ADVANCED BEE-CULTUKE. 



21 



any of my bees. Several of the Carnio- 

 lan colonies swarmed, while not a swarm 

 came from the Italians, and they do run 

 about upon the combs in a restless man- 

 ner, very much like the blacks. They 

 seem to be a little less saving of propolis 

 than is the case with other bees, and the 

 capping to their combs out-rivals in 

 whiteness even that made by the blacks. 

 I certainly think that the Carniolans are 

 worthy of an extended trial; but before 

 recommending their adoption on an ex- 

 tended scale, I should like to manage an 

 apiary of them for at least three or four 

 years. 



In the production of extracted honey, 

 I know that the man who chooses a good 

 strain of Italians makes no mistake. A 

 cross between the Italians and blacks is 

 equally as good, but a little less delight- 



ful to handle, while there is nothing to 

 be gained by the cross, as is the case 

 in comb honey production. If a bee- 

 keeper will use the proper hives and fix- 

 tures, and employ the proper methods, 

 he can make a success of comb honey 

 production with pure Italians; otherwise, 

 his success will be much greater with a 

 cross between the Italians and blacks. 



Let no bee-keeper be caught by that 

 phrase, "general purpose" bee. The 

 bee-keeper who thoroughly understands 

 his resources, knows exactly what he 

 wishes to accomplish, and chooses the 

 best hives, the best bees, and the best 

 methods, to secure the desired ends, will 

 far out-strip the "general purpose" bee- 

 keeper, with his "general purpose" hives, 

 "general purpose" bees, and "general 

 purpose" methods. 



^*^^^^^^^^#A;f<r^ 



Introducing Queens. 



£y^ pN^O introduce a queen to a colony 

 of bees, two things must be well 

 considered — the condition of the 

 bees and the condition of the 

 queen. The condition aiid behavior of 

 the queen is very important. If the 

 queen will only walk about upon the 

 combs in a quiet and queenly manner, and 

 go on with her egg laying, she is almost 

 certain to be accepted if the other condi- 

 tions are favorable. Let her run and 

 "squeal" ( utter that sharp "zeep, zeep, 

 zeep,") and the bees immediately start 

 in pursuit. Soon the queen is in a ball 

 of tightly clinging bees, and the only 

 course is to smoke the bees severely until 

 they release the queen from their embrace, 

 when she must be re-caged for another 

 trial. Dropping the ball of bees in a cup 

 of water has been recommended to induce 

 them to release the queen. To the inex- 



perienced this may be the better plan, as, 

 when driving away the bees with smoke, 

 it often happens that one of the bees will 

 grasp the queen and endeavor to sting 

 her, smoke or no smoke,and, in the at- 

 tempt to rescue the queen, a novice may 

 injure her. 



To introduce a queen from one colony 

 to another in the same apiary does not 

 call for the skill needed when the queen 

 has been absent several days from a col- 

 ony, and is jaded by a long journey. I 

 have frequently taken a queen from a 

 colony, and caged it to send away, and 

 then immediately taken a laying queen 

 from a nucleus and placed her upon the 

 spot upon the comb from whence I had 

 removed the other queen, and had the 

 satisfaction of soon seeing her surround- 

 ed by a circle of admiring retainers. I 

 believe there are times, particularly when 



