Il.urch 8, I8S8 J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
205 
AVhen the bees in this state had become frantic, the queen was 
introduced from under a corner of the cloth. After another 
minute’s confinement the cloth was taken away and the hive 
covered, and when I saw the operator in 18G3, he informed me 
that he never had a single failure. At the same date I deposed 
the queen, then after thirty to forty-eight hours, if I suspected 
she was roughly treated, I carried the hive within doors, after 
confining the bees, placing a bell-glass on the top where they 
could ascend. On finding their doorway closed against them a few 
minutes sufficed to pacify the bees, the hive was restored to its 
stand, and in the cases so treated I never had a failure. The most 
effectual plan, and the only one I would recommend where a valu¬ 
able queen is at stake, is to remove the queen regnant, and at the 
end of eight days remove about midday every queen cell, then 
after a few hours place the queen in a safety cage, and in most 
cases she may be liberated shortly after sunset, the quietest time 
for bees during the whole twenty-four hours, but it is safer to let 
her remain in the cage for at least thirty hours. When alien 
queens are introduced into a hive containing eggs or larvm there is 
a chance that royal cells may be raised and the newly introduced 
queen deposed, or she may be encased and so mutilated that she 
will be dethroned shortly after a seemingly safe introduction. I 
could give numerous cases of failure after every precaution had 
been taken, as well as numerous successes where queens had been 
introduced in. the most reckless manner, but I will close with the 
following statements and queries concerning Simmins’ method of 
direct introduction. 
At page 74 “ Felix ” mentions four points in Simmins’ plan 
necessary for safe introduction, but there is only one of these, 
Xo. 2, that is new—viz., “ Confinement of queen alone and without 
food for thirty minutes previous to introduction.” Will a shorter 
or longer time not suffice ? What are the advantages gained by 
keeping her alone and without food ? If it is for the purpose of 
removing any odour about the queen I fear that will not be 
effected, as keeping her fasting thirty minutes will not remove 
the odour, which is very strong and fixed. But if, on the other 
hand, the thirty minutes’ fasting is the key to successful intro¬ 
duction without the discoverer knowing the occult influence therein, 
we must accept the discovery as it is given without asking questions 
or criticising in any way. For my own part I cannot boast of its 
success. In one case, where a queen with directions came from 
;Mr. Simmins, the queen was at first well received, but afterwards 
encased. I obeyed the instructions given by Mr. Simmins to the 
letter, except in examining the hive an hour after the queen was 
introduced instead of forty-eight hours, which if I had not done, 
I fear if the queen was not killed she would have been mutilated, 
and so doomed to destruction at a time unsuitable to bees and 
bee-master. Notwithstanding my failure, I trust that Mr. Simmins 
will be able to remove my unbelief, and if so, no one will more 
readily accord him the praise due as a public benefactor, which, if 
successful in but nine cases out of ten, he will well deserve.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
IMPROVING BEES AND PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING. 
From time to time articles appear in the bee journals on this subject, 
setting forth the desirability of improving the races of bees, but 
everyone advises “ judicious crossing ” as the only proper way. Recently 
the British Bee Journal has had some elaborate articles on the matter, 
all of which indicate a hapless “ groping in the dark.” In this article 
1 propose to consider the whole subject, for be it remembered all the 
races of bees in cultivation are really and truly wild ones, and probably 
bear the same relation to the coming bee that the wolf does to the sheep 
dog. I feel constrained to write this because I consider the present 
modes of rearing bees are those calculated to produce the opposite 
effect to what is desired. All wild animals seem pre-eminently designed 
by Nature to maintain their own existence. There is no question but 
that every animal, as well as every plant now used in the service of 
man, originated from wild progenitors. The beginning of all these 
things is so remote there is no tracing them. Certain it is the first 
breeders had no foreign blood to cross them with, and had to rely solely 
on feeding, selecting, training, and cultivating, as the only means—and 
a most powerful means, as all know who have well studied the subject. 
Let us consider these points in connection with the improvement of 
bees. When they are left to themselves the old queen leads off the 
majority of the bees in the shape of a first swarm ; the hive is 
depopulated, thus reducing the temperature with fewer bees to feed and 
attend to the young queens ; therefore the successor is not improved. 
