1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



81 



^j^arhffjmi' 



IMPORTING QUEENS, ETC. 



I 



^^^OUR valuable mag-aziue is at hand again, with 

 "•^ its cheerful countenance shedding lig'ht on 

 our whole household. Mr. M., our twin girls, 

 and even baby Clayton, says, " Has Deanings turn?" 

 How much we should like to see its editor! Can you 

 not make us a visit some day? You know our quon- 

 dam far-away Texas has, by steam power, been 

 brought almost within the neighborhood of Ohio. 



I determined last August that I would import 

 some queens, and, noticing the advertisement of Mr. 

 C. Bianconciui, I wrote to him in plain English to 

 please forward them to me bj' Sept. 15. His answer 

 was written in plain English, but evidently written 

 by a foreigner, as his peculiar expressions bore the 

 stamp of one not familinr with our language, and 

 carried with them a charm peculiarly fascinating to 

 me. For instance, he alluded to " the traveling ex- 

 penses of the queens;" and in his second letter he 

 stated, " All is against us. After the unpardonable 

 negligence of the correspondent of Havre, we have 

 the delay of the floods for the overflowing of the 

 rivers." T just wondered, if I should try to write a 

 letter in his language, if I could make myself under- 

 stood as well as he did. No, I'll take that back. I 

 didn't wonder; I only thought about it, and knew I 

 couldn't. 



Not knowing how U. S. money rates with them, I 

 had them sent C. O. D. They came on the 26th of 

 Oct., in miniature hives (little boxes about 4! 2x6 

 inches), made of white pine. A hole about ',2 inch in 

 diameter in each side and end, over which was tack- 

 ed a piece of wire gauze, which, for want of a better 

 name, I will call Jail windows, admitted all the air 

 the little fellows got. Two frames of comb were in 

 each box, and at least li lb. of bees accompanied 

 each queen. They were nearly all dead, and I was 

 surprised to find the queens living; but they were 

 strong and healthy. I made swarms for them by 

 following the directions in A B C for beginners, and 

 in a few days most of the sealed brood had hatched, 

 and I had a respectable colony of bees with each 

 queen. 



MATER FOR BEES. 



And now permit me to ask a question or two. Has 

 it been demonstrated, that bees can live without 

 water? The first queen I ever bought came in a 

 cage that contained a small vial of water, with a 

 sponge in the mouth, instead of cork. The bees 

 were all perfectly healthy in that cage. Since then 

 I have bought in all nearly 60 queens, and no provi- 

 sion for water was made in any cage. In nearly 

 every one there were at least one or two dead bees, 

 and in some there were more. I did not much won- 

 der that they could come safely to Texas from al- 

 most any part of the United States without taking a 

 drink of water on the way. I believe I could do that 

 myself, though I should not like it much. But to 

 start the little fellows clear across the Atlantic, 

 without one drop to quench their thirst, I must con- 

 fess I think borders on cruelty. The only wonder to 

 me is, that the queens did not die too, and I no lon- 

 ger think it strange that imported queens cost so 

 much. 



DRONE-LAYERS. 



In your comment on my last, you ask if the queen 

 to which T alluded was a drone-layer. I am inclined 



to think she was, when these drones were raised; 

 but your question implies that the opinion prevails, 

 that a drone-layer is never of any account. She 

 certainly was one of the best queens I ever had, for 

 two months, when I lost her in extracting. I am 

 only an A B C scholar in its truest sense, and I may 

 be coming in contact with the opinions of experi- 

 enced bee-keepers; if so, I beg their pardon. I can 

 but make a simple statement of facts; and with all 

 the respect that is due them, I take my place at the 

 foot of the class. Mrs. A. C. Moshek. 



San Marcos, Texas, Jan. 13, 1883. 



I am glad to know you succeeded with your 

 imported queens, my friend; but why do 

 you not tell us how many you imported; 

 what they cost, and how many were dead V 

 If you lost none in transit, you did better 

 tlian most of us. — I believe it is generally 

 conceded, that the amount of water in sealed 

 liquid honey is enough to sustain the life of 

 the bees, and many think perhaps it is all 

 they care for. The difficulty of having wa- 

 ter where they can get it, always pure and 

 sweet, without any danger of wetting them, 

 is still somewhat an unsolved problem. You 

 know the bees seem to go all right with the 

 Good candy, and that is dry sugar wet up 

 with honey.— The only reason we have for 

 thinking drone-layers are never of any ac- 

 count, my friend, is, that drone-layers, in 

 the usual acceptation of the term, never lay 

 worker eggs at all. If your queen first laid 

 a frame fall of drone brood, and after that 

 laid worker eggs, she was certainly an un- 

 usual queen. 



FROM 5 TO 27, AND 200 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I had only five swarms in the spring to start with, 

 and as I was in the ABC class I divided them until 

 1 had 14 good swarms, and then I thought they 

 would not swarm any more; but in August they 

 commenced swarming, and they just made the air 

 hum. I kept putting them back, and sometimes 

 they would stay, and sometimes they would not; 

 and then I would give them a new hive. The last 

 swarm came out Sept. 5, and now T have 27 good col- 

 onies in good condition for winter. I got nearly 200 

 lbs. of surplus honey. They made me lots of work. 

 I had no one to help me, and I had all the housework 

 on a large farm to do. I tell you it kept me busy. 

 My queens are all Italians, for I raised them. 



Mrs. M. a. Wilkins. 



Seneca, Nemaha Co., Kan., Dec. 11, 1882. 



You certainly did well, Mrs.W., consider- 

 ing that you had so much housework to do. 

 If you accomplished all your work, at the 

 same time caring for your bees, then assur- 

 edly those of your sex who have nothing but 

 the bees to care for can not make the plea 

 that, to work with the bees is too hard. It is 

 rather unusual for bees to swarm so late in 

 the season. 



I take great pleasure in my bees, and feel well re- 

 paid for all I have ever invested. Only five swarms 

 of black bees in the spring; have sold honey to the 

 amount of $46.30, besides giving and using quite a 

 quantity, and three very large new swarms. Honey 

 sold mostly for 16 cents. As I do not see any very 

 good report from this State, I am satisfied. 



Mrs. E. M. Crosmans. 



Bitavia, N. Y., Dec. 13, 1882. 



