AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



565 



was in complete control of the colony. 

 He used no smoke. 



Now, did these bees prefer a black 

 queen to an Italian, or had they been 

 queenless so long as to abandon all hope 

 of rearing one of their own, and were 

 ready to accept anything in the shape of 

 a queen that came along? 



George Mott, M. D. 



Spurger, Tex., Sept. 12, 1892. 



Doctor, I do not think that bees show 

 any preference, or use any partiality, 

 between a black or an Italian queen. 

 Your neighbor's bees were probably in 

 better condition to receive the black 

 than when the Italian was introduced. 

 However, some queens are harder to in- 

 troduce than others, on account of their 

 actions. When a queen is wild, and 

 starts to running or " squalking," the 

 bees become excited and chase and ball 

 her ; when, if she had behaved herself, 

 and kept quiet, she would have been 

 received all right. 



Spring Management of Bees. 



Mrs. Atchley, I wish you would give 

 me a good plan for managing bees in 

 spring. Emanuel B. Kauffman. 



Brickerville, Pa. 



Just as soon as it is warm enough in 

 the spring so that your bees will not be 

 damaged by handling, overhaul them, 

 and see if the queens, as well as the 

 bees have come through all right. 

 Should any be short of stores, fill an 

 empty comb with honey or syrup, and 

 hang it in the hive close up to the clus- 

 ter. If they become stimulated enough by 

 this feeding to rear brood, you may keep 

 close watch on them for they will need 

 food again almost before you know it. 



Now, you had better keep feeding this 

 colony, or the colonies, moderately until 

 honey enough is being gathered to sup- 

 port them. This looks to be expensive, 

 but I have never yet seen a season that 

 it did not pay to feed, especially those 

 colonies short of stores, and were I to 

 run an apiary for either extracted or 

 comb honey, and my bees had an abun- 

 dance of honey in the spring, at the 

 proper time I would extract this honey 

 and feed it back to them, because this is 

 one of the best stimulants I know of, 

 and you just give me good queens, and I 

 will assure you I will have the hives 

 boiling over with bees at any time I 

 want them. 



Now make your own calculations, and 

 do the stimulating in time to have the 



bees begin hatching about two weeks 

 before the honey harvest — no difference 

 at what place you are, in the United 

 States or elsewhere, this will work just 

 the same. 



See my plan of feeding on page 492. 

 Should you feed honey, dilute it with 

 warm water, or, if syrup is used, make 

 it rather thinner than you would for 

 table use. 



Now should you wish to spread the 

 brood and drop in frames of foundation, 

 or empty combs to aid them in enlarging 

 their brood-nest, by all means be care- 

 ful, as you may upset the whole plan 

 you have started. But spreading the 

 brood, if properly done, will surely be 

 an advantage. The great danger in 

 brood spreading is in cool snaps coming, 

 and causing the bees to cluster closely, 

 and leave the outside brood to chill, and 

 be lost , hence your feed to start that 

 chilled brood is lost. 



Study the flora of your territory as well 

 as your bees. Know at about what time 

 your honey-plants bloom, and when they 

 do bloom do not take it for granted that 

 you are now safe, for they may not 

 always produce honey. But keep up 

 your feeding until you know the bees are 

 getting honey. 



Safe Way for Introducing Queens. 



I have a way of introducing queens 

 which is absolutely safe. I take 8 frames 

 of hatching brood, without a bee on 

 them, and put them into a hive with the 

 queen, and place a 5 gallon can of hot 

 water in the hive every night for four or 

 five nights. At the end of that time 

 they can go it for themselves. 



Thos. S. Dowse. 



Friend Dowse, your plan of introduc- 

 ing has been used more or less for years, 

 and I believe it is getting old and behind 

 the times, notwithstanding it is a safe 

 and sure way, but almost too much work 

 for progressive and bread-earning bee- 

 keepers. 



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