I'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



309 



I should prefer 12 frames, but 

 should reduce— a la Heddou— to 7 or 8 

 when I added sections.— A. J. Cook. 



I do not know. I use the standard 

 Laugstroth. Mr. Doolittle can an- 

 swer understandingly, as lie uses the 

 " Gallup frame."— J. E. Pond. 



I think Mr. Doolittle uses Gallup 

 frames, and 1 should place eonlidence 

 in his answur. I do not think any of 

 us yet know all we might about this 

 matter.— C. C. Miller. 



I would want not less than 12 for 

 such a honey harvest as you seem to 

 have. By using a hive of the largest 

 size, you could have it large or small, 

 to suit the conditions, by simply 

 using division-boards. A 10 frame 

 Langstroth hive, properly made to 

 "tier up," would just "till the bill," 

 if 1 had to make the choice for you.— 

 G. W. Dkmaueb. 



Probably about 9 or 10 frames.— 

 The Editor. 



Covrcs^j0ntleuce. 



This mark © indicates tliat the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the State named ; 

 6 north of the center; 9 south; O east; 

 ♦O west ; and this d northeast ; >3 northwest ; 

 o> southeast; and P southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the Amerlcau Bee Journal. 



Introflncins Qneens-MaMnE Bees Stay 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



As the time of year for introducing 

 queens is at hand, I wish to give a 

 very simple plan of doing the thing, 

 and one which so far has proved suc- 

 cessful with me in every instance. If 

 1 had a very choice queen coming a 

 long distance to me through the mails, 

 I should use the "nucleus box" as 

 described in a back volume of the 

 Bee Journal ; for with this I do not 

 consider a failure possible, although 

 out of the thousands who have tried 

 that plan, one has reported a failure 

 with one queen. However, the nu- 

 cleus-box plan is not quite as conven- 

 ient as the one about to be described, 

 nor can the whole operation be done 

 at the same time as can this. The 

 plan I wish to speak of is as follows : 



Go to any hive from which is de- 

 sired to remove the queen, and smoke 

 the colony only enough to keep the 

 bees quiet during the finding and re- 

 moving of the queen, after which the 

 frames are to be put back, and the 

 hive closed. Before disturbing the 

 hive at all to find the old queen, the 

 bee-keeper should get the one to be 

 introduced and have her witli him 

 in a cage. Having closed the hive, 

 blow smoke into the entrance until 

 the bees are heard roaring greatly, 

 which shows that the light is all taken 

 out of them, when the smoking is to 

 cease for a moment, and then pound 

 on top of the hive with the fist about 

 ten times. Now blow smoke again 



as long as pounding continued, when 

 the bee-keeper is to pound the same 

 number of strokes again, and so on 

 until the smoke lias been given live 

 times, and the same number of 

 poundings are done. 



In doing this pounding, only strike 

 with force enough to thoroughly jar 

 the hive, which is easily done without 

 at all hurting the hand. As soon as 

 the last pounding is finished, unstop 

 the cage having the queen to be in- 

 troduced, and hold the mouth of it to 

 the entrance of the hive, when she, 

 hearing the roaring of the bees inside, 

 will immediately run in. As soon as 

 she is well inside of the hive, give 

 them another liberal smoking, and 

 the operation of a direct and safe in- 

 troduction is finished. If in time of 

 scarcity of honey, this should be done 

 about sundown, otherwise robber 

 bees would gain access to the hive 

 while the bees were in a defenseless 

 condition. In fact 1 prefer to perform 

 the operation near sundown at all 

 times. 



If all has worked as it does with 

 me, the queen will be found laying 

 the next morning, just as if that had 

 always been her home. 



My theory regarding why the plan 

 is so eminently successful is, that the 

 bees realize that they have had a 

 '• terrible shaking up, the same as 

 would happen in their primitive state 

 if the tree containing their home 

 should be blown over. Their first 

 anxiety then, after coming to their 

 senses, would be for the queen. Well, 

 before coming to their senses, in this 

 case, the queen is run in and followed 

 by smoke so that she assumes the 

 same scent that the bees, hive and 

 combs smell of, so that when they 

 find her they do not realize that a 

 change has been made. . 



