As an introducer of queens I have not been always successful. In several cases, after two or three days caging, the queen has been accepted all right, and within twenty-four hours rejected. I watched one of these cases, in which the queen, when liberated from the cage, was caressed by the bees, until by and by one of a different mind (and of a different body, too; for I have noticed the first to attack a queen are the small-bodied fellows) assailed her, and very shortly was joined by others, until a mass imprisoned her.

With Mrs. Tupper’s favorite method I have sometimes succeeded, and sometimes failed; but then the fault may have been all my own. I have half drowned bees, queen and all, with diluted honey strongly scented with peppermint, and had the pleasure of seeing the drunken fools fondle her as if they had always known her; and then some one of the number, not fully saturated, would attack her.

Latterly, I have taken a different plan, and one which, according to all the authorities ought uniformly to fail; but which, so far, has uniformly succeeded here. It is simply this:

Wait until the bees have started queen cells. Then, without any preparation whatever, put any queen, fertile or unfertile, directly on the comb, among the bees. That is all.

It may be that I shall fail the very next time; but, until I do fail, I shall continue to practice this plan. I give it to the Journal, in hopes that some one else, having a queen or queens of no value, will give it a trial. I have not tried it long enough to consider it a settled thing; but shall report to the Journal the first case of failure. Let me relate a case of success:

August 1st, I put into an empty hive, No. 15, one frame containing some honey and a very few cells of sealed brood. I put into this hive a young queen that had just commenced laying, and set the hive in place of one containing a strong colony. Of course the empty hive received all the flying force of the strong colony. On the next day they had destroyed the queen. I then took a queen two or three years old, covered her with honey completely, and dropped her on the frames. She was received all right. Next day, August 3d, I killed this queen and introduced a young one in exactly the same manner. She was promptly imprisoned, and I released and caged her. August 5th, this queen having been caged two days, is still refused. August 6th, she is caressed by some of the bees, but others imprison her. I then gave her to a full colony, No. 1, which was queenless and had queen cells started, some of which were sealed. Placing her directly on the comb, without caging, she was kindly received and soon commenced laying. I then took from No. 1, the frame with queen cells, and gave it to No. 13. Three days later, August 9th, I gave to No. 15, an unfertile queen three days old, placing her directly on the comb. On the same day I gave another full colony, having queen cells only a day or two old, an unfertile queen three days old. Being out of the State I did not see them again till August 22d, when I found both queens laying.

C. C. Miller.

Marengo, Ill., Aug. 30, 1870.

The smell of their own poison produces a very irritating effect upon bees. A small portion offered to them on a stick, will excite their anger.

After a swarm of bees is once lodged in their new hive, they ought by all means be allowed to carry on their operations, for some time, without interruption.

[For the American Bee Journal.]