Dr. H. C. Barnard in the June number of the A. B. Journal, gave directions for introducing queens by fumigating with tobacco smoke. I had introduced them by means of the queen cage, and sprinkling them with sweetened water scented with the essence of peppermint. But as this seemed to be a better plan, I thought I would try it. I caged the queen to be introduced, and followed his directions to the letter, but what do you think I had? A laying queen in twelve hours? Nay, verily, but a dead queen, and half the bees dead and driven from the hive. Now, Mr. Editor, I think a great deal of my bees, and when, in opening a hive, I carelessly kill one, I am always sorry; but then to see them slaughtered by wholesale, was very cruel to say the least. All the next day, whenever I passed that way, the well bees were driving off those that were crippled or had lost the use of their legs or wings. Besides this, while they were in no condition to repel an attack, the robber bees came in for a share, and I came very near losing them. They were not so drunk but that most of them could crawl round, and only a few of them fell to the bottom of the hive.—Dr. Barnard said, “if they all fell to the bottom it would do no harm.” Now what was the cause of this failure? I could not have smoked them too much, according to his instructions, for nearly all of them could crawl round, when I first opened the hive to let the smoke out; yet it destroyed fully half of them. I do not write this by way of fault-finding, but so that nobody as green as I was, should undertake the same process, and have a like failure.

G. M. Doolittle.

Borodino, N. Y., Sept., 1870.

[For the American Bee Journal.]