AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



437 



etc. I will give an example of a similar 

 thing, as I had some experience in the 

 same line with not less than six colonies 

 this year, some with inferior queens, and 

 by colonies becoming queenless, etc. 



About May 15th, I had 36 hives out 

 in the hot sun, and the comb of the 

 hives became so hot that it began to get 

 so tender that it would get loose and 

 fall out of the frames ; and the bees had 

 such a swarming fever that I thought I 

 would have them moved to a cooler 

 place. I therefore got help, and moved 

 the hives the same Friday night. Now 

 came the trouble : What was to be done 

 with the bees that would return to the 

 old apiary? I took two empty hives 

 early Saturday morning, and put in one 

 frame of young brood, and in the bal- 

 ance of the frames I put foundation, so 

 they could go to work, as I could not 

 give the exact bee to the hive it came 

 from, as I could not tell them part, and 

 if I had put them in some of the weakest 

 colonies, they might have been destroyed 

 or caused the colony to which they were 

 given, to take the swarming fever, and 

 I did not want to be bothered with any 

 more swarms for the season. Therefore, 

 the only thing to be done with them was 

 to make new colonies out of them. 



Now came another point — I did not 

 have any queens to put in them, and did 

 not have any time to send off for them, 

 so the only thing was to see that they 

 reared good ones themselves. This might 

 have done for young bees, but everybody 

 that handles bees knows that the bees 

 that generally return to their old homes 

 are the oldest of the colony. 



On Saturday morning they began to 

 return, and about 9 o'clock they began 

 to settle on the only two trees that were 

 near, so I put the hives where they were 

 alighting. As soon as the hives were set 

 straight, they left the trees and went 

 pell-mell into them, as if they were 

 going to their own homes, and not a bee 

 disturbed another. At sunset, both 

 hives had more bees than they could 

 hold — we could not see the hive for the 

 bees ; and this was not all, they kept 

 coming all day Sunday. On Monday 

 morning I fixed two more hives, and 

 divided them. I know there was not 

 less than a bushel in the hives and on 

 the sides. 



In a few days they were on the right 

 road to rear their queens, and soon had 

 them ready to work. Three of the four 

 I left, and from the other one I thought 

 I would rear some Italian queens, as I 

 just received a very fine one. So I 

 caught the young queen before she laid 



an egg, and destroyed her, and put the 

 colony to work. As soon as they were 

 ready for use, I took them all away ex- 

 cept one, which was destroyed by the 

 bees, so that left me without any for the 

 colony, as I had used all the balance, 

 and only had some just started a very 

 few days. So I waited until they were 

 ready, and gave one to them, and it was 

 destroyed as in the former case. I kept 

 on giving to it until I had given it five, 

 and they were all dealt with alike. I 

 then became disheartened, and gave 

 them a laying queen. 



They were queenless for about 65 

 days, and the bees were all old (more or 

 less) at the time they were moved, and 

 it took them between 15 or 20 days be- 

 fore any young bees were in the hive. It 

 was about 50 days from the time that I 

 made it before any of the young bees 

 could help their brothers or sisters, and 

 there was hardly any brood reared, and 

 very few old bees. 



The only way I see to make them do 

 their duty, is to see that they have bees 

 of all ages, and enough to take care of 

 the brood. It is a fact that young bees 

 never venture to any of the hives under 

 a certain number of days, and only in 

 the middle of the day ; therefore, it is 

 supposed that they do most of the house- 

 keeping, and if they are lacking, and 

 the old are scarce, it is a certain fact 

 that there will be something wrong. 



Let some one else try a colony the 

 same way, and if uncapped brood won't 

 result, I am greatly mistaken. 



Baldoc, S. C, Sept. 7, 1893. 



Italian Bees — An Experiment 

 Avitii Drones, Etc. 



Written for " TTie Illustrated Bee Journal " 

 BY ADAM GRIMM. 



On pages 169 and 170, is an article 

 about queen-bees, from the able contrib- 

 utor, Dr. Gallup, which I have read 

 with much interest, the more so as I 

 rear and send off a larger number of 

 queens every season. I fully agree 

 with him, that queens cannot be reared 

 by thousands, like cabbage plants, and 

 all be good ones ; that queens are found, 

 three of which will not lay as many eggs 

 as one good one ; that a great many bee- 

 keepers are, and will be, disappointed 

 with the Italian bees after trying them, 

 as many will get queens that are very 

 little prolific, although they appear to 

 be all right in other respects. And not 

 only will the queens they receive be 



