THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



425 



tached to the old queen, that they 

 will not brook substitution and im- 

 mediately destroy the intruder. 



There are so very many plans given 

 for catching the queen that the opera- 

 tion has become so simplified that it 

 can easily be accomplished in the 

 strongest colony. It is not necessary 

 to look all over tlie combs and in 

 every corner of tlie hive to lind the 

 queen, but you can easily locate her 

 upon a comb, in any part of the hive. 

 This is not done by inserting combs 

 of honey — for the qiieen never takes 

 honey from tlie cells out is fed by the 

 bees— but by giving lier an opportun- 

 ity to deposit eggs without disturb- 

 ance, especially drone eggs, which oc- 

 cupation best' pleases her majesty. 

 For this purpose choose empty brood- 

 combs, or such as are only partially 

 tilled, for the queen will be in haste 

 to occupy all sjiace and till the cells 

 with eggs in order to close the brood. 

 If you will exauiiiie tliat hive in 24 

 hours, witliout creating disturbance, 

 you will, in nearly every instance, lind 

 the queen on tliis comb. 



To get H queen out of a box hive, 

 about the only way is to drum the 

 bees out and allow the queen to pass 

 out with them. Tliere will be no 

 difliculty in discovering an Italian 

 queen from lier golden color, for she 

 excels the worker bees in brightness. 

 The astronomer does not liave to 

 search tlie heavens when seeking 

 Venus, Jupiter, or Mars, for they so 

 far surpass the surrounding planets 

 in brilliancy that they catcli the eye 

 at a glance. No more does the bee- 

 keeper seek in vain liis Italian queen, 

 and in queen rearing this is quite an 

 ■Dbject. After the queen is captured 

 and tlie colony becomes fully aware 

 of its loss, the bees will build queen 

 cells and rear a successor. We may 

 also expect some "after swarms;" 

 the first one will probably appear in 

 about fourteen days, the time being 

 varied by the strength of the colony. 

 But to those bee-keepers who are 

 not seeking an increase of colonies 

 but rather depend upon the honey 

 harvest for their profits, the method 

 ' we have given would be of no value. 

 Sucli bee-keepers must immediately 

 place a young queen in the colony 

 trom which the queen has been re- 

 moved, in order to prevent after 

 swarming and cause as little disturb- 

 ance among the honey gatherers as 

 possible. Ttie new queen must be 

 caged at least 24 hours, when intro- 

 duced ; some prefer placing a queen 

 cell in the hive that is nearly de- 

 veloped, but this requires skill and 

 patience. I have recently tried — and 

 with much better success — hanging 

 the entire coinb containing tlie queen- 

 cell in tlie hive which contains no 

 queen. Queen cells are not scarce in 

 the swarming season ; every colony 

 which has produced an early swarm 

 will contain several queen cells 

 which must be used at just the proper 

 time, that is, wlien 9 or 10 daysold, 

 for if delayed longer, some mav have 

 fully matured, and if the bees are not 

 inclined to swarm these new queens 

 may destroy those '-emaining unde- 

 veloped, by biting through the cells. 

 The bees usually place the queen cells 



upon one or two combs ; attention is 

 necessary to distribute them suffi- 

 ciently, that every queenless colony 

 may be supplied with comb contain- 

 ing one or more queen cells. This 

 method of superseding queens is cer- 

 tainly very simple antl practical, as 

 well as expeditious. Very little dis- 

 turbance IS created among the bees, 

 and scarcely any interruption of labor. 

 The young queen will soon become 

 fertilized and commence depositing 

 eggs. Should she by any means be 

 lost or destroyed during the wedding 

 Higlit, a new queen cell should be im- 

 mediately inserted, and care should 

 be taken to select one nearly matured 

 that the bees may not become too 

 much excited. 

 Carlsmarkt, Germany. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



D. A. Jones' Method of Transferring. 



WM. F. CLAKKE. 



When at Beeton, the other day, I 

 was astonished to find Mr. Jones' 

 home yard full of the motliest collec- 

 tion of old gums, time-worn box 

 hives, and other antiquated bee " fix- 

 ins," that I have ever set eyes on. In 

 anticipation of the arrival of a lot of 

 Palestine queens, he had taken a tour 

 through a secluded section of country 

 inhabited mostly by colored people, 

 and bought up about a hundred col- 

 onies of black bees, domiciled in these 

 ancient homes. It only wanted a few 

 weather-beaten straw skips to com- 

 plete the picture of apicultural anti- 

 quities. 



