THE A5*IERlCAJSr BEE JOURNAL. 



229 



this occurs in less than live minutes, 

 and the result, I believe, may be 

 fatal, if no aid is given. Can any of 

 your numerous corresiJondeuts tell us 

 how such eases are to be treated 'i If 

 there be an unfailing remedy, all bee- 

 keepers should know it. The only 

 remedy familiar to me, consists in the 

 use of good brantiy for inward stimu- 

 lation, together with a cold sponging 

 of the body. But a better remedy 

 may be in use ; if so, let us know it. 

 Bruce County, Out. 



For the American Bee JoamaL 



Producing Comb Houey— Xo. 4. 



G. 31. DOOLITTLE. 



After getting our bees all in proper 

 condition, and the boxes put on as I [ 

 have before described, the next thing 

 which will be liable to occur will be : 

 swarming. After trying all the plans 

 of non-swarniiug hives given, with 

 no success. I settled down to the con- 

 clusion tliat such a thing did not exist 

 when working for comb honey, and 

 even if it did, 1 doubt if as large a 

 yield of honey could be obtained, as 

 by the use of swarming hives. Then 

 it we are to use swarming hives the 

 question coming next, is. shall we 

 make our swarms by dividing or by 

 letting them swarm naturally. Lately 

 I have used both ways with what 

 seemed to me the best results. It will 

 be seen that our bees are all in readi- 

 ness 15 days before the height of the 

 white clover harvest, and where this 

 is the main dependence for honey, all 

 swarming should be done withiii the 

 next 5 days. In this case swarming 

 ■would have to be done largely by di- 

 vision, but as basswood is oiV main 

 honey crop, coming about July 5, I do 

 not practice artificial swarming, only 

 so far as is necessary to have ail 

 swarming done ten days before bass- 

 wood opens. All swarms issuing 

 previous to 1-5 days before basswood. 

 are hived singly in hives containing 

 frames of empty comb, and in a week 

 from time of hiving the boxes are put 

 on, in the same manner described be- 

 fore. Those issuing the next 5 days 

 are hived two swarms in a hive, when 

 convenient to do so, and the full com- 

 plement of boxes put on at once. If 

 not convenient, the new swarm after 

 being hived is set on the stand of 

 another hive which has not swarmed, 

 and sucli colony changed to a new loca- 

 tion, thus securing to the new swarm 

 all the held bees from the colony 

 moved. Each sw-arm thus made has 

 given them a hive full of emptycombs 

 and the boxes are put on at once. Thus 

 it will be seen all the new swarms are 

 in splendid condition to take advan- 

 tage of the basswood harvest as soon 

 as it commences. 



Where I hive two swarms together, 

 the (jueeii belonging to one of the old 

 colonies is let to go back, when such 

 hive is moved to a new location and 

 the double sv^-arnis set in its place. 

 The old colony losing their queens by 

 their going witli the new swarms, are 

 allowed to rear their own queens, as 

 (after thoroughly trying the plan of) 

 giving each colony a laying queen im- 



mediately after swarming, has not 

 proven a success with me. Eight 

 days after a swarm has issued from a 

 hive 1 open it, and, having ascer- 

 tained that a queen has emerged from 

 the cell, by finding one open at the 

 end, I cut off all the rest and thus 

 stop all sec(Mid swarming. These 

 cells thus cut oil are placed in nucleus 

 hives, if I wish more queens. By 

 waiting till the first queen has 

 hatched, I have a certain thing when 

 the cells are all off, which is not the 

 case where all but one cell is taken 

 away 4 or -5 days after swarming, for 

 the bees will often rear queens from 

 the larva; there is still in the hive at 

 that time, and also the cell thus left 

 will often fail to hatch. 



When I think basswood will open 

 in about 10 days. I proceed to make 

 swarms from all the rest which have 

 not swarmed as follows : A hive is 

 filled with flames of empty combs 

 ;ind placed upon the stand of one of 

 these colonies which have not 

 swarmed, and all the boxes are taken 

 off and placed thereon, then all the 

 bees are shaken and brushed off their 

 combs of brood and honey, in front of 

 this prepared hive into' which they 

 will run as fast as shaken off. Thus 

 I have a colony that is ready for"biz"' 

 as soon as the' honey harvest comes, 

 as they have the queen, bees andjiart- 

 filled boxes all in readiness for work. 

 Previous to this, nuclei have been 

 started, so that I have plenty of lay- 

 ing queens to use as I need them. 



