THE AMEBIC A2i BEE JOURNAL. 



443 



were thickly sown with golden bees, 

 and in the tomb of Ohilderic, in 1053, 

 there were discovered 300 bees made 

 from the same precious metal. 



For the American Bee Jourcai. 



Another Dual ftueen Wrinkle. 



J. O. SHEARMAN. 



1 have about come to the conclusion 

 in my own mind that the usual cause 

 for two queeu-ed-ness is an intent to 

 supersede the old queen. And tliis is 

 why : I had a queeu in a full colony 

 which had never gone out with a 

 swarm (and this is her third season). 

 She always kept her hive well stocked 

 with bees which did well on surplus, 

 and was, therefore, a favorite. 1 

 looked into the brood-chamber in 

 basswood time (forepart), and found 

 queen-cells capped, so 1 set the boys 

 to watch for the swarm that I expected 

 must come the next day or so, but the 

 rain continued to come, with 2 or 3 

 cooler days, and tlie swarm did not 

 come out. They still crowded the 

 surplus chamber, so JList about the 

 last part of the basswood flow I looked 

 in the brood-chamber for the reason, 

 as I wanted her queen-cells. I found 

 a queen-cell hatched naturally, also 

 plenty of eggs and brood and the 

 queen. Thinking they had torn down 

 tne rest of the queen-cells, and, per- 

 haps, made away with tlie new candi- 

 date, I took the queen out with one 

 comb of brood and bees, and made up 

 a nucleus for the present, as it was a 

 busy time. Then in a few days gave 

 her another comb or two with bees, 

 and noticed soon after that she filled 

 them pretty fairly with eggs. 



Now, to the point; on the 10th or 

 11th day after taking out the old 

 queen, 1 went to the old hive after 

 my queen-cells, and found plenty of 

 eggs and brood in all stages. Think- 

 ing, perhaps, that the old queen had 

 gone back {as it was only 10 feet 

 away), I went to her hive and found 

 her doing well enough, for a nucleus, 

 indicating that the old colony (No. 56) 

 had two queens at the time 1 took the 

 old one away. 



Then I had an after-swarm of 

 hybrids sitting near by for this pur- 

 pose, so I doubled them up with the 

 old queen, and gave another comb of 

 brood in the back part of the brood- 

 chamber. A few days after this, I 

 looked in to see if all was well, and 

 found queen-cells, and the hybrids in 

 the back part of the hive were build- 

 ing drone comb in a frame that was 

 only partly filled at the time of doub- 

 ling up. 



Censuring the hybrids for murder- 

 ing my S3 queen, I looked through the 

 hive to make sure of the case, and 

 found her in the forepart of the hive 

 among her own bees, and looking 

 rather "slimmed up," as she was also 

 at the time 1 took her out of No. .56 

 (there had been two days of rather 

 cool weather again). Also I found 4 

 or 5 queen-cells on a comb that she 

 had occupied. The hive was well 

 stocked with bees at this time, on 8 

 frames, enough for breeding but not 

 for surplus. 



Now I thought I had her where she 

 could furnish queen-cells, so I shut 

 them up for six days, and then went 

 for my queen-cells again, and found, 

 instead, a young queen going around 

 among them, and all the queen-cells 

 destroyed. 



Fearing for my $3 queen again, I 

 hunted her up in the very front of the 

 hive, and doing a good business for 

 this season of the year, and fairly 

 fatted up to a good sized queen again. 

 She had increased the size of her 

 brood-nest 2 or 3 full combs, and ap- 

 peared to be able to fill the hive in 

 another week. 



The young queen appeared to be 

 unfertile, at least to me, as I believe 

 I can tell by their personal appear- 

 ance, if fertile or not. So I put her in 

 a nucleus to keep till I see how she 

 might "pan out." These are some of 

 my play things. This brings these 

 experiments up to date. Next, if they 

 undertake to supersede old No. 56 

 queen again, I will see if I can set up 

 a queen-cell establishment with her; 

 take away the cells and put them on 

 the back to try it again, and then see 

 if these queens are as good as others. 



New Richmond, Mich., Aug.25,1883. 



For the American Boe Journar. 



The Honey Season in New York. 



JAMES MCNEILL. 



The honey flow thus far in this sec- 

 tion has been only fair. It opened 

 well in the beginning with an abund- 

 ant harvest from fruit bloom, which 

 induced early swarming. 



