1592 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



Mr. Cragun writes further that he has con- 

 sidered giving a demonstration with bees at 

 the next State fair in Utah. Our experience 

 shows that this plan pr«jves to be a great at- 

 traction at any fair, and is, therefore, a good 

 advertisement. Many will buy more honey 

 if the general subject of bees is clearly brought 

 to their attention. — Ed.] 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 

 A Modification of the Alexander Method. 



BY CLARENCE A. HALL. 



I think the plan of introducing one or 

 more queens in a colony of bees, as given by 

 E. W. Alexander, Sept. 1, is a great advance 

 in bee-keeping. I shall never try again to 

 introduce a queen by the directions that are 

 tacked on the queen-cages. When Glean- 

 ings for Sept. 1 came to hand, I received at 

 the same time two queens. After reading 

 the article by Mr. Alexander I determined 

 to introduce my two queens by his plan. 



Mr. Alexander says, "It will not do to 

 omit any part." Now, when we only re- 

 queen in this way I claim we can make some 

 changes, for I did, and yet the plan worked 

 like a charm; and this is the part of the plan 

 I violated: I left all combs of honey and 

 brood in the hive, took nothing away but 

 the old queen and the bees in the introduc- 

 ing-box. I then, of course, could not set the 

 introducing-box with its bees and queen in 

 the hive, so they were just run in at the en- 

 trance. This act was timed to come after 

 dark, because of robbers; for the same rea- 

 son a bee-tent was used when hunting for 

 the old queen. Two colonies were requeen- 

 ed in this way. They are the crossest hybrids 

 I ever saw. 



It is the best plan I ever used, for we can 

 requeen at any time of the year without fear 

 of weakening our colonies, because the bees 

 are queenless only a few hours at most, and 

 they work like new swarms the next day. 



Covert, Kan. 



[Upon receiving the above letter we sent 

 it to Mr. Alexander for any comment he 

 might wish to make. His reply follows. — 

 Ed. J 



In connection with the success Mr. Hall 

 has had in introducing queens as he de- 

 scribes in the above, a few words of expla- 

 nation from me may not be out of place. 

 Yes, it saves some time and labor to let the 

 combs and brood remain in the hive and 

 simply allow the queen or queens with the 

 bees from the introducing-box to run in at 

 the entrance; but with us it was not always 

 a success. When we practiced that way we 

 lost about a tenth of the queens. That was 

 why, one year ago, I wanted to test the in- 

 troducing of a plurality of strange queens to 

 a colony another season before making our 

 method public. When we have a surplus of 

 ordinary queens we take our chances and 

 leave the brood in the hive, and let two or 

 more queens run in at the entrance with the 



bees from the box; but with valuable queens 

 I should much rather remove the brood as 

 recommended in Gleanings for Sept. 1. In 

 that way we have never lost a queen; and if 

 I had one that had cost me $1U0 I would not 

 hesitate to introduce her as I there advised. 

 There certainly is a great difference whether 

 we attempt to introduce a strange queen to 

 bees that have gorged themselves with hon- 

 ey, or whether they are somewhat hungry; 

 therefore when introducing as friend Hall 

 did I think it will be much better to give the 

 colony a few puffs of smoke and jar the hive 

 somewhat so the bees will fill themselves 

 with honey before letting them and the 

 queen or queens run in from the introduc- 

 ing-box. We found this to be much the 

 safest way when the brood had been left in 

 the hive. Although it is now late in the sea- 

 son I frequently receive letters speaking of 

 introducing a plurality of queens with mark- 

 ed success, as recommended in the Sept. 

 1st issue. 



The main and most vital part of this meth- 

 od seems to be in introducing the strange 

 queen to about a quart of bees that are well 

 filled with honey after they have been taken 

 from their parent colony a few hours, and 

 keeping them a few hours longer with the 

 queen you wish to give to the colony. This 

 gives the queen the odor of the colony, and 

 the bees don't seem to realize but that it is 

 their mother queen. All the rest is but sec- 

 ondary to this main part. 



E. W. Alexander. 



Delanson, N. Y., Oct. 14. 



PLURALITY OP QUEENS. 



Another Plan for Introduoin^ Two or 3Iore 

 Queens to a Colony. 



BY "CRUADH." 



Ever since Mr. Alexander's article, p. 478, 

 I have watched your columns carefully with 

 the expectation of seeing his promised subse- 

 quent article. Others, too, at your request, 

 have given their experiences, but, like Mr. 

 Alexander, all have refrained from detailing 

 their methods. The writer far from wishes 

 to "tread on the tail of Mr. A.'s coat," as 

 they say in Ireland; but as the season is ad- 

 vanced I am to-day giving a method — the 

 best of the many possible ways by which this 

 object may be attained, so that it may be 

 tested at the Home of the Honey-bees. 



We are daily using this "Cruadh" (so 

 called^ method of introducing, which is an 

 infallible means of introducing any queen to 

 any colony, and that, too, in a way which 

 not only embodies all Mr. Alexander claims, 

 but more also, for the introductions, even in 

 plurality, never fail. There is no necessity 

 for removing the old queen; the work of the 

 colony is in no way impeded, and the new 

 queen or queens will be laying in just about 

 the 18 hours mentioned. The whole is so 

 painfully simple that no one could make it 