1 next take all the combs of brood 

 from which the bees were brushed, 

 except one, arranging them in the 

 hive the bees were shaken out of. and 

 carry them to the stand of another 

 colony which bus not swarmed. Xext 

 I take the comb of brood which was 

 left out an<l go to one of the nuclei, 

 taking out the frame having the lay- 

 ing queen on it. and place the conib 

 of brood in its jilace. Take tlie frame, 

 bees, queen and all, and set it in the 

 place left vacant for it when arrang- 

 ing the combs of brood. Now put on 

 the boxes, and. having all complete. I 

 move the colony to a new stand, and 

 set the prepared hive in its place. 

 Thus I have a laying queen and 

 enough of her own bees to protect 

 her. together with a hive filled with 

 I combs of brood and all the field bees 

 from the removed colony. In a very 

 few days these colonies are ready for 

 the boxes, and generally make" the 

 best colonies I have for storing honey. 

 The loss of bees to the removed colony 

 I stops the swarming impulse, and in 

 about a week they have so regained 

 their loss, tliat they are ready for the 

 boxes again. 



It will be seen my aim has been, in 

 using tliese several iilaiis. to get all 

 my bees strong enough to work in the 

 boxes (duriuK the best harvest) to ad- 

 vantage, and still have none of them 

 desire to swarm right in the height of 

 the best flow of honey. By adupting 

 a plan culled ■■ iiuoJeiis swarming." I 

 once had my bees (after an early divi- 

 sion) nearly all swarming right in the 

 ' height of the honey harvest, by which 

 1 I lost at least S-560. for swarm they 

 would in spite of all I could do. and 

 while the swarming fever is on but 



little work will be done in the sec- 

 tions, as all apiarists know. This 

 taught me a lesson ; I hope to profit 

 by aU such lessons, else why the use 

 of learning them. My next will be 

 working these boxes so as to get the 

 largest yield possible, and taking off 

 boxes. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Karmers' Home Joarnal. 



Introduciug (jueeiis. 



G. W. DEMAUEE. 



Who was the first to discover that 

 queen bees could be removed from 

 strong colonies, and others introduced 

 in their places, I am not able to say ; 

 nor do I suppose that it is important 

 to know. But that it can be done 

 with as general success as any other 

 important operation that requires 

 skill and patience, I have fully demon- 

 strated to my own satisfaction. I 

 have paid particular attention to the 

 many slightly differing methods re- 

 sorted to, to induce bees to accept of a 

 strange queen, and it would really ap- 

 pear that every apiarist claims that 

 there is something original about his 

 plan of proceeding. 



It is w'orthy of note, however, that 

 no matter how you may proceed there 

 are certain features about the busi- 

 ness that is essentially common to all 

 methods and must be present to in- 

 sure general success, viz: 1. The 

 colony to which a queen is to be in- 

 troduced must be queenless, and free 

 from the intluence of those pests 

 called "fertile workers." i'. There 

 sliould be no sealed queen cells. 3. 

 The queen must be " introduced " to 

 the bees, i. e.. placed in such a posi- 

 tion that the bees Can make her ac- 

 quaintance without the danger of her 

 being attacked by them if they are 

 hostile to her at first, as they gen- 

 erally are disposed to be. 



There are exceptions, however, to 

 all rules. Some colonies will accept a 

 strange queen without any trouble, 

 while others will resist in the most 

 stubborn and determined manner. 

 A prominent writer thinks that there 

 is, perhaps, one colony out of a hun- 

 dred that cannot be induced to accept 

 of a strange queen, but I have never 

 met with one that I could not subdue, 

 though I have on a few occasions had 

 to resort to severe measures to ac- 

 complish it. 



The first important tiling to learn is 

 liow to find and remove the queen to 

 be superseded. This operation is al- 

 ways a puzzle to the novice. In fact, 

 I know of no operation, the success of 

 wiiich depends so mucli on jnactical 

 knowledge and an actual practice. I 

 doubt very much if it is possible for 

 an inexperienced person to hunt up 

 and remove a queen from a strong 

 colonv. But if he will commence to 

 practice on small colonies where the 

 bees are few in number, and learn to 

 look up the queen, observe her habits, 

 etc., he will soon beable to find ht^r iu 

 anv colony. 



In looking up the queen in a strong 

 colony, I put an empty hive near at 

 hand and commence to remove the 



