THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



437 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Progressive Triiusferriug. 



JAMES ttEDDON. 



I was a little surprised at reading 

 two articles in the last issue, from 

 two of our leading correspondents, 

 both giving directions tor transfer- 

 ring bees, the same as has been given 

 over and over again, in bee books and 

 papers for the past 25 years. 



Have we not progressed any V Is 

 there no better method of getting 

 colonies out of rejected hives, into 

 those of our choice 'i I think there is. 



Mr. Hutchinson says : " Pry off 

 the side of tlie hive, cutting the nails, 

 if necessary." Now, 1 would not do 

 this at all, till all the bees and brood 

 were out of it, but whenever I did do 

 it, I would do so tills way : The 

 grain of the boards nearly always 

 runs up and down, and all you have 

 to do is to split off about 1 inch of 

 ■each of the side boards that are nailed 

 to the other two boards, taking away 

 the part that the nails go through, 

 and if the combs are previously loos- 

 ened, the one side will nearly fall 

 down. You can, on this plan, cut out 

 the corner of most any box hive, and 

 then cut the combs from the sides 

 of the hive, and split these sides up 

 into kindling wood as you go along, 

 which gives you free access to the 

 combs as you advance. It is so much 

 ■easier, quicker and quieter a process 

 than to •' pry or cut the nails." 



But I do not want any combs that 

 have been fastened into frames by 

 the use of " tliorns, rubbers, sticks, 

 wires," etc. I have transferred many 

 hundred colonies, and have bought 

 ■quite a number transferred by others 

 (among them some of our most suc- 

 ■cessful and skillful apiarists). I have 

 examined transferred colonies in 

 ■other apiaries where I was visiting, 

 and 1 will tell you again, that 1 do not 

 want any transferred combs in my 

 yard. 



True, once in a while we meet with 

 .a comb that is in perfect shape to lill 

 our frame with choice, all worker 

 cells, but such are the exceptions to 

 the rule. 1 believe that, on an average, 

 transferred combs are as much be- 

 hind those naturally built in empty V 

 guided frames, as these latter are be- 

 hind those drawn from worker foun- 

 dation, in full slieets and on wires. 



Wlien 1 transfer, I put S of tliese 

 wired frames of foundation into my 

 Langstroth hive, and with said hive 

 and drum-box and smoker in hand, I 

 approach the "old gum" and drive a 

 prime swarm and the queen into this 

 hive, which is a hive of beautiful 

 •combs 4S hours later. 



After 21 days, the worker brood is 

 all liatclied and a new queen just be- 

 gun to lay in tlie old guin. Now I can 

 ■drive again, into another just such 

 hive, or I can unite vvitli my lirst 

 -drive, piling up the surplus soon, as I 



please, whether I desire increase or 

 not. In either case the forced queen, 

 reared in thedejileted " gum," should 

 be killed, and if increase is tlie order 

 of the day, a new queen from some 

 other source is substituted for the 

 second drive. Then is the time to do 

 your splitting open of the " old gum," 

 and vou have some tirst class kindling 

 wood, a nice lot of extracted honey 

 (after you empty the old combs), and 

 some comb to melt up into wax for 

 more comb foundation. 



Once try this plan, and you will see 

 here, too, that new inventions suggest 

 new and improved methods. Pure 

 comb foundation, always a great boon, 

 and now a staple, not only aids the 

 bees in supplying their costliest sub- 

 stance, but it aids the bee-keeper in 

 getting his couilis straight, and more 

 of them, ill less time, getting his 

 snrplus combs perfect, controlling tlie 

 blood of his drones, and consequently, 

 queens and workers, besides revolu- 

 tionizing the process of transferring. 



Dowagiac, Mich., July 4, 1882. 



Farmers' Home Journal. 



How I Introduce (Jiieeus. 