Some will say this is the way of Nature. Yes, but I know no instance 
where Nature steps in to do what she has designed man to do. Then 
there is nothing very “ natural ” about the modern frame hive and the 
crate of sections on the top when a swarm leaves. Let us just 
consider how queens are now reared by the host of breeders, all of whom 
claim to breed from “ selected ” stock, reared under the swarming 
impulse.” But every one of these cuta the cells out, and either 
hatches them in a nursery or nucleus ; ana I defy anyone to cut a cell 
out without chilling it. The natural temperature of a hive is from 96“ 
to 98°, while outside it is rarely over 80° in the shade, oftener 60° to 65°, 
To chill a cell is to stop its development, often retarding the queen’s 
hatching two days, or even more. To keep her in a nursery or nucleus 
is to further wealcen her, bees being exactly like chickens—viz., they 
must be well “ brooded ” during the first days of their wing state. The 
point I am here contending for can be tested by anyone in the following 
way. Take a frame of new-laid eggs from some yellow queen and put 
it in a black stock to be developed. On the fifteenth day, or eighteen 
days from the eggs being laid, remove it and keep it out of the hive 
until it is quite cold—say for two hours with a temp.-rature of 55°, then 
return it for the bees to hatch out. They will all do so, but not a yellow 
banded bee will be found in the hive twenty-one days hence, and few at 
seven days. The same results will follow if eggs from a black queen are 
treated the same way in a yellow-banded stock. This experiment is 
exactly the same as is followed by thousands of bee-keepers in manipu¬ 
lating their stocks, and then they wonder that their bees do not succeed 
better. It is also similar to the way most queens are reared—viz., the 
cells are cut out just at the critical moment. They are chilled before 
they can be grafted into another stock, hence there is a weak queen, one 
that is worse than worthless, as she is too often used for breeding 
purposes by her purchaser. 
What we want in the “ coming bee ” is greater strength and greater 
vitality. If we succeed in getting these we shall find we have better 
honey-gatherers and much stronger stocks. We want our bees to be 
stronger on the wing and longer lived, also extra prolific, but not simply 
of extra size.' We also want them as easy to manage as possible. In¬ 
connection with this point the fiercer they are the better, so long as they 
can be easily and quickly handled without fear of attack. 
For years I have closely studied this question, and by rearing queens 
from the egg in full stocks and never attempting to cut out the queen 
cells, I have reared some splendid queens in my time, which would 
keep 14 to 16 square feet of combs solid full of brood on both sides, 
yet it has been questioned lately in the B. B. J. if it is possible for 
queens to fill 10 square feet of comb with eggs. These queens when in 
full laying order were 2 inches long, but not very thick, and could run 
about as quickly as spiders. Their bees also were stronger, better honey 
gatherers, longer lived, resisted the winter better, and came out in the 
spring as strong as they were in the autumn, thus giving stocks capable 
of storing surplus honey from the early fruit blossoms. 
These advantages were gained solely by breeding the queens well, 
but as it took a full month to rear and have such a queen laying, and 
often they did not lay for two months, such queens were very expen¬ 
sive. I have tried and thought of many plans by which I could get a 
multitude of queens from one stock. My “ Hallamshire law ” of direct 
queen introduction enabled me to calculate the time of the queen’s 
hatching to the hour, but this did not give me the necessary “ brood¬ 
ing ” so essential to success. Then I thought of catching the old queen, 
as she led off a first swarm, and with a few of the bees making a small 
swarm or nucleus, and returning the rest of the bees to await their- 
swarming in eight or nine days in the nature of a cast. By this plan I 
should have several well-bred queens which, with a good proportion of 
the bees, could be formed into nuclei, cutting up the stock hive on pur¬ 
pose. The stock also could be much improved by breeding, and a num¬ 
ber of virgin queens could also be had for distribution. This is a plan 
I can safely recommend to anyone who wishes to improve his stock. It 
is infinitely better than any “ cell cutting ” system, though I cannot see 
how a person rearing queens for sale can profitably employ it at the 
prices queens are now sold for. Two lots of queens from one mother 
would be as many as he would get in the season. Then there is watch¬ 
ing for the swarms, and the risk of losing one, which, with other diffi¬ 
culties, would make the system impossible to him. 
Early last spring 1 noticed that my stock of Punic bees showed 
signs of swarming, I opened it to prevent their doing so, when I 
noticed something peculiar. After carefully thinking the matter over 
I at once began experiments on a stock of Cyprians, the queen of which 
was an imported one. Judge of my delight at finding there was very 
much more to learn, that I could get hundreds of queens from one stock 
all reared from the egg, that the queens were first kept imprisoned and 
fed in their cells for two days or more, and when they hatched out they 
were not allowed to kill one another. Nor was this all; I could obtain a 
batch of such queens every week from one stock even -while they had 
a reigning queen. I carried out the experiments during the whole 
season, rearing all kinds of queens, and so superior were they that after 
they began to lay I tossed them into the air, when they flew about as 
quickly as drones. This is safe to do with young queens just beginning 
to lay, as they recognise or remember their hive, and make for it, while 
