THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
93 
hive. At length when I got tired of watching 
I took up the queen again and went back 
to the colony which received the other one and 
mit her down at the entrance, and she also was 
Jjlowed to go in unmolested ; this colony then 
had three queens in its midst. I left them 
thus until next day when I opened the hive 
ud found the three queens all alive and well ; 
etervthing quiet as a summer eve ; each queen 
on a mb by herself; thus occupying the 
thrw central combs in the hive. The two old 
queens had each of them 1 lid, during the time, 
quite a quantity of eggs, but contrary to my 
upwtations, the young queen had not yet 
become fertilised, and in this fact lay the 
iholo iccret of the mystery. Until I dis- 
torered this I could not understand why one 
rolon.v should accept a strange queen, so will- 
ingly. while another would indignantly refuse 
to receive one. I believe it is generally con- 
wM that a queenless colony having capped 
queen cells in the hives will quietly accept a 
rosin queen if introduced soon after hatching. 
From the foregoing premises I have drawn 
the following conclusions : 
1st, When a queenless colony of bees have 
i queen cell all capped and finished they 
instinctively expect that according to the 
L.tural order of things, a virgin queen will 
Ron appear in their midst ; therefore, if one 
is introduced at such a time she will be kindly 
awed, while at the same time if a laying 
wren should make her appearance among 
them, she would be looked upon as an intruder 
and treated accordingly. 
When a colony has already got a 
virgin queen which is old enough to fly and 
taiglit he expected to become fertilised at any 
tm>- then their instinct teaches them that the 
lext tiling in the natural order of events will 
he a laying queen and if at this juncture, the 
virgin (pieen be removed, and a laying queen 
MMdiately run in among them, they will, 
I where, invariably accept her as a matter of 
and greet her with demonstrations of 
ft It will be seen that when introducing 
•lien queens to a colony of bees conditioned as 
trove; that everything works in harmony with 
the natural laws of their instinct, whilst the 
tpianst accomplishes his purpose by adroitly 
“ticipating their designs, and gives them a 
Jpren of his own selection in place of the one 
trey had without shocking their sensibilities 
wsroueing any suspicion that their work has 
re«n interfered with. Although the odor of a 
queen may be a little different from 
■unfertilised one, yet that change of odor is 
JM* wlnit they are looking for and therefore 
♦vMjtliing develops just according to their 
■>l“'ct/itions ; no disappointment and no cause 
“■satisfaction; they do not recognise her as 
* ranger but as their own in a new stage of 
■relnpment. 
i iU j'‘ I discovered this way of immediate 
■ydnetion, of fertile queens. 1 have prac- 
ami experimented with it repeatedly 
and with complete success every time, until 
I am inclined to believe that it will prove as 
near infallible, when all the conditions are 
right, as any method yet known. 
Now, friendly editor, will you please tell us 
whether there is, or is not, anything really 
new contained in this method of introducing 
fertile queens. Has any one else ever tried it, 
if so, with what result ? 
Seymour, Wis. 
FOUL BROOD AND DEAD BROOD. 
Letter by Mr. S. Simmins to the British Bee 
Journal. 
Again and again this subject crops up, and 
one hears of whole districts plagued with the 
dreaded malady. Dreaded, 1 say, because it 
is now and ever will be a dark cloud hanging 
over our industry, when we consider what a 
number of beekeepers there are who cannot, 
or do not care to take the trouble to put a 
stop to it. 
Was not Mr. Cheshire’s remedy to drive the 
scourge from all apiaries ? and did we not hail 
his discoveries with rejoicing? Yet why is it 
so few have been able to cure by the phenol 
treatment, and others report that it is of no 
use ? The present state of things shows that 
either the treatment is not can ied out as Mr. 
Cheshire has advised, or else that he himself 
overlooked some factor which gave him an 
advantage ; while his followers have been un- 
able to grasp the entire subject in consequence 
of this one point not being brought before 
their notice. The fact is, my esteemed friend 
does appear to have overlooked a matter of the 
greatest importance which gave him a decided 
advantage over those who attempt to follow 
him. 
It will be remembered that Mr. Cheshire 
had a very badly diseased hive provided for 
experiment, and it is in just such a state that 
many allow their hives to get before they 
become aware of the trouble. But note this : 
there were very few bees and no queen. And 
what did Mr. Cheshire do? He gave them a 
young healthy queen and two frames of clean 
brood. Why, reader, here was health to start 
with, and then by feeding constantly with 
medicated syrup, the operator would have it 
! all his own way. 
The healthy bees would have little trouble 
in removing the disinfected foul brood, as I 
am aware from the fact that under certain 
conditions the original inhabitants will clear 
out the filth without it being disinfected. 
During my own experience some ten or twelve 
years since, I found that a populous colony 
would throw out every vestige of diseased 
brood if the queen were removed. 1 have also 
found since, where any bees happened to be 
bought having the disease, that by removing 
the queen and inserting a cell from clean 
stock, on the point of hatching, every particle 
of the putrid matter has been removed by the 
