1136 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



"Die Europaische Bienenzucht," Scherz- 

 ingen bei Konstance, Germany. 



" Elsass - Lothringscher Bienenziichter," 

 Strassburg, Germany. 



" Illustrierte Monatsbliitter fiir Bienen- 

 zucht," Klosterneuburg, bei Vienna, Austria. 



" Leipziger Bienenzeitung, Leipzig, Ger- 

 many. 



" Mitteilungen ixber Bienenzucht," Linz, 

 Austria. 



"Miiachener Bienenzeitung," Munich, Ba- 

 varia, Germany. 



' ' Neue Bienenzeitung, ' ' Marburg, Germa- 



"Neue Schlesisches Imkerblatt," Breslau, 

 Germany. 



' ' Oesterreichisch - ungarisch Bienenzeit- 

 ung, " Vienna, Austria. 



" Palzer Bienenzeitung," Rehborn (Palz), 

 Germany. 



' ' Pommerscher Ratgerber, ' ' Stettin, Ger- 

 many. 



' ' Prastischer Wegweiser fiir Bienenzucht, ' ' 

 Oranienburg, Germany. 



" Preussische Bienenzeitung," Heilsberg, 

 Prussia, Germany. 



"Rheinische Bienenzeitung," M — Glad- 

 bach, Germany. 



" Schweizerische Bienenzeitung," Ultstat- 

 ten, Switzerland. 



" Steierischer Bienenvater," Gratz, Styria, 

 Austria. 



"Ungarische Biene," Budapest, Hungary. 



A PLURALITY OF QUEENS IN A COLO 

 NY, AVITHOUT PERFORATED ZINC. 



How the Queens are Introduced; the Ad- 

 vantage of the Plural-queen System. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



[This is the long-expected article for which many of 

 our readers have heen anxiously waiting. Now that 

 it has come, some of the statements are so startling 

 that, had they come from any less authority than our 

 correspondent, we should feel inclined to lay it aside 

 to think it over, if not pigeon-hole it altogether. But 

 instead of saying, " No, it won't work," our readers 

 are requested to try it and report. The immense pos- 

 sibilities that might accrue from the use of two or 

 more queens in one brood-nest are too great to be 

 lightly dismissed.— Ed.] 



Some time ago I wrote of our experi- 

 ence along this line, saying we had been 

 partly successful; but we wanted to test it 

 still more thoroughly before giving it to the 

 public. And I here wish to thank especially 

 my friends E. E. Pressler, Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 the editor of Gleanings, and some others 

 who have given me much encouragement in 

 trying to solve this, one of the hardest prob- 



lems that I have ever tried to solve in bee- 

 keeping. I certainly have good reason to 

 feel grateful for the support that often comes 

 from these men. 



It is with much satisfaction that I can say 

 that success has at last crowned our efforts. 

 We can now safely introduce any number of 

 queens to a colony that has a laying queen 

 and is in a normal condition. Waiving all 

 other preliminary remarks 1 will now de- 

 scribe this new method of introducing sever- 

 al laying queens without the use of queen- 

 excluders to keep the queens separate. 



First, prepare a small box, about five or 

 six inches square, by boring a one-half-inch 

 hole in one end. This you will for the pres- 

 ent close, then remove a part of its two sides 

 and cover with wire cloth so as to ventilate 

 it well. This we call our introducing-box. 

 Take this box and a common queen-cage to 

 the colony to which you wish to introduce 

 your choice queen, or several of them, in fact; 

 remove its combs and put its queen, without 

 any bees, into the queen-cage you have. 

 While doing this shake about a pint of bees 

 of the colony into the introdvxcing-box. Close 

 it and take all their combs from the colony. 

 These can be placed on top of almost any 

 hive until next day. The hive now made 

 broodless, fill about half full of combs con- 

 taining some honey but no brood. Leave the 

 colony alone until about sundown, after 

 which it will show distress over the loss of 

 its queen and brood. Now take the box of 

 bees to the honey-house, and at the same 

 time the queen, but don't set them near each 

 other. The bees in the little box will soon 

 miss their queen and have lots of trouble. 



After they have been confined about live 

 hours prepare some warm thin honey, plac- 

 ing it in a dish so that, by laying the box on 

 one side, the bees can easily reach the honey 

 through the wire cloth, but can not daub 

 themselves with it. Leave them this way 

 until you are sure that evei'y bee in the 

 box is as full of honey as it can be, then give 

 them a little shake and remove the cover 

 from the hole in the end of the box (I'emem- 

 ber it is about five hours since they were 

 confined in the box), and let run in any 

 number of queens you wish, including their 

 own mother. Now return them to their dish 

 of honey so they can help themselves to all 

 they can eat until about sundown; then take 

 this introducing-box with its bees and queens 

 to the hive from which you took the bees 

 and their queen in the morning; set them to 

 one side and feed the colony all you can in- 

 duce it to eat. Remove some of its combs 

 and pour in some of the honey you have 

 been feeding to the bees in the box. Shake 

 some of this honey out of its combs on these 

 bees, so every one will soon be full. Now 

 remove the cover of the introducing-box and 

 set the box in the hive alongside the combs. 

 Close up the top of the hive, and in the 

 morning all the bees and queens will be 

 clustered on the combs, and some of the 

 queens will have commenced to lay. You 

 can now give them the brood you took away 

 from them the day before, or let them fill 



