1 86 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



with a cold-blast Smoker properly made, 

 and the right kind of fuel, all that is nec- 

 essary to get it to going is to put in the 

 fuel, tovicli a match to it, and she is off 

 at once, creating a dense volume of 

 smoke almost at once. I do not say this 

 applies to the Clark smoker — far from it; 

 and I feel as sure as I do about any thing 

 I think I know about bees, that smoke 

 from a cold-blast moker is better for 

 general use in a yard than that from a 

 hot-blast — that is, with Italian and Ger- 

 man bees and their crosses. Cyprians I 

 know nothing about. 



Vou say hot air alone will subdue bees. 

 I know it will; but when it is employed it 

 crazes and injures many bees, and, if hot 

 enough, kills many. I f^rndy believe 

 that the injudicious use of a hot-blast 

 smoker causes the premature death of 

 many thousands of bees in the season 

 when a smoker is most used, and in some 

 cases hundreds from single hives, where, 

 for instance, a colony is handled after 

 the fuel is well burned down so tliat the 

 bees get direct blasts of very hot air right 

 off the coals — not that they die at once, 

 bat they probably might as well, so far as 

 being of any use afterward is concerned. 



I have noticed the very thing to which 

 Mr. Davenport calls attention; viz., that 

 if the air is very hot it will kill the bees. 

 This happens when the fuel has all be- 

 come ignited, and the nozzle of the smok- 

 er is held too close the bees. In siicli 

 instances I have seen bees fairly sizzle, 

 curl up and die. The moral is to re-fill 

 the smoker before all of the fuel has be- 

 come ignited. I think that there is also 

 much difference in fuel in this respect; 

 some giving out nuich more heat than 

 other kinds. 



THE MATING OF QUEENS. 



A Simple Manner in Which it may he 

 Controlled. 



I believe that all attempts at control- 

 ling the mating of queens by confining 

 them and the drones in some kind of"an 

 enclosure have proven failures. Mr. 

 Aspinwall has done something in this 

 line by clipping a little from each wing 



of a queen, thus controlling or restrict- 

 ing the queen's flight; keeping her in 

 the vicinity of the apiary. Of course, 

 there is nothing absolute about this 

 method; and Mr. John M. Rankin of the 

 Michigan Agricultural College reports a 

 very large number of failures to mate at 

 all with clipped queens. The plan that 

 looks the most promising of anything to 

 which my attention has been called in a 

 long time is that described in the Cana- 

 dian Bee Journal by a Mr. W. .\. Whit- 

 ney. He says: — 



I have just visited the apiary of IMr. J. 

 A. Helmberg in this city, and as he gave 

 me what I consider a new idea in the 

 fertilization of queens, I will give you, 

 and perhaps your readers, a brief account 

 of his plans. 



How to prevent Italian virgin queens 

 from becoming fertilized by black or in- 

 ferior drones has aLvays been a difficult 

 problem for bee-keepers. Mr. Holmberg 

 thinks he has succeeded in solving it and 

 he says that he has so far been entirel} 

 successful. 



He practices Doolittle's plan in raising 

 queens. His nuclei are supported, not 

 only with nursing bees Init with a good 

 supply of drones. He removes the nu- 

 cleus to his cellar where he leaves it well 

 supplied with hone}' for about three days. 

 He then, at 5;30 p. m., after all outside 

 drones have returned to the hives, brings 

 out his nucleus, when the virgin queen 

 and drones will at once rush out for a 

 flight after their long confinement. 

 After their return the queen is examined 

 and if she does not show evidence of 

 having met the drones, the operation is 

 repeate(i and she is given another chance 

 at the same hour on the following day. 



All bee-keepers know that, as a rule, 

 drones do not fly in the forenoon. Us- 

 ually they commence to fly about one 

 o'clock, and very seldom fl}' after three 

 o'clock. I think it is perfectly safe to 

 assume that no drones are in flight after 

 5:30, P. M. If drones and queens can be 

 induced to fly after that hour, and the 

 latter will become fertile from such 

 flights, it looks as though we might have 

 queens mated with any strain of drones 

 that we desire, if we will only follow the 

 plan described b}' Mr. Whitney. 



