Aug. 4, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



lODfT time I reared my queens by the Alley and Doolittle 

 methods, as I considered them the simplest and best, but I 

 became dissatisfied at times with the Doolittle method, espe- 

 cially when reared above or behind queen-excluding metal. 

 The Alley method will produce good queens every time 

 when conditions are right, but it is too costly to suit me. 

 The making of a colony queenless, and keeping it so for a 

 week or ten days, means dollars and cents, and if late in the 

 season it may mean death to the colony the following win- 

 ter. However, we must have good queens regardless of 

 cost, and I would rear them by the Alley method, too, if I 

 had not worked out the following : 



When settled warm weather has arrived, and colonies 

 have become strong, i.e., one hive-body well filled with 

 bees, with brood in all combs excepting the two outside 

 ones, and large numbers of young nurse-bees on hand ; 

 then, and not until then, should any one attempt to rear 

 queens. When bees are in this condition, with plenty of 

 honey and pollen coming in from the fiields, I am then ready 

 to begin queen-rearing operations, provided queens are 

 needed thus early. 



I go over the apiary and select a good, strong colony, 

 preferably hybrids, one which has a good, prolific queen 

 not more than two years old — still better if not more than 

 one year old. I hunt out this queen, catch her, and with a 

 sharp pair of scissors clip about '4 of an inch off one of the 

 large wings and liberate her among the bees again, and close 

 the hive. In about four or five days you will find eggs in 

 queen-cells. 



Now prepare a batch of cell-cups, a la Doolittle, minus 

 royal jelly, and take them along with you to the colony, 

 destroy the cells the bees have started, hunt out a comb 

 containing small larva;, and with a goose-quill toothpick, 

 that has been previously polished on a stone to take off 

 sharp edges, lift out larvK that are about two days old, as 

 near as you can judge, and place one in each cell-cup with- 

 out royal jelly — just the dry cup. Now place the comb with 

 cell-cups in the center of the brood-nest and leave it for a 

 day or two, when you will find that just as many, or more, 

 cells have been accepted as if you had put royal jelly in 

 them. 



Now these cells have been shaped up by the bees to 

 suit their liking, and there is considerable royal jelly in 

 them, lift out those old larva; that you first put in, and re- 

 place them with the smallest larva; you can find from your 

 best breeding queen, and place the comb back in the hive 

 where you took it from. Those cells will be cared for and 

 fed from the very moment you place them back in the hive. 

 This I consider very important, and must take place if we 

 are to have good queens every time. And this leads me to 

 say, that with an)' method when artificial cell-cups are used, 

 unless given to bees that are hopelessly queenless, they 

 must be grafted a second time if you want good results. 

 The reason is plain to be seen — the cells are unnatural iu 

 every respect, and in the majority of cases remain un- 

 noticed for several hours, and the nature of them is only 

 discovered as some bee out of curiosity pokes her head into 

 one of them, when she at once spreads the news. But, 

 alas, it is too late, they have received a setback from which 

 they will never recover, and the omission of this very thing 

 is, I believe, the principal reason why so many bee-keepers 

 received or reared queens that were not satisfactory, there- 

 by causing the queen-breeder and cell-cup methods to be 

 condemned. I am firmly convinced that the grafting of 

 cells a second time h-as paid me enormously — yes, better 

 than any other work I ever did in the apiary. 



Now. lest some may think that a queen treated as I 

 have described will be of little good from the standpoint of 

 egg-laying, and consequently a run-down colony, to such I 



want to say that a queen treated in this way will, with the 

 exception of a few hours when first clipped, lay just as well 

 as ever. That has been my experience for the past four 

 years ; and, further, the colony will produce just as good 

 results in either comb or extracted honey as if you never 

 touched the queen. And this colony can be kept building 

 cells during the whole season, as I have done repeatedly. 

 In such a case you must examine every comb in the hive 

 once in every twelve days or two weeks, and cut out any 

 cells that may be started on them. 



When rearing queens in this way it is just as necessary 

 to feed the colony in times of scarcity as it is with any 

 method. Of course, the bees are trying to supersede their 

 queen, and will carry on the work of cell-building just as 

 long as there is anything in the hive for them to live on, 

 but if there is no honey in the fields feed by all means ; also 

 feed the colony containing your breeding queen, so that 

 any larv;f taken from it will not have received a setback 

 from being fed sparingly. As in times of great scarcity 

 bees feed larva; just as little as possible and have them live, 

 it seems almost unnecessary for me to say that larv;e taken 

 from a colony when in this condition are entirely unfit for 

 queen-rearing purposes. 



Before closing I want to add a few don'ts : Don't try 

 to rush matters by attempting to rear queens before your 

 colonies get strong. Don't wait until the season is nearly 

 over, and drones nearly all killed off ; the bees know when 

 the drones are killed and winter is close by, and seem to 

 prefer their old queens rather than take chances on getting 

 a young one fertilized. Don't winter a queen that has 

 been clipped and at the head of a cell-building colony all 

 summer; quit off in time to allow a young queen to become 

 fertile and laying, and use another colony next summer. 



The rearing of queens just when and where I wanted 

 them, and in almost any numbers, with the colony storing 

 in the sections just as fast as any other — no waiting for the 

 swarming fever or old age to overtake some queen — is some- 

 thing that has given me great pleasure. That I believe it 

 will be so with others is my reason for taking the trouble to 

 write it out. Cayuga Co., N. Y. 





Convention Proceedings 



in§s J 



Southwestern Ohio and Hamilton County, Ohio, 

 Convention. 



The members of the Southwestern Ohio and Hamilton 

 County Bee-Keepers" Association elected the following offi. 

 cers at the last regular meeting, on June 17 : 



President, Henry Shaffer; Vice-President, Joseph Ries- 

 tenberg ; Secretary, Henry Reddert ; Treasurer, C. H. W. 

 Weber. Executive Committee : John Sommers, Chas. 

 Weber, Benj. Kolks, Harry Denning, and Fred Eggers. 

 Our organization is increasing rapidly, one of the main 

 features being " bee-keeping from a scientific standpoint," 

 hence the enthusiasm displayed at the meetings during the 

 " Welfare " of the organization. We are incorporated under 

 the laws of the State of Ohio, having received our charter 

 from the Secretary of State, June 17. Enclosed you will 

 please find the Constitution and By-Laws. 



Henry Reddert, Sec. 



[The Constitution and By-Laws referred to above we 

 publish herewith, as they may be a help to some other bee- 



