January 24, 1865. ] 



JOTTRNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAaE GARDENER. 



81 



that the queen was in the midst, I took a small twig and 

 disentangled the bees and found the queen — a vei-y large and 

 swollen one. On liberating her she ascended the combs 

 suiTOunded by bees, and commotion continued all the after- 

 noon. This queen was nearly four years old. On March 23rd, 

 I again found the hive in great commotion. On turning it 

 up the bees were all scattered throughout the hive searching 

 in all directions, but no clustering was observed. I drove 

 the hive to ascertain its true condition, but found, as ap- 

 pearances indicated, that there was now no queen. She had 

 disappeared since the first commotion on the 11th. I then 

 joined the bees to another hive. 



I would now particularly draw the attention of the scien- 

 tific apiarian to the cases of Nos. 5 and 13, inasmuch as in 

 addition to the phenomena now under consideration being 

 manifested, other and not less mysterious and wonderful 

 phenomena presented themselves — viz., those of aged but 

 hitherto fertile queens becoming drone-breeding queens onlj-. 

 The very interesting nature of these revelations will, I hope, 

 excuse my giving some additional detaDs, not otherwise 

 necessary, under my present subject ; but the two pheno- 

 mena in question are so intimately allied, nevertheless, that 

 T can scarcely avoid alluding to them. I shall endeavour to 

 condense details as much as possible. 



On the 2nd of November, 1860, I noticed the first commo- 

 tion in box-hive. No. 13. On March 23rd, 1S61, 1 again noticed 

 similar symptoms occurring in this hive, which, moreover, 

 showed great dullness and inactivity. Appearances were 

 suspicions. On listening I heard the usual fliittering noise 

 indicative of the queen being surrounded. I immediately 

 examined the hive (it was a bar-hive with glass sides), and 

 found a cluster of bees the size of an apple, near the foot of 

 the combs. I endeavoured by a twig to disentangle the bees 

 which were tenaciously clinging together. I might have 

 roUed the cluster along the board like a ball, as I once did, 

 without separating the bees. Great numbers collected 

 around during my manipulations, and the queen escaped 

 me. The cluster dispersed and all moved upwards among 

 the combs, and quiet was restored. I examined this hive 

 again on the 26th, and found the bees still very numerous 

 and all quiet, but no appearance of young bees. There was 

 little farina carried, and the bees were indisposed to work. 

 Its qneen (1856), was now nearly five years old. 



Wishing to see how such a hive would receive anothe'.* 

 queen, I accordingly presented a fertile one to it; but 

 though the bees caressed and fed her at fii-st, she was after- 

 wards cast out during the evening dead. On the 24th of 

 April I observed two or three small drones showing them- 

 selves, which I may here say I always look upon with 

 no favourable eye. On the 9th of May, seeing that no 

 young bees were produced, and that the whole appearance 

 of the hive indicated that the queen must be in an ab- 

 normal condition, I drove the bees to ascertain the cause 

 of its inactivity and declension. I failed, however, to secure 

 the queen. Severing the side connections, I drew up every 

 comb, but could not iind her. I then removed all the cdmbs 

 into a frame hive. On examining these, not a single worker 

 egg or young bee could be seen; all was drone brood. I 

 counted seven hundred in all stages, all in common worker 

 cells, and in several of the cells two or thi'ee eggs were 

 found deposited. The operation having been performed in 

 the evening, I left the hive in a very unsettled state. Next 

 morning they still remained so. I now examined the spot 

 where I had extracted the combs, and found the queen ap- 

 parently quite dead; she had fallen accidentally and un- 

 observed, and had lain exposed on the cold ground during 

 a somewhat frosty night. I succeeded in partially restoring 

 her to animation, but this was all. I then gave her to the 

 bees, the best resuscitators. They gathered around her and 

 flapped their wings with joy. They tried to feed her, but 

 she was all birt motionless. I left her to their care, and in 

 the afternoon, on examining the interior, I found the queen 

 completely revived and traversing the combs as before. 