Q. W. DEMAREE. 



To introduce queens there are but 

 two methods employed that differ ma- 

 terially. One of these methods is to 

 cage the queen to be introduced, and 

 to place the cage (wire-cloth) down 

 right on the frames over the cluster 

 of bees and cover the bees, cage and 

 all, with the bee quilt, and let them 

 alone forty-eight hours, then turn up 

 the quilt till the cage is exposed to 

 view ; now draw out the sliding door 

 and let the queen run out among the 

 bees. Keep your eye on her, and if 

 she is permitted to run down among 

 the bees without being molested, close 

 up the hive and wait lifteen or twenty 

 minutes, then open the hive gently 

 and look up the queen. If the bees 

 are not ready to accept her, you will 

 lind her imprisoned in a ball of bees, 

 generally on the bottom board. This 

 we call '• balling the queen." Don't 

 be nervous or in too big a hurry ; just 

 take a large spoon and dip up the ball 

 of bees and turn them out into a pan 

 of water. This will cause them to re- 

 lease her, and set them to swimming 

 for life. Pick out the queen by catch- 

 ing her wings between the thumb and 

 linger. She positivehj will not sting. 

 Never take hold of "the queen by the 

 abdomen, as you may injure her. 



Now, return her to the cage and 

 place it back just as before, and leave 

 it twenty-four hours and try them 

 again, and so on till she is accepted. 

 She will generally be accepted with- 

 out all this trouble, but not always. 

 The queen will generally begin to lay 

 in one or two days after she is ac- 

 cepted by the bees, and after she be- 

 gins to lay she is as safe as if she had 

 been raised in the hive. For this rea- 

 son I keep a watch over her till she 

 has deposited her lirst eggs. 



The other method is to cage the 

 queen on a comb taken from the 

 brood nest. The comb is taken out 

 and all the bees brushed off of it. The 



queen is then placed on the surface of 

 the comb, and an opened cage with 

 thin, sharp edges placed over her and 

 pressed slightly into the comb, thus 

 imprisoning the queen. The comb is 

 then hung back in its place. The 

 bees will generally cut her out and 

 accept her while all is undisturbed 

 and quiet in the hive. If they fail, 

 however, to liberate her in forty- 

 eight hours, the comb should be lifted 

 out and a partial opening made with 

 the point of a knife under the edge of 

 the cage. The inquisitive little sub- 

 jects will see the point, and will pro- 

 ceed to liberate the queen. 



As a modification of the above 

 methods, I make tlie sliding door of 

 my cajjes so tliat they will project 

 above the bottom, or, rather, the top, 

 when the cage sets wire-cloth down, 

 and let this projecting sliding door 

 pass up through a slit niade with the 

 point of a knife in the quilt, so that I 

 can draw it out and thus liberate the 

 queen without the bees knowing it. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



For tile American Bee JournaL 



Drones and Their Functions. 



DR. J. K. I5AKEE. 



While I read everything published 

 in the columns of the Bee Journal, 

 every week, and have done so ever 

 since its tirst issue, and while I feel 

 that it is indispensable to me because 

 of its scientilic and practicable in- 

 struction on the different questions 

 having a bearing on apiculture, I have 

 wondered a good deal why, among all 

 your able contributors like Messrs. 

 "Heddoii, Dadant, Doolittle, Clarke, 

 Demaree, and a host of others, that; 

 there seemed to be not one to dissent 

 from the unreasonable theory that 

 drones have no use in the economy of 

 the hive but to impregnate the 

 queens. 



The comments of the editor of the 

 Bee Journal on the question : 

 " Drones — Are they Auxiliaries V" 

 and the extract he used in connection 

 therewith from the British Bee Journal, 

 which appeared in the American 

 Bee Journal of June 28, seemed to 

 me to be well timed. I have been 

 skeptical on the seeming almost uni- 

 versal belief of the use of drones, for 

 a long time ; but my tongue refused 

 to utter my thoughts, and my pen 

 declared it was too feeble to enter 

 the arena with those of the cham- 

 pions in the ranks of apiarists who 

 adhere to the old notion that drones 

 are simply dead-beat libertines. 



It seems marvelous to me that na- 

 ture should implant so strongly in 

 the workers and queens the instinct 

 to raise hundreds of drones in each 

 colony if their only function is the 

 impregnation of the few queens pro- 

 portionately raised in any colony or 

 any apiary ; and that, too, when it re- 

 quires only one drone to impregnate 

 a queen and when once impregnated 

 she is always so, as long as she is of 

 use. 



I hope Prof. Cook and other able 

 men in our ranks will give the matter 

 of the function of drones a " new 



