1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



101 



in drumming tlie bees and queen from 

 tlie old hive in tlie new, putting a 

 queen excluder on the new hive, and 

 finally tlfe old hive on top of the new. 

 stopping all openings except the en- 

 trance to the new hive. The object of 

 the drumming is to make sure of 

 having the queen in the new liive. 

 Twenty-one days later the old hive 

 can be removed and demolished. 



Mr. Bourgeois found the drumming 

 part almost impossible, partly on ac- 

 count of the awkward shape of the 

 hives in common use and partly on ac- 

 count of the viciousness of the Alger- 

 ian (or Punic) bees. He then follow- 

 ed successfully the following process: 

 Put a virgin queen in a cage and the 

 cage in the hive from which you want 

 to drive the bees. The old queen will 

 try to destroy the virgin and finally 

 finding herself not able to do it. will 

 lead out a swarm. All that is to be 

 done is to put the swarm in the new 

 hive. Mr. Bourgeois does not say 

 whether x,e used a queen trap or not. 

 Anyway, this is certainly a good way 

 of securing a queen which cannot be 

 found by the usual processes. 



I am not siu-e that the process would 

 be as successful with other races of 

 bees as "Mr. Bourgeois found it. 



The Punic bees are not only very 

 vicious, but also inveterate swarmers. 

 They are first-class honey gatherers, 

 but cap their honey quite greasy. They 

 are the blackest race of bees known. — 

 Adrian Getaz. 



lUack River N. Y., March 21, 1904. 

 Mr. Editor: 



In the American Bee-iKeeper for 

 .T.Miuary, 1904, Brother A. C. Miller 

 says that bees pack pollen with their 

 iii.iudibles. I dont' tlnnk so. I think 

 aiiii am almost sure that they use 

 thoir front feet. 



If you will take a new drawn comb 

 and pull a bee out of a cell when they 

 arc at work packing pollen, you will 

 find the imi)ression of her feet all over 

 tli«' top of the cell of pollen. If you 



cannot, use a magnifying glass. I hope 

 we shall know who is right some time. 

 There has been too much theory and 

 not facts published in our bee books. 



Some hives are better for comb honey 

 than others, but one would think to 

 hear some of these patent hive men 

 talk, or read their articles, all you 

 need is their hive. I wish to tell the 

 beginner as W. L. Coggshall did years 

 ago: First, the location; 2d, the bee- 

 keeper; last, the hive. I often hear 

 a novice say if I had a hive so and so, 

 I could get a lot of honey. I never 

 could find any kind of business that 

 would run itself without hard work 

 and brains. As this has been a hard 

 winter for bees up here in New York 

 state, especially for those out of doors, 

 there will be more or less weak colo- 

 nies this spring, and as I have found 

 in years of experience it don't pay to 

 double them up early in the spring, 

 unless they are queenless. Tuck them 

 up nice and warm until the honey 

 flow opens. Then, and not until then. 

 That is the time we have got to have 

 sti-ong colonies for comb honey: for 

 you cannot produce fancy comb honey 

 unless your colonies are strong. I 

 found out years ago by two colonies 

 uniting when they swarmed, that not 

 only stored more than double the honey 

 but nicer in every way. I use the L. 

 dovetailed hive, eight frames. 1 use 

 two stoi'ies if the queen is a good one. 

 Don't use a queen more than two years. 

 I find this plan the safest, wiien I 

 get the first brood nest well filled with 

 eggs, and brood I put the other under, 

 not on top. If you put it on top the 

 bees will fill it with honey before the 

 queen can fill the combs witu eggs, but. 

 by putting it under, the bees will not 

 crowd the queen. This has been my 

 experience. A young, vigorous queen 

 will not hesitate to go down to the 

 empty combs. How I do pity poor old 

 Dame Nature. Undeveloped worker 

 bee, she not only mothers the young 

 but gathers the food and builds the 

 combs. And yet man says she is un- 

 developed. Geo. B. Howe. 



Brunswick, Me.. April 9, 1904. 

 Dear Brother Hill: 



I wish to express my thanks to our 

 friend A. C. Miller, for his instructive 

 article in the April number of the Bee- 

 Keeper, in which he gives us the re- 



