March 22, 18S8. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
247 
soil, these being set on the front staging of a vinery not far from the 
hot-water pipes, apd given water very sparingly for a time. 
Seeds to he. Sottm .—Antirrhinums and Pentstemons ought to be sown 
at once on the surface of pans filled with fine sandy soil and only 
lightly covered. Set on a gentle hotbed, covered with a square of glass, 
shaded from bright sunshine, and never allowed to become dry, the seed 
will soon germinate, and strong plants that will flower this season be 
eventually obtained. If the first sowing of dwarf Lobelias has failed 
there is yet time to try again, and Tuberous Begonias sown at this time 
will flower in the autumn. Golden Feather Pyrethrum ought to be 
sown in pans, or a box of fine soil, and set on a gentle hotbed. If many 
small plants are required for carpet bedding, sow the seed in a sinple or 
double light frame set on a mild hotbed, thousands of plants requiring 
no pricking out being thus obtained. Ageratums and Petunias may yet 
be sown, seedlings of these growing rapidly. Where there are hot sunny 
banks or borders to be covered, single Petunias should largely be raised 
for these. Perilla nankinensis may shortly be sown, and also variegated 
Maize. A few pots of Mignonette and Sweet Peas should also be sown 
and placed in gentle heat, these duly hai'dened off and planted out 
being a long way in advance of any raised in the open. Asters, Stocks, 
Zinnias, Phlox Drummondi, Dianthuses, Helichrysums, and ornamental 
Grasses germinate most surely in boxes or pans of fine good soil in 
heat, the plants being eventually pricked off in other boxes, or in frames. 
The Grasses may also be sown in the open where they are to grow ; 
Kicmuses and Marigolds need not to be sown yet. 
FERTILE QUEEN INTRODUCTION. 
The art of queen introduction may be explained by considering 
the subject under two heads or cases— a, A stock of bees queenless ; 
h, A queen subjectless. A stock of bees may become queenless 
naturally or accidentally, or may be made so artificially. Among the 
former cases a queen leaves the hive and is then subject to the 
dangers of being destroyed by birds, insects, or reptiles, or it may 
miss its way or may not be hived, &c. It may die of old age or 
disease, or may become a prey to some parasite. The weather, the 
time of year, or a lack of drones may be against the successful 
union of the sexes, and so make the queen useless and worthless— 
merging into so-called fertile workers. 
Amongst the reasons for artificially deposing the queen may be 
mentioned the desire for a queen of greater prolificness, bees of 
greater amiability or other qualities, or of a different race. 
When bees discover that they are queenless (either artificially 
or naturally so made) they at once set upon the work of raising a 
queen from any worker larvae not more than three days old, pro¬ 
vided virgin queens are not being raised. If they are rendered 
queenless while eggs or larva: less than three days old are in the hive, 
and they begin to raise queens or build queen cells upon those, it is 
difficult to queen them, but still this is pos.sible. The queen cells 
should be allowed to develope until a day or two before the queens 
are likely to hatch, and should then aU be cut out—t.c., the queen 
cells, and the place brushed over with carbolic acid solution except 
one cell, upon which the alien queen might be caged after the larvae 
or nymph has been destroyed. The queen may be liberated at dusk 
the next day. This, deceives the bees so far as we are able, and 
causes them to believe their own endeavours have been successful. 
There are objections to cages of all kinds— e.g., the queen is 
confined, and so valuable time for egg-laying is lost; but tliis must 
be sacrificed for safety by this plan of introduction. There is an 
alternative method for those who object to cages, but which from 
very careful experiments I cannot do otherwise than condemn ; in 
fact, I have not had a single success by it, nor have I known one by 
any of my friends who are keen and careful observers. It has been 
denominated “Pond’s,” sometimes “ Simmins’,” method ; at present 
I have not time to describe it. I will, hoAvevei’, say, as “ Felix ” has 
just been treating on the subject and giving instructions for doing 
“Pond’s ” or Simmins’ ” plan, that last year I experimented with a 
great number of queens on “ Simmins’ ” (?) system, and in no in¬ 
stance did I find the queen missing on the third day, though fully 
half were on the tenth day; therefore the system seems a very 
valuable one for queen dealers, as they can guarantee safe introduc¬ 
tion, telling their customers to look on the third day to be sure, and 
yet prepare to send them another on the fourteenth, by which time 
she will be lost in some unaccountable manner. 
