July 29, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
101 
the rest of the bees to their old home. I know that this 
trait in the character of bees is disbelieved by some, but let 
those who wish to test the matter try the experiment. 
QUEBN INTRODUCTION. 
A pure Carniolian was hived about three weeks before the 
date of the foregoing manipulations, but the queen was so 
large and heavy she could not fly. It had made several 
attempts to swarm with the same result, the bees returning 
and the queen creeping from the ground into the hive. I 
removed the supers, excised all the royal cells, and ventilated. 
This had the desired effect, preventing further inclination to 
swarm. From the appearance of the queen, along with the 
great number of eggs in the hive, I thought her perfectly 
healthy. Still, I am quite convinced that the bees are better 
judges in that respect than we can be, and I had my dread, 
so I gave the hive a royal cell, and in a short time after the 
old queen was deposed. 
Already this year many queens not more than eleven 
months old have been deposed and young ones reign in their 
stead. If bee-keepers would only become impressed by the 
great importance of having young queens at the head of all 
their stocks, and follow it up, they would be astonished with 
the results and extra profits ; and if teachers of bee-hus¬ 
bandry would refrain from writing on the marking and 
mutilating queens’ wings for four or five years, they would 
be doing good service towards the advancement of sensible 
and profitable bee-keeping, instead of being the direct means 
of causing disaster amongst the hives of those who receive 
their instruction. Equally bad in its consequences is remov¬ 
ing queens for the supposed purpose of causing bees to collect 
more honey. Bees never work better than when the hive is 
in a normal state with a young queen at its head. This 
subject requires all the attention bee-keepers can give to it. 
It is, therefore, au opportune time for the discussion of queen 
introduction. When writing and advising beginners on any 
subject connected with bees, I describe a plan with the least 
risk, and which is most likely to succeed, refraining at all 
times from advising anything that is likely to lead to disaster. 
It is, therefore, not for the want of knowledge I am silent, 
but for the reasons mentioned above. I have been prompted 
to enlarge upon queen introduction through the remarks of 
“ A Surreyshire Bee-keeper,” page 56, where he alludes to 
Mr. Abbott and his plan of introducing queens successfully to 
hives having eggs. I have had much longer experience in 
introducing queens than that gentleman has had, therefore 
I warn your readers against adopting his plan as stated by 
“A. S. B. K.” 
It was the late Mr. T. W. Woodbury’s frank admission 
of failures that was the means of advancing bee-husbandry 
so much during the short time that gentleman wrote on bee- 
husbandry in this Journal. It is because of failure that I 
possess the knowledge to guide others. I am perfectly 
cognisant of many cases where the novice acted in the most 
stupid and risky manner in the introduction of queens, yet 
was successful. I remember well the rejoinder an apprentice 
gave to his master when the latter pulled to pieces an article 
of furniture the former had put together in a defective 
manner. It was in the following words :—“ Had you not 1 
committed a similar blunder, you would not have known ! 
where to look for mine.” 
When the Ligurian bee was introduced I was £25 out of 
pocket before I got one to succeed. The first one 1 had 
from Mr. J. Swan of Dunse, it was simply a mongrel, not a 
pure queen ; but he refused to give me the slightest satis¬ 
faction, not even answering a single letter—five guineas 
lost! I put the queen to a stock two days queenless, yet 
she was deposed. My second one, another five guineas, this 
time a swarm I put in a hive containing brood and eggs; 
there was also a queen cell newly commenced, which I did 
not destroy. It was brought forward, duly hatched, and my 
Ligurian queen wa3 deposed. I killed the young one, and 
raised a number of young queens, two of which were purely 
fertilised. I had them removed to a distance near Ligurian 
drones, and after a month brought them homo still virgins. 
The weather had been stormy the most of the time. It was 
in the afternoon of a warm day in August when I arrived at 
home with them. There were not many common drones, 
and these were past flying for the day, and two were fertilised 
pure. This was, however, at the time when foul brood made 
such a scourge in my apiary, and before any Italian bees 
were introduced, so they fell victims to the scourge. A third 
one met with an accident, over which I had no control, so 
I had to procure a fourth, but immediately after I had large 
supplies at a cheap rate from Messrs. Neighbour. 
I now gained much experience in introducing queens, and 
soon learned that successful introduction could not be 
depended upon if larvae or eggs were in the hive. It was 
about this time that Mr. Woodbury wrote advising bee¬ 
keepers rather to get a swarm with a queen than risk a queen 
to bo joined to a hive of bees by the novice. Queen cages 
then become a necessity, the pipe cover was called into 
requisition, and Mr. Ferguson of Stewarton and a Mauchline 
bee-keeper described what an efficient cage should be like. 
These gentlemen’s ideas were the same, and the plan of the 
cage was identical with what is termed the “ Raynor queen 
cage.” I have not the number of the Journal containing the 
description, but I remember it well. Then we have the 
“ Renfrewshire Bee-keeper’s ” cage of a like sort, also in use 
long before we heard of the “ Raynor.” 
After the Ligurian queens became cheaper and more 
plentiful many complaints reached me that what they had 
were either crosses or only a common black queen. This I 
denied. In all honour to the foreigner I never knew of a 
black or crossed queen coming into my possession until 
lately I received some Italians, half Cyprians. Once or 
twice I had a greyish bee, not unlike the Carniolians, void of 
stripes, but having otherwise all the characteristics of the 
Ligurian bee. It was easy to explain how the Ligurian queens 
were supposed to be only crosses or the common black bee. 
Those who received the genuine Ligurian queens, like Mr. 
Abbott, had not acquired the knowledge how bees receive and 
treat stranger queens. We all know that the reigning queen 
must first be deposed before introducing another. But every 
one does not know that in certain cases it is not necessary to 
depose the reigning queen. If the bees are beginning to be 
dissatisfied with their reigning monarch a queen may be 
introduced without any danger of her being killed. Just the 
same as in the case described above with queen cell bees 
treat queen-cells and queens very much alike, We do not 
know the time when a queen will be accepted, but I have 
experienced cases of the kind often. 
It is a fact, too, that queens may be well received at first, 
yet after she begins to lay queen-cells will be raised, and in 
due course she will be deposed. The same thing occurs if 
eggs are in the hive when she is introduced, hence the reason 
that the superseding queen turns out either a cross or pure 
black, and why valuable queens should not be introduced to 
hives where eggs or larva are present. If a queen is intro¬ 
duced to a hive having eggs or larva, the hive should be 
examined eight days thereafter. 
Queens have, in addition to their functions and station in 
life, the same nature as the worker bees, subject like them 
to excitement, fear, and anger, which, if present when 
liberated, either causes the bees to attack her, or if she 
escapes leaves the hive. Young bees that never were near 
a queen, one may be given to them with perfect safety at 
any time. 
Old bees must first know their loss before introducing an 
alien, but as it is their instinct to start royal cells when they 
have the opportunity they will depose the reigning one the 
moment the young one is hatched, if not earlier. Therefore 
do not risk any queen in a hive having eggs or larvae. Not¬ 
withstanding the natural instinct of bees to do that they 
sometimes permit a stranger queen to enter the hive and 
allow her to live unmolested for many months. 
