TME BEE-KEEPEkS' REVIEW. 



n 



introduce to a colony that had built a hatch 

 of cells. 



Bees are in a umch more amiable mood 

 when honey is coniing in freely. Don't at- 

 tempt to introduce queens when no honey is 

 being jjathered, without feeding the bees 

 two or three days before the queen is re- 

 leased. 



There is one method of introducii g queens 

 that ncret- fails ; it is that of contining the 

 queen in a hive with several combs of just 

 hatching bees. Go over several hives, and 

 select enough combs, from which the bees 

 are just emerging, to fill a hive. Choose those 

 combs having the least unsealed brood, 

 as the most of this will perish. Shake otSf 

 every bee and hang the combs in a hive, 

 closing it up bee-tiyht. Allow the queen to 

 run in at a small opening, closing it behind 

 her. This work should be done in the fore 

 part of a warm day. In a few hours enough 

 bees will have been hatched to make quite a 

 little cluster, with which the queen is abso- 

 lufeli/ safe. It might l)e well to carry the 

 hive into the house at night, for two or three 

 nights. In a week the hive may be given a 

 stand in the apiary, and the entrance opened 

 enough to allow the passage of a single bee. 

 So much trouble is not advisable unless it is 

 with a very valuable queen. 



If bees are shaken from their combs into 

 a box, and kept confined, without a queen, 

 several hours, Mr. Doolittle says they will 

 invariably accept a queen if given one in the 

 box. In other words, they are hopelessly 

 queenless, and away from their home, and 

 will accept anything in the shape of a queen. 

 Mr. D. A. Jones is successful in introduc- 

 ing queens by using chloroform. Use a 

 small Bingham smoker. Put a dry sponge 

 at the bottom of the fire barrel. Wet a 

 sponge will chloroform and put on top of 

 the dry sponge. Over this put another dry 

 sponge. Put on the nozzle and then drive 

 the vapor into the mouth of the hive, the 

 same as smoke would be driven, by working 

 the bellows. When the bees begin to drop 

 down on the bottom board, allow the queen 

 to run in, and the work is done. I have never 

 tried either the Doolittle or the chloroform 

 method. 



In recapitulation I will say, if you wish to 

 be sure of success in introducing queens, re- 

 ceived from a distance, observe the following 

 directions. If the bees are not gathering 

 honey, feed them. Have the bees hopelessly 

 queenless. Before releasing the queen, see 



that the bees are favorably inclined towards 

 her. Allow the bees to release her by eating 

 candy out of the entrance of the cage. Don't 

 disturb the bees for several days after the 

 queen is released. I am aware that success 

 is often achieved when some of the points 

 are neglected, but each has its weight. 



There, friends, I have aone over the 

 ground as faithfully as I could in the space 

 I have used. Now will you tell me where, in 

 your opinion, I have made mistakes, and 

 what of importance I have omitted, and I 

 will print your replies in the April issue. 

 Many will be ready to introduce queens by 

 that time, hence a discussion of the subject 

 will be "in order." Let us have a thorough 

 interchange of ideas and experiences. 



EXXRT^OTEO. 



Painted vs. Unpainted Hives — Whitewash 

 as a Substitute. 



Wm. G. Hewes tells the readers of Glean- 

 ings how important it is to have hives 

 painted white, or whitewashed, unless they 

 are shaded. From his article I make the 

 following extract : 



•'In March loth Gleanings, 1889, Mr. Doo- 

 little has an article advocating unpainted 

 hives, saying that, as the paint prevents evap- 

 oration of moisture, painted hives are much 

 more damp and cold, and that bees in the 

 unpainted ones will swarm from one two 

 weeks earlier in the spring. A. I. Root, in 

 his foot-notes, recalls the fact that he had 

 often seen water running out of painted 

 hives, and says that he is pretty sure there 

 would have been no such ice and condensa- 

 tion had the hive been unpainted. Think- 

 ing over the matter I remembered that, in 

 my painted hives, I had had many combs 

 rotted by mildew. I was increasing my 

 apiary rapidly at that time, and had many 

 hives to build. I decided not to paint them. 

 The interior valleys of California are hot. 

 Where my apiary is, the mercury often regis- 

 ters in the shade 110° Fahrenheit for eight 

 hours a day and eight days at a time. Well. 

 this heat on my black unpainted hives causes 

 the combs to melt down en masse unless the 

 hive is shaded or very much ventilated. One 

 day in July, one of these hot days came. I 

 had wilted in the morning as soon as the sun 

 hit me : and, though knowing that my bees 

 needed extra ventilation, I lay under the 

 dense shade of an oak and read ' King 

 Solomon's Mines.' In the evening I crawled 

 off to look at the bees, and it seemed to me 

 there was a creek of honey running out of 

 the entrance of all the unpainted hives in 

 my apiary. I lost some forty colonies out- 

 right, and there were many others badly 



