1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



177 



ing the groove, and then closing it on the fdn. 

 Doubtless many have had trouble in this very 

 matter, in not fastening the fdn. very securely 

 in the frames. After pasting the wax down 

 as we advised last month, we found it to work 

 all right. You can imagine how glad we 

 were to get the following : 



I wrote .vou a card some time since askiiitc if fdii. was a 

 liuuibuf?. "lam prepared to answer my own question. 

 So far as later experiments po it is no humbuar. Not be- 

 iug able (as I thouslit) to ^et enoufrh fdn. for full slieets 

 in every hive 1 merely intended usins it as starters for 

 straight comb i. e. as comb iruides. The bees in every 

 instance ate them out and built on the edges of toj) bars, 

 fastening one comb to two frames causini; me much 

 trouble and loss. On Saturday June '2d 1 put live full 

 sheets in different hives ; this (Mondiiy) morning I find 

 in tlieir stead full combs with honey in them. I cut them 

 rat ler large and they stretched and bulged some, yet I 

 have seen natural combs that werj worse. 1 find the fdn. 

 is inclined to be warped out tf a true plane when put in 

 frames. Can you give me a remedy ? I also find the fdn. 

 used as comb guides ?j wide is used when put between 

 linished combs but not unless. 



I mail you some poplar honey. It was taken from 

 combs that broke down in straightening after the unsuc- 

 cessful comb guides of fdn. and was not capped over. To 

 my taste poplar is the richest honey made here. Good 

 strong stocks are bringing it in now at the rate of 10 lbs. 

 per day. 



Why the bees refused to work out the strips I can not 

 see, as I have not yet seen a single instance where fhf y 

 failed to work whole or half sheets. O. Bkumfield. 



Brumfleld Station, Ky., June 4th, '77. 

 POPLAli HONEY. 



The sample sent us, is certainly delicious 

 and very rich, but the color is so dark, that it 

 perhaps might not command a very high price 

 in the market. We have heard much said 

 about poplar honey by our Southern friends, 

 but have never before seen or tasted any. Will 

 some one send us a leaf and flowers of the tree, 

 or seeds? It is evidently a variftj' of poplar 

 we do not have here. The honey though un- 

 sealed as stated, was so thick it would hardly 

 run in a hot day. 



^ »»» i ;^ 



INTRODUCBNG QUEENS. 



HOW OURGEKMAN COUSINS DO IT. 



MjR. H. C. Hersperger, Keene, Ky., asks in the 

 May No. of Gleaninss: ''Can not some plan 

 I be devised by which they (the queens) can be 



introduced safely in every case, without woriying 

 two or three days over a queen and then having her 

 killed by angry bees?" 



Yes sir, 1 know such a i)lan, and it is the best 

 one I ever tried, because it never failed. If you will 

 follow me, and the hive you have in use will permit, 

 you can, not only introduce a valuable queen in the 

 salest, but also in the most profitable way. Safe is 

 my plan in every case ; it is profitable if you have 

 simply a queenless colony, wish to give another queen 

 to a colony, or have a colony with fertile workers. 



Will I introduce a queen to a colony, I insert a di- 

 vlslcn board in the hive in which I wi?h to introduce 

 her and make a room lor three fr four frames. The 

 division board must exactly fit the hive so that no bee 

 can get out of one room into the other, otherwise the 

 the whole'experiment will be a failure. In this nar- 

 row room, which has its own fly hole, I put a comb 

 containing honey, and two or tliree combs with just 

 hatching and all adhering bees from the colony which 

 I will unqueen or to wliich I will give a new queen, 

 or should this stock be feeble, from one or two other 

 Btrong stocks. Care must be taken lliat no queen is 

 among the adhering bees. On one ol these combs 

 with hatching bees I confine the queen under a queen 

 cage. These queen cages are made of tin just as high 

 as a good worker comb is thick, with an opening for 

 releasing the queen. There are also small openings 

 for feeding the confined queen. I close the hole with 

 a ball of paper saturated with honey. I then put 

 under the new queen and press the cage into the 

 comb near the brood till it touches the [jartition svall. 

 Before the bees will gnaw out the new queen, the 

 old bees will return to their parent stock and the 

 young ones will undoubtedly accept the new queen. 

 From this time I have two fertile queens in one hive, 



yi 



if the c>lony was not (pieenlcss. In that case I hunt 

 out after some days or weeks, just as I have leisure, 

 the old ((ueen In the larger room of the hive, open 

 the passages from one room into the other, and the 

 two colonics unite jieaceably without fighting each 

 other or the new queen. 



If the colony is (lucenlcss and only to be rcqueened, 

 then I oi)en after some days, the passages, waiting 

 again some time before taking out the division board 

 and putting in its place another comb. All is then 

 right. In tlie first case I have now a strong colony 

 without any interruption of breeding and in all other 

 cases I have in this way strengthened the re(iueened 

 colony, which is always necessary in case of stocks 

 which have fertile workers or have been some time 

 queenless. C. T. 11. Okaveniioksi'. 



Brunswick, Germany, May lOth, 18/7. 



Thank you friend G., for taking so much 

 pains to make the matter plain to our friends. 

 We have practiced nearly the same plan, and 

 have no doubt but that it will work nicely. 

 The objection to it is, the amount of labor re- 

 quired to fix the division boards, get the 

 hatching brood, &c., but the advantage of 

 having a laying queen in the hive before the 

 old one is taken away, is perhaps enough to 

 pay for all trouble. After we have got the 

 extra apartment made, why not raise our 

 queens and have them fertilized right there ? 

 The plan has been used quite extensively by 

 some of our people, but if we mistake not, 

 (lueens are sometimes killed when the division 

 board is removed. Will those who have had 

 experience in the matter let us know about it ? 



DOLLAR QUEENS AND NUCLEUS HIVES. 



^^'^E shall have to ask our friends who or- 

 'fll dQ,r dollar queens to turn to the adver- 

 tisement and read over the conditions 

 under which they are to be furnished. You 

 must do this, for we can not waste time and 

 postals in answering what is kept constantly 

 before your eyes in plain print. The profit is 

 so small on these queens that we can hardly 

 afford to answer questions in regard to them, 

 much less, promise to select choice ones for 

 the money. All orders will be filled in strict 

 rotation, and we can not even tell you when 

 you may expect them. You have only two al- 

 ternatives ; await your proper turn, or order 

 your money sent back. The latter request 

 will always be complied with immediately. If 

 you think this is rather hard on a world of 

 inquisitive people, perhaps you had better go 

 into the dollar queen business yourself. All 

 Orders for bees and nuclei, we shall fill from 

 our own apiary, but orders for queens only, 

 will be, many of them, filled by parties all over 

 the U. S. ; generally those nearest you. As we 

 are now importing queens, we expect soon to 

 have our entire apiary queened with imported 

 queens; by this means we shall have every 

 queen worth at least a dollar, even those reared 

 by natural swarming. We are ofTering swarms 

 and nuclei, at very low rates to get rid of our 

 old combs, that we may replace them with 

 combs built on the fdn. On account of the 

 many losses in introducing queens, we strong- 

 ly urge beginners to purchase the two fram3 

 nuclei. We put them up very light and strong, 

 that the express charges may be but little, and 

 they are sent- fully stocked with bees and a 

 dollar queen, foiv only $4.00. If you want to 

 see how nice a nucleus hive we can get up, it 

 may pay you to send us 50c for a sample neat- 

 l.v painted, and all rigged ready for queen 

 rearing. 



