AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



-warms, and so well did I succeed that 

 when swarming commenced I had no 

 time to experiment — 9-") swarms coming 

 out in the first five days of. July. On 

 Sunday, July 5, I had 25 swarms issue 

 in three hours, and without the catchers 

 it would have been impossible to haye 

 done anything with them. 1 never saw 

 such a rush of bees before, but I caught 

 and hived them all, withouttheir getting, 

 together, or losing a single queen. I 

 believe the catchers saved me $50 on 

 that one day. Yes, sir, they will revo- 

 lutionize the management of large apia- 

 ries, as a smart boy or girl of twelve 

 years can use them as well as an expert 

 bee-keeper. 



I must add that 1 use a lath, notched 

 on the edge, to hold the catcher up 

 when on the hive. The catcher will fit 

 at any angle, whether -io^ or lying 

 nearly flat. My success in using them, 

 has caused me to make 100 artificial 

 swarms, and again enlarge my bee 

 business. 



Forestville, Minn. 



How to Finil a Qiieen, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



When settled warm weather comes in 

 the Spring, it is necessary that each 

 colony contain a prolific queen, for if the 

 queen in any colony should be old and 

 failing, that colony could not be brought 

 up to a proper condition to work to the 

 best advantage during the honey harvest. 

 As the queen is mother of all the bees in 

 the hive, she must be able to lay rapidly 

 so as to increase the population of the 

 hive, and if such an one is not in the hive 

 she should be superseded with a better 

 queen. 



It also often happens, that the queen 

 which the hive contained during the Fall, 

 dies in early Spring, and in that case it 

 is absolutely necessary that the bee- 

 keeper knows it, else that colony will 

 perish, for the bees which have been 

 wintered over, rapidly die off with the 

 work which now devolves upon them, for 

 old age is brought upon the bees sooner 

 or later, according to the labor which 

 They perform. 



There is no way of knowing to a 

 certainty what is going on inside, except 

 by opening the hive and inspecting the 

 frames. To know if there is a queen in 

 the hive, look closely at the combs, and 

 if no eggs or small larva are found in the 

 bottom of the cells, at a time when the 

 bees begin to bring in pollen in the 



vSpring, you can reasonably expect that 

 they are queenless, while if the egg^ are 

 few and scattered about in different cells. 

 without xegularitv, the queen is unpro- 

 lific. 



To be absolutely sure that a colony is 

 queenless, take a frame of comb having 

 eggs and little larva in it, and put it in 

 the center of tho supposed queenless 

 colony, leaving it for three days. If 

 queenless, queen-cells will be formed over- 

 some of the little larva, while? if no such 

 cells are started, rest assured that the 

 bees of this hive have something which 

 they are respecting as a queen, and 

 which must be found before a good one 

 can be introduced. 



To the accustomed eye of the practical 

 apiarist, prolific queens are easily found, 

 especially if the bees are of the Italian 

 race ; but a virgin queen is often liard to 

 find by an expert. The best time to look 

 for a queen is about 10 o'clock, on some 

 bright, warm morning, when the most of 

 the old bees are in the field after pollen 

 and honey. 



Open the hive carefully, taking out the 

 frames slowly, and making sure that you 

 do not hit them against the sides of the 

 hive or anything else, so as to make the 

 bees nervous, thereby setting them to 

 running or stinging. When you have 

 the first frame out, look it over carefully, 

 and if you do not see the queen, set this 

 frame and the next one in a box, or in 

 some secure place where you can leave 

 them out of the hive till you look the 

 others over. 



After these two are out, you have the 

 hive so that you can see" down into it 

 quite well. On taking out another frame, 

 glance down the side of the next one in 

 the hive, when the queen will often be 

 seen running around to the opposite or 

 dark side of the comb, for young queens 

 are shy. In thus running she shows the 

 sides of her abdomen, to the eyes looking 

 obliquely down, to a much better advant- 

 age than could be if the e^'es were look- 

 ing directly upon her back. If you do 

 not see her, look on the opposite side of 

 the comb you hold in your hands, looking 

 obliquely as before, for she will be on 

 one of these dark sides if anywhers on 

 the comb. In this way keep on until she 

 is found, or all the frames are taken 

 from the hive. If unsuccessful, close the 

 hive and try again in an hour "or so. 

 when success will attend your efforts. — 

 Rural Home. 



iW The sewing machine I got of you 

 still gives excellent satisfaction — W. J, 

 Pattersox, Sullivan, Ills. 