Often these queens will drop a few eggs, and through some 
peculiar instinct of the bees these eggs are often, if not always, 
selected to rear the fresh queens from ; therefore if the apiarist is 
busy, and does not happen to frequently examine the hive, taking 
things for granted, he will have a hybridised daughter reigning, and 
think she is the one he introduced, if he had not marked her. I 
might also say I have several times, upon the ninth day, found the 
poor queen upon an outside comb in a starving condition quite 
alone. Upon microscopic examination, in a few cases, a very poor 
condition of the ovaries has presented itself, through neglect 
by the subjects, although in other cases neither neglect nor disease 
could be traced. Moreover, I have for some years, upon quite a 
number of occasions, tried the “ Hallamshire law,” and having 
tried this at various periods of the year, I can truly say, provided 
the instructions are faithfully carried out, a “ fertile ” queen pre¬ 
sented, &c., I have never found this method fail, and I have staked 
some expensive and pet queens on it. I do not, however, like the 
idea of vdthdrawing all the new laid eggs and unsealed brood, which 
is so very necessary, but “ the shortest way across is the longest 
way round.” Nevertheless the Hallamshire law is based on natural 
lines, while the other cannot be reconciled at all, except that we 
might consider the alien undergoes such a state of subjection, or 
fright, and hunger, that she is glad to set to board and lodging, but 
this we can plainly see drives her into such a gone-back egg-laying 
condition, that she is, sooner or later, rendered quite unfitted for 
her motherly duties. 
I have been very successful by a method that can be used at any 
time of the year—I allude to the method of shaking the bees off 
their combs in order to get them into the condition of a swarm 
This exposes brood to the atmosphere unless performed in a. 
manipulating house, but of coiu’se eggs could perhaps be fixed 
in some other hive in the apiary in the case of this method, as also 
in the Hallamshire law. 
With regard to the “ Hallamshire law ” and the reason why 
bees prefer eggs or larvie to raise their own queens rather than 
accept a strange or alien queen. I have often thought that the 
force of habit is too often either not recognised or overlooked in 
dealing with bees. All my experiments in faithfully trying Simmins” 
proposed method of queen introduction have resulted in the desired 
queen being “put out of the way ” when means of raising a successor 
were present in the hive, for the bees have invariably raised a queen 
after their own will. I have carefully marked a few of those 
queens and have watched the proceedings of the bees most atten¬ 
tively ; in fact, I believe Burnens could not have been more attentive,, 
and the finale has each time been the same when eggs or larva; have 
been in the hive atthe timeof introduction. As I have already stated, 
immediately the cluster is broken to withdraw the queen to substi¬ 
tute an alien the colony is disorganised. I might say I have never 
placed another queen on the identical spot the original queen was 
parading at the same moment of removing it. There is no doubt 
about the bees sometimes suffering the queen to remain within the. 
hive apparently uninjured for a period of time when ushered iu 
upon the Simmins’ or Pond’s system. This period I have not 
found to exceed nine or ten days ; the poor insect gradually moving 
from comb to comb to the outside of the cluster, there to perish 
and be carried out of the hive, though sometimes it is highly pro¬ 
bable it may leave the hive alive through lack of homage. I have 
observed the bees carrying the deceased queen out, and I have seen 
the queen take refuge from one hive to another. It may be interest¬ 
ing for me to relate that I have on these occasions found alien 
queens so acting in this latter manner, and that in each case, although 
the queen entered another hive, a few bees seemed to accompany, 
but their courage or love seem to falter as they clustered on the 
handle of a garden spade, on a post, and on a pea stick on each 
occasion respectively. In each case the alien was balled on the 