The mucii - wanted white clover 

 bloomed prof usely, but the, bees did 

 not get much more than a growing 

 living from it. In fact, my observa- 

 tion during the four years that I have 

 kept bees, leads me to hold white clo- 

 ver in less esteem than any other im- 

 portant honey plant. I have usually 

 been able to count 25 bees on raspber- 

 ries, during the same time that I have 

 been able to find three sipping the 

 nectar from a field of white clover. 

 You can find bees roaring on rasp- 

 berries from " early morn till dewy 

 eve," and a passing shower drives 

 them home, only to return again as 

 soon as it is over. But it is only oc- 

 casionally that I have been able to 

 hear the genuine hum of industry 

 from a field of white clover. They do 

 not take possession of the clover field 

 as they do of the raspberries. 



The scattering English linden and 

 basswood trees of this section bloomed 

 abundantly, and gave the bees a tine 

 feast. It was from this source that I 

 obtained most of my surplus. 



I hoped much from sweet clover, as 

 I have never seen a better stand nor a 

 more abundant bloom. But directly 

 after basswood bloom, a period of cool 

 weather set in, which I think must 

 have interfered with the secretion of 

 the nectar. The nights were exceed- 

 ingly cool for the season, and some 

 mornings were actually chilly, still 

 the clover was alive with bees during 

 the day, and they stored some surplus. 

 But a first-class case of robbing could 



be developed any day ^y a little care- 

 lessness in exposing honey. 



With the advent of August a dry 

 spell set in, and it looked as if our 

 usual fall drouth was upon us. Hap- 

 pily this has been postponed by 

 a copious rain on ttie night of the 18th. 



Although buckwheat has been in 

 bloom for two weeks, my bees did not 

 settle down to actual business on this 

 fragrant plant till the 17th. On the 

 morning of that day it seemed as if 

 a ship-load of honey had arrived in 

 port, and my bees were given the con- 

 tract of unloading it, with a forfeit- 

 ure, if the task was not performed 

 witliin a given time. 



Can you explain why bees start up 

 so suddenly to work on a plant which 

 has been in bloom for many days ? , 



The late rain will, I think, insure a 

 good fall crop, as we will probably 

 have a fine, warm fall to otfset the 

 cool, wet summer. Two years ago I 

 took half of my crop after tlie middle 

 of August. If I do the same thisyear 

 I will have no reason to complain, 

 although I cannot boast of such yields 

 as are reported from some sections of 

 this State. 



I do not know but that I shall have 

 to take back, in a measure, ray strict- 

 ures on white clover. The grounds of 

 my apiary are sown to wliite clover, 

 which I have kept closely cut with a 

 lawn-mower till lately. They are now 

 white with bloom. I have just been 

 out to take a look at my busy workers, 

 and the way that they are flitting 

 from flower to flower over my clover 

 lawn, leads me to earnestly wish that 

 I had 100 acres like it. I would then 

 be in clover as well as the bees. 



Hudson, N. Y., Aug. 20th, 18S3. 



[Cold weather retards the nectar, 

 and when it does get a chance, it 

 bursts out and has the same effect as 

 though a ship load of honey had ar- 

 rived, as is mentioned above. We 

 well knew you would cliange your es- 

 timate of white clover; it is one of the 

 best of honey producers. — Ed.] 



Maine Bee-Keepers' Association. 



The regular quarterly meeting of 

 the Maine Bee-Keepers' Association 

 was held in Augusta, on Thursday 

 and Friday, Aug. 9 and 10. Although 

 it came in a somewhat unfavorable 

 time for a large attendance, farmers 

 being just in the midst of the grain 

 harvest, yet a goodly number were 

 present at all the sessions, and the 

 discussions were animated and inter- 

 e.sting. 



The meeting was called to order at 

 10 a. m. by the president of the asso- 

 ciation, Mr. F. O. Addition, who 

 presided throughout the meeting, to 

 great acceptance. The forenoon was 

 chiefly taken up with business of a 

 routine nature, and with brief dis- 

 cussions upon a few practical points 

 which came up. At the opening of 

 the afternoon session, a paper was 

 read by Mr. J. B. Mason.of Mechanics 

 Falls, on the subject of queen-rearing. 

 The remainder of the afternoon was 



