quarantine, are not just exactly 

 conducive to receiving them in the best 

 possible condition. 



W. C. Frazier. 

 A thin tic, Iowa. 



[Very good, friend Frazier, you seem 

 to understand the points. Just as sure 

 as you, or any one else, as to that mat- 

 ter, succeed in landing any new race of 

 bees in America, you will be slandered 

 and stamped a fraud, as all have been 

 who have been enterprising enough to 

 import or produce new races or develop 

 new strains of bees. But then you know 

 it is not the better class of beekeepers 

 who do the slandering. 'Tis those fel- 

 lows wanting in enterprise, common 

 sense and decency who stoop to do such 

 contemptible things. The better class 

 of beekeepers will support you and pur- 

 chase your goods.] 