The Palestine queens were shipped 

 too early in tlie season, got delayed 

 among the icebergs in the gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and only two survived, 

 causing an entry of §1,000 to the 

 wrong side of the profit and loss ac- 

 count in the Jones ledger. The 

 weather was not very ausjpicious for 

 transferring, but it had to be done, as 

 many of the colonies were short of 

 stores, and some were even swarming 

 out in search of the food which a 

 backward season failed to supply 

 from early spring flowers. 



Notwithstanding all the scientific 

 appliances lie has at command, Jones 

 is the most " rough-and-ready " bee- 

 keeper I have ever met with. He 

 goes at the business of transferring 

 like a regular backwoodsman, armed 

 with an axe and a bowie-knife. 

 '• Bring a hive !" It is brought ac- 

 cordingly, and put in the place of the 

 old hive, which is turned bottom side 

 up, and set beside the new one. "Blow 

 in some smoke." While this is being 

 done, Jones is considering the best 

 place for beginning the work of de- 

 molition. Whack goes the axe on the 

 chosen spot. You would think the 

 bees would streak out like lightning. 

 But they don't. That blow with the 

 axe seems to stun them. Soon a piece 

 of the old hive is split out without 

 damaging a bit of comb. More split- 

 ting, till the knife can reach the first ^"Do not let your numbers of the 

 flake of comb, which, on being loos- Bee Journal tor 1881 be lost. The 

 ened, is laid flat on a broad shingle, best way to preserve them is to pro- 

 Presto I Tlie bees are swept off into cure a binder and put tliem in. They 

 the new hive with a goose feather, are very valuable for reference 



and the comb taken into a house near 

 by, to be fastened into a frame. Flake 

 after flake is thus treated. The bees 

 soon begin to find the new hive, and 

 multitudes of them march into it of 

 their own accord. The operation is 

 all over in about half the time it 

 takes for the usual orthodox drum- 

 ming. 



This expeditious mode of transfer- 

 ring is only practicable when the old 

 hives have little or no honey in them, 

 as was the case with most of Mr. 

 Jones' purchases. In buying black 

 bees for transference, it is good policy 

 to choose populous colonies with but 

 little honey. The gathering season is 

 close at liand, and with plenty of 

 workers, there will soon be plenty of 

 honey. It is a common mistake of 

 beginners, in buying colonies in old 

 box hives, to choose the heaviest. 

 Instead of these, the experienced bee- 

 keeper will pick out the colonies that 

 are short of honey and strong in pop- 

 ulation. If a hive about to be trans- 

 ferred has a large amount of honey in 

 it, the bees must be drummed out in 

 the approved fashion, and the heavy 

 combs removed with great care. Mr. 

 Jones has a wire cage the size of his 

 frame, into which he puts combs 

 heavy with honey, after fitting them, 

 and extracts the honey before putting 

 the frames into the hive. This wire 

 cage is an admirable contrivance. It 

 consists of two leaves which are 

 hinged, and shut closely on the combs, 

 holditig them in place. Any bits of 

 comb containing honey can be fitted 

 into a frame, put in the cage, and ex- 

 tracted by this means. 



Many people are very awkward and 

 unthinkmg about this process of trans- 

 ferring. I met with a man the other 

 day, who liad just been trying his 

 hand at it. He drummed out tlie bees 

 all right, and then proceeded to pry 

 off the top of the old hive. It was 

 pretty weU stored with honey, and the 

 consequence was, as might have been 

 expected, that the whole interior col- 

 lapsed " kersmash," killing young 

 brood and wasting comb and honey 

 at a wholesale rate. 



It is astonishing how soon trans- 

 ferred bees, when the job is done 

 properly, settle down to work in their 

 new habitation, "clar up de kitchen." 

 and become as contented as a family 

 that has just moved out of an old log 

 cabin or board shanty, into a comfort- 

 able new house. 



Mr. Jones fastens the old combs 

 into frames, with cedar strips pro- 

 jecting a little at the top and bottom, 

 the ends of which are fastened with 

 very fine wire. A bee-keeper who, 

 like myself, was on a visit of observa- 

 tion at the 13eeton apiaries, mentioned 

 that he used small rubber rings in 

 place of wires to fasten the strips. 

 " Give us your hand," exclaimed 

 Jones. On trial, we found the plan an 

 excellent one. 

 Listovvel, Out., June 5, 1882. 



