THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
105 
syrup sprinkled upon the bees to give them a 
common scent, I came to the conclusion that a 
queen parading unconcernedly upon her own 
comb and among her own bees could be inserted 
safely into any desired hive and such, after 
many trials, has proved to be the case. All who 
have given the method a fair and impartial trial 
have spoken very highly of it. In giving queens 
by this method, or when uniting bees in any 
way, the hives to be operated upon should first 
have the whole of their combs fully exposed to 
the light, and each seam of bees divided by 
drawing the frames so far apart that none hang 
from one to the other ; and when the queen to 
be given is brought from another part of the 
apiary the comb on which she is with her 
attendant bees should always be carried in a 
box without a cover of any kind. Strict atten- 
tion to this last particular is absolutely 
necessary, and the hints therein given are of far 
more importance than any amount of sprinkling 
with syrup, scented or otherwise. Of course it 
is understood that the bees are first smoked as 
in all manipulations. 
Queens Received from a Distance : — Upon 
receipt of the queen go to the hive and remove 
the one to be superseded or otherwise. At dusk 
take the new queen, quite alone, after keeping 
her so for not less than thirty minutes previously, 
but quite warm, moreover without food mean- 
while ; lift the quilt at the corner, drive the bees 
back with very little smoke, and then permit 
the queen to run down ; close the hive and 
make no examination until after forty-eight 
hours. Leave the operation until so late that a 
lamp is necessary, in this case the queen looses 
any scent she may have contracted on the 
journey. It matters not, as with the first 
method, whether the old queen has been only 
just removed or if the hive has been long queen- 
less, and the new queen will always be 
accepted. When the queen' is received at once 
make up a nucleus to receive her, thus : — From 
a strong colony take one frame of hatching 
brood with adhering bees and place in a nucleus 
hive, taking three Langstroth frames ; then 
shake off most of the bees from another comb 
into such small hive, and on either side of the 
one containing brood place one comb of honey ; 
close the entrance with perforated zinc, and 
place on top a sheet of straining cloth tacked to 
a simple frame. Thus securely confined, and 
having ample ventilation, they are to be taken 
into a warm dark room. In a few minutes, 
finding themselves confined and queenless, a 
great uproar will be heard ; now slide the frame 
of strainer cloth just off one corner and let the 
queen run in. keeping back the bees with a 
little smoke if necessary. Close again and let 
them remnin indoors until the third day. when 
stand out where desired. After a day "or two 
give another frame of hatching brood, which 
repeat at intervals of seven days or as often as 
they appear able to cover more c> mbs. until 
well established. In this case the bees are 
reduced to exactly the same condition as the 
recently-confined queen. — South Auttralimi 
( 'h roniclr. 
FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS. 
In the absence of bees the fertilization of 
flowers by hand has been tried at Mildura with 
great success, particularly with plants of the 
gourd tri be. Mr. C. Teach, of Deakin Avenue, 
noticed that his pumpkins were not forming, 
although the foliage and flowers were all that 
could be desired. He accordingly took the 
anther from a male flower and touched the 
female dowers with it and the result was the 
immediate formation of the “fruit.” This 
method of fertilizing has been adapted by Mr. 
G. W. Knight, of Sandhurst, with great success 
in his experiments with vines, ami the recent 
development of a magnificent grape by treating 
the Waltham Cross in this manner is reported. — 
Mildura Cultivator. 
DIVIDING BEE SWARMS. 
(Bv “Sting” in the Queenslander.) 
It is still a disputed point whether it is best to 
allow natural swarming, or to practice “ artificial 
swarming,” or, as it is better called, dividing. 
Like many other points in beekeeping, where 
there is so much variety in methods of managing 
an apiary, it will doubtless remain disputed. 
What is best for each beekeeper is what suits him 
best. When simple increase in the number of 
colonies is the object, to divide is, of course, the 
only plan open, unless one risks the uncertainty of 
the bees swarming or not. To be truly successful, 
however, it must be done with great care. When 
a colony of bees is suddenly deprived of their 
queen, after the first hubbub caused by her loss is 
over, they proceed to supply her place. But they 
do not take time to rear the new queen from the 
egg as they do in natural swarming. They may 
take any larva or bee-grub that is unsealed. They 
may select one already six days old, enlarge its 
cell, try to cram it with queen-jelly, and trust it 
will come out all right, a queen. So it will, but a 
very poor one ; for it has lost three days at the 
most important period of its short larval life, 
during all of which it should have been nursed as 
an intended queen mother. And since these half- 
developed queens hatch first, and the first hatched 
is usually selected to be the mother, it is ten chances 
to one that in the queenless half of the divided 
colony there will be ere long a worthless queen. 
This danger can lie avoided by having either ripe 
queen cells, virgin or fertilised queens ready to 
place in the queenless half. But this entails an 
amount of time and care and work greater than 
hiving natural swarms. Dividing colonies does 
not. Iiesides, entirely prevent the danger of a 
swarm with a virgin queen leaving that part of 
the hive which contains the brood. If the hive 
has been very populous, and there is a great deal 
of brood hatching daily, such a swarm is quite 
liable to appear. If so, it may be returned after 
all the cells in the hives have been cut out, or the 
young queens already hatched, caught, and killed. 
But what a labor this is ! and who cares to put up 