MAKING DRIVEN SWARMS STAY. 



Many seem to suppose that when a 

 swarm of bees is driven from a hive, 

 that the driven part must be put on 

 the old stand, placing the old hive 

 and contents on a new stand, other- 

 wise the driven bees would mostly go 

 back to the old hive. With no pre- 

 caution this would undoubtedly be 

 the case, but it is a very easy matter 

 to make a driven colony of bees stay 

 wherever one wishes. I often make 

 swarms by driving, and as some of 

 the readers of the Bee Journal, 

 who can be with their bees only in 

 the morning or evening, may wish to 

 do the same, I will describe how I 

 manage. It is thus : 



Go to any hive whose colony is 

 about ready to swarm, and if in a box- 

 hive, drum out the bees in the way 

 given in any of the books while treat- 

 ing on transferring, but if in a mov- 

 able-frame hive, as they will probably 

 be, proceed as follows : Open the 

 hive to see if there is plenty of un- 

 sealed honey, and if not, shave off the 

 cappings of the colls along the top- 

 bars of the frames, so the bees can 

 easily fill themselves with honey, 

 finding the queen at the same time 

 and caging her on one of the frames. 

 Now close the hive, and after blow- 

 ing smoke in at the entrance, pound 

 on it with the fist, as I stated in in- 



troducing queens, except that it IS to 

 be kept up for three or four minutes, 

 with no smoke except the first. 



As soon as you have finished 

 pounding, place a box and an inch 

 board close to the hive ; or, better 

 still, have the box there to start with, 

 when you are to open the hive and 

 shake about three-fourths of the bees 

 from the combs down in front of the 

 box, into which they will readily en- 

 ter. When you come to the frame 

 having the queen, uncage her and let 

 her run into the box. Having the 

 queen and what bees you wish in the 

 box, close the hive and take the box 

 to the shade of some tree where it is 

 to be left with the mouth or open side 

 facing up and out, which is best ac- 

 complished by leaning it against 

 something. Leave it thus for three- 

 fourths of an hour, when the bees will 

 be clustered the same as a swarm 

 would be. 



They can now be hived the same as 

 any swarm, and will stay and work 

 the same as if they had issued nat- 

 urally. The old colony can be allowed 

 to rear its own queen or have a queen- 

 cell given them, the latter being pre- 

 ferred, as that does away with after- 

 swarming. 



If the bees are " drummed " from a 

 box-hive, thev are to be treated after 

 they are in tlie box the same as the 

 other. In some respects I like this 

 plan for securing increase better than 

 any other. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



For the American Bee JoomaL 



Tie Next licMpn State ConTention. 



At our last annual meeting at 

 Ypsllanti, in December, 1886, the 

 desire was expressed that our next 

 meeting be held in conjunction with 

 that of the State Horticultural Asso- 

 ciation, and preferably at East Sagi- 

 naw, Mich. ; though it was left op- 

 tional with the committee to change 

 place and arrange time, if to consum- 

 mate the joint meeting it was found 

 necessary. 



The arrangements favoring this 

 plan are as follows : Many of our 

 members are also interested in fruit 

 culture. Such an arrangement would 

 enable them to secure the benefits of 

 both meetings with the least expendi- 

 ture of time and money. Again, many 

 topics are alike interesting and im- 

 portant to fruit men and bee-keepers ; 

 such as the relation of bees and fruit, 

 bees as fertilizers, etc. Thus it would 

 be profitable to have at least one or 

 two joint meetings, in which both 

 societies should take an equal part. 

 Lastly, with both associations meet- 

 ing in one week at one place, we 

 could almost surely secure reduced 

 rates on the railroads. Last fall the 

 fruit-men accomplished this, though 

 the bee-men failed. Such commuta- 

 tion induces larger attendance, as 

 seen at our Flint meeting three years 

 ago ; and so adds to the value and in- 

 terest of our discussions. 



I am happy to state that the ar- 

 rangements have been fullv and most 

 satisfactorily made. Both associa- 