 This is a notable example, among others which might be 

 given, of the tenacity of life in the queen bee, and her capa- 

 bility of enduring such a degree of cold so long without 

 destroying the vital energy or impairing, indeed, any of her 

 functions. The day following she began again to lay, and 

 .on the 15th of May upwai-ds of three hundred eggs were 

 laid. She was evidently a very aged queen, had tattered 



wings, vrith. an abdomen exceedingly thin. I again examined 

 the combs on the 21st, and found the queen still laying 

 apparently drone eggs all in worker cells. As the bees 

 were now reduced to about seven hundred in all, and no new 

 feature manifesting itself, 1 took the queen away, and having 

 drawn vip a frame, I introduced a new fertile queen to a 

 portion of the bees to see if they would accept her. In ordi- 

 nary cii'cumstances I knew what the consequences were 

 likely to be, but I wished to ascertain if the bees in their pe- 

 culiar circumstances might not receive her. I was glad to 

 find the bees made no attack upon her, but appeared rather 

 to treat her kindly. Noticing this I lowered the frame for 

 half an hour, and then examined it, and found the queen 

 imprisoned in the midst of a cluster of bees. On extricating 

 her I found she was much injured, and sinking already under 

 the effects of ill-treatment and stings. I distinctly saw a 

 bee sting her underneath the body; she died soon after- 

 wards, and was extruded. I then tried them with a piece 

 of brood-comb containing eggs and young larvEe, but they 

 failed to rear a qneen, and I ultimately joined the residuary 

 bees to a neighbouring hive. — J. Lowe. 

 (To be continued.) 



SWARMING TEEsus STOEIFYING. 



TouE Renfrewshire correspondent seems to think that 

 my storified hives must have been improperly treated, or 

 they would not have contrasted so unfavourably with the 

 stocks devoted to swarming. I will briefly state the course 

 pursued, and shall feel obliged for any information which 

 will enable me to obtain a better result for the future. 



In 1864, out of six stocks three were storified ; call them 

 A, B, c. A Was an artificial swarm of May 19th, 1862, and 

 is located in a 14rJ-inch Woodbury fi-ame-hive. In 1863 it 

 was storified, and yielded 25 lbs. of very pure honey in a 

 super, and on the 23rd of June, when I was fi'om home, sent 

 out a very large swarm, which would have been returned 

 but for my absence ; however it made a very heavy hive 

 before the end of July. 



Early in May, 1864, this hive (a) was supered with a box 

 (furnished with bars and guide comb) 13 inches square in- 

 side, by 7 inches deep, and the bees at once entered, and 

 commenced operations. When the super was two-thirds 

 fiUed, a square frame without either top or bottom was 

 slipped in between the stock hive and super, and when the 

 hive became crowded, a second frame exactly like the first 

 — i e., 3 inches deep by 13 inches square inside, was intro- 

 duced as before, between the first frame and the stock. 



In spite of the ample accommodation thus afforded, 

 assisted by ventilation, the hive threw out a swarm on the 

 ISth of June ; but after capturing the queen, I returned the 

 bees to the parent hive, and when piping commenced excised 

 all the royal cells, leaving the senior princess at the head 

 of the colony. The bees ultimately nearly filled the top 

 box with fine honey, and carried their combs down into the 

 inserted frames, but the total yield of honey did not exceed 

 32 lbs. 



B Was a fourth swarm hived May 26th, 1863, in a Bevan 

 bar -hive, 11 J inches square, by 9 inches deep, containing 

 eight bars. This swarm was in the first place hived merely 

 for the sake of testing the quality of the queen, but it did 

 so wonderfully well, though, only a very small swarm (not 

 only fUling the box with comb, and working in a bell-glass, 

 but also requiring a nadir towards the end of July), that I 

 kept it on as a stock hive. 



This was supered with a box of the same size as the stock 

 hive, but the bees were very slow in availing themselves of 

 the room afforded to them, and shortly after taking possession 

 of the super, sent out a swarm. In this case the queen was 

 a valuable one, so having excised the royal cells, 1 returned 

 the swai-m with the old queen; two shallow boxes were 

 successively introduced between the stock and super, and 

 towards the middle of July the hive was also nadired, as 

 the bees were getting short of room, though they had not 

 quite filled the super. This hive yielded about 40 lbs. of 

 pure honey. 



c Was a second swarm of 1862, June 4th, and is located 

 in a ten-frame Woodbury hive. In 1863, I obtained four 

 swarms from this hive. The third swarm was sent to "A 



