42 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
the bees might decline her presence and 
encase her and eventually kill her. To 
prevent this, it is usual to put the queen 
in a fine wire cage and stick this 
cage on to a central comb in the queen less 
hive. After twenty -four hours the bees will 
have got accustomed to her, and will feed her 
through the wires, and when let out she will 
generally be received with all signs of respect; 
if, however, they cluster around her, run over 
her, bite her, and behave disrespectfully, 
generally, cage her again for another twenty- 
four hours, when she will be almost sure to be 
well received. The bees should be well smoked 
when the cage is put in, and also when the 
queen is released. Smoking slightly witlft 
tobacco is a good course to adopt, and some 
experienced American apiarists smoke both 
bees and queen with tobacco, and let the 
after smoking the bees, and sprinkle them 
with the same syrup. Give them a second 
smoking, and shake all the bees on to the 
sheet as close to the new hive as possible. 
They will soon hear the hum of the bees in the 
hive, and will commence to crawl up the sheet 
and enter. Being scented like the others they 
are not met as enemies, and are kindly received. 
If many bees stick among the combs of the 
Queenless hive, the heavy ones should be cut 
out and the box well shaken , when they can 
nearly all be jerked out on to the sheet and 
the uniting completed. 
Poisonous Honey. 
By W. R. Guilfoyle, F.L.S., Director 
Melbourne Botanic Gardens. 
queen run in at the door without any caging. 
The cage is made of a piece of 'fine wire 
net, bent up about the size and shape ef half 
an egg, with a tin rim soldered to make T ie 
edge even, and enable it to be forced into the 
comb to hold it in position. A wire net pipe- 
cover does very well, if clean. It should be 
fixed over cells filled with honey, so that the 
queen can get at food till the bees begin to 
feed her. But suppose no queen is available, 
but queen cells sealed up and looking well 
matured can be got from some of the hives, 
the proper course is to cut out a full-sized one, 
with about a square mch of comb attached, now 
being careful not to shake or squeeze or in any 
way bruise the cell, flatten out the comb 
above the cell with the finger and thumb, 
and if properly done this will enable you to 
pin the cell on to one of the central combs as 
high up between them as possible. Make a 
small pin or skewer from hard wood, and stick 
it through the flattened comb above the queen 
cell, and then on to the comb of the queenless 
hive, with the pin inclined in such a way that 
when the hive is put on its stand the cell will 
hang down in its natural position and will be 
safe from falling or coming off the pin. The 
bees will soon fasten it up and take care of it 
till the queen hatches. 
If the beekeeper decides to unite his queen- 
less stock to some other, the following course 
is recommended : — If the queenless hive and 
the one to which it is to be united are pretty 
close together, they may be united at once. 
Towards evening turn up the hive with the 
queen and sprinkle the combs and bees with 
thin syrup scented with essence of pepper- 
mint, then get a white cloth or sheet and place 
it in front of the hive ; raise the hive and place 
one edge of the sheet under it, putting a small 
wedge or stone under each of the front corners'' 
so that there is plenty of room for the bees to*" 
crawl in. Now turn up the Queenless hive, 
Is there such a thing as poisonous honey in 
Australia? The only authenticated case I can 
call to mind of any person being poisoned by 
eating honey, is that of a boy who was sup- 
posed to have been poisoned by eating honey 
at a place called Burragorang, in N.S.W., 
about eighteen years ago, and even that case 
was not clearly substantiated. That the boy 
had eaten a quantity of honey, and that ho 
died shortly afterwards, was not disputed, but 
whether the latter was in consequence of the 
former was not proved. And even granting 
that it were, it does not follow that the honey 
of which he had partaken was poisonous. It 
might have been that he had eaten it to 
excess, and had died of surfeit or gastric fever, 
as a King of England did of a surfeit of lam- 
preys, and as persons have done before and 
since, of over-eating of the most innocuous 
things. Again, his death might have arisen 
from that idiosyncrasy in his constitution, 
which some medical men — Kirby and Spence 
to wit — inform us prevents some persons 
eating honey or even drinking mead without 
experiencing serious, and, it may be, fatal 
effects. The question is undoubtedly one of 
great importance, and one which really 
deserves careful consideration at the hands of 
apiculturists, first with a view to discover 
whether it is possible for poisonous honey to 
exist amongst us, and then, supposing it to be 
so, to find a means of determining which is 
sound and which is baneful honey, and if 
possible, to ascertain a preventive to its being 
made, or, at least, an antidote to its ill effects 
in the event of its being used. 
It has been said, and I believe it to be quite 
true, that in certain parts of America the Rhus 
Venenata, or “ Poison-Sumach,” or “ Poison- 
Elder,” and other species of the order 
Huacardiacece (a family of plants which I 
Lave already grouped together in the gardens,) 
not unfrequently causes the death of whole 
