276 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



it would be desirable that there should 

 be a plaoe where new inventions in the 

 way of apicultiiral appliances will be 

 promptly and impartially tested, there- 

 by saving individuals large amounts iu 

 the aggregate for what proves in the 

 end to be useless traps ; as well as in- 

 troducing to them really useful imple- 

 ments which otherwise would be 

 neglected from a fear that their pur- 

 chase would prove a useless expense. 

 Already in this line experiments have 

 been made with the plausible inventions 

 known as the non-swarmer aud self- 

 hiver — experiments which should save 

 the bee-keepers of the State much money 

 if they will only read the published re- 

 ports of their workings. 



The foregoing may serve to give an 

 idea of the nature of the work which 

 the station ought to perform, and a hint 

 to those interested of what benefit they 

 ought to derive from it. Of course, 

 other items of work should be under- 

 taken as the favorable season of the 

 year for them comes on, and a watch 

 kept for the rising of new questions 

 which seem to deserve consideration. 



Lapeer, Mich. 



INEore About Pulled Queens and 

 llieir Importance. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY H. F. COLEMAN. 



Mr. J. H. Andre, on page 120, asks 

 for more about pulled queens as a pre- 

 ventive of after-swarms. 1 have only 

 experimented in this line this season, 

 but my experience is, that as soon as a 

 queen gets her breakfast, after being 

 hatched, she is ready for business. Her 

 first business is to destroy all rival 

 queens, and the colony to which the 

 pulled queen is introduced having just 

 swarmed, is so weakened that she is 

 suffered to destroy all queen-cells, and 

 after-swarming is thus prevented. 



Having caught the idea of using 

 pulled queens, from something that was 

 written by Dr. Miller, I have thought 

 and experimented no little along that 

 line, and now see, as I think, in it great 

 possibilities. When understood we can- 

 not only use pulled queens and ripe 

 queen-cells with colonies just swarmed, 

 as stated by me on page 17, but we can 

 use with such colonies virgin queens of 

 any age up to two or three days old, or 

 at least this has been my experience. 



As soon as queen-cells are capped, the 

 colony is living in the expectation of a 



virgin queen, and it is perfectly natural 

 for the bees at this time to accept a vir- 

 gin queen if she is introduced in a gen- 

 tle manner. In these cases I use the 

 following rules : 



When I find ripe queen-cells, from a 

 choice queen, in excess of what I have 

 immediate use for, I cut them out and 

 put them in the West spiral cages to 

 hatch. As soon as a swarm issues from 

 another colony, I select one of the 

 nicest of the queens in these cages, and 

 take the cage containing her and put in 

 the top of it a thin plug of comb, and 

 then place the cage between the combs 

 of the parent colony. I then take a 

 tea spoonful of honey, and pour about 

 the cage, letting a little of it drop on the 

 plug in the cage. In a few hours the 

 queen is liberated, and with me, so far, 

 safely introduced. 



In introducing pulled queens, I simply 

 open the point of the cell and let the 

 queen crawl quietly down among the 

 bees ; being careful always not to touch 

 her with my hands. If she is handled, or 

 excited in any way, the chances of in- 

 troducing her successfully are not so 

 good. 



All who have tried it, know that it is 

 a very difficult matter to introduce a 

 laying queen to a colony that has just 

 swarmed. The reason of it is, that the 

 bees are looking for a virgin, and not a 

 laying queen. Keeping this in mind, 

 we will use virgin queens, pulled queens, 

 or queen-cells, with all such colonies. 



Sneedville, Tenn. 



The Experiment Station and 

 "Mew Education." 



Bead at the Missouri State Bee-Coiivetition 

 BY C. L. BUCKMASTER, 



It gives me great pleasure to be privi- 

 leged to read an essay which I hope will 

 result in something substantial in the 

 advancement of this our most delight- 

 ful pursuit — a pursuit which regales the 

 human mind with more pleasing facts 

 than are found in mathematics, philoso- 

 phy, history or literature. 



First, let me say to you that I have 

 been acquainted with our College of 

 Agriculture, and our Missouri Experi- 

 ment Station from their incipiency, 

 being a student of our University when 

 the corner stone of the Scientific and 

 Agricultural College building was put in 

 place, and the building dedicated to 

 practical education. I was on the 

 ground when the commissioners located 



