646 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 22, 1904. 



laying at her full capacity the first two or three weeks of 

 her life, she will never thereafter be a prolific queen. 



My honest opinion is that if you use the Laws Baby 

 nucleus you will never have good, prolific queens. 



I should be glad to hear from others on the last point. 

 O. P. Hyde. 



Mr. Weaver said that one trial was no fair test. 



Willie Atchley thinks that they are good sometimes, 

 and not good at other times ; that they can't be relied on 

 during a season that is not exactly favorable. If every- 

 thing is just right queens can be reared and mated in most 

 any way. 



Mr. Laws arose to defend the use of these little mating 

 boxes, and told how they were first gotten out, and how he 

 had successfully used them. Besides, they are used with 

 the greatest of success by many queen-breeders in the 

 country. He thought that the criticism of Mr. Hyde was 

 rather too severe, and unfounded, as he had not given them 

 a fair trial. He also explained their modus operandi. 



The inventor of this little mating box was C. B. Banks- 

 ton, who was then a queen-breeder near Beeville, and who 

 successfully mated hundreds of queens where only a few 

 could be mated in the old way. He did not make it public, 

 however, as he wanted to try it more thoroughly before 

 doing so. At one time Mr. Laws offered him S50 if he 

 would tell him the secret of how he managed this mating 

 and what his method was. Mr. Bankston declined the 

 offer. 



Mr. Laws then went to work and tried the mating with 

 small boxes, and was the first to give it to the public in 

 such a way that it was a benefit to the bee-keeping world. 

 Therefore we owe the praise to him for giving it to us so 

 that we could make use of it. 



He had with him one of the little nucleus boxes as he 

 uses them, and explained how they were used. The small 

 frames that he uses are shallow frames just long enough so 

 that they will hang inside and crosswise of an 8-frame su- 

 per. Thus they are kept when not in use. 



When you want to use them, after you have the cells 

 ready, take a strong colony that is to be used for the pur- 

 pose, and with a little cup dip a cupful of bees into each of 

 the little nuclei. A cell is stuck on each of the little combs, 

 and then the whole is closed up. Virgin queens can be put 

 in instead of cells if you have them. 



When you have fixed all of them they are taken out into 

 the country several miles away from all undesirable drones, 

 and there they are simply thrown under bushes or along the 

 fence where they are out of the hot sun. The entrances, of 

 course, Jiaving been opened. 



Here they are left until the queens are;;mated, when 

 they are taken out after they have laid a few days, and new 

 ones are run in if virgins are to be used. Otherwise cells 

 are given. In this way several hundred queens can; be 

 mated with Jhe bees f ro m a sin gle colony. This is far su- 

 perior to the old way of""having large nuclei. Theseare too 

 expensive to use. The little nuclei were left out for months 

 and all through the winter last year. 



John W. Pharr, of the New Century Queen-Breeding 

 Company, gave a talk on the use of these little mating 

 boxes, and convinced the bee-keepers present that they were 

 a success. He has used them for several years, and mates 

 hundreds of queens with them successfully, and would not 

 rear queens without them. 



His little frames are of such a size that he can put]six 

 of the small ones into the inside of a regular Langstroth 

 frame, and keep them over a strong colony. 



A little nucleus was exhibited, all complete with bees 

 and queen. These are nothing but little boxes that are 

 closed all around with a lid hinged at the top. On this is a 



leather handle to carry it by, and when in use and a young 

 queen is to be mated he simply hangs it up somewhere on a 

 barbed-wire fence, on the limb of a tree, or some other 

 thing, until the queen is mated. 



The boxes are prepared just as Mr. Laws prepares his, 

 by putting in the comb, bees, and the cell, or a virgin queen. 



Mr. Pharr has his boxes painted — some red, some white, 

 arid others blue, so that the queens do not get mixed up in 

 going to the wrong home. 



H. H. Hyde said that really they had not given the little 

 nucleus a thorough trial, and that his father was a little 

 too severe in his paper on the subject. He will have them 

 tried again and note the results. 



(Continued next wefk.) 



[ 



Contributed Articles 





Apiarian Exhibits at World's Fairs- 

 Trade-Marks. 



Honey 



r.Y J. M. TIAMBAUGH. 



I second Mr. Dadant's motion on page 469, relative to 

 t!ie National making exhibits of the apiarian products of 

 the United States at all world's fairs in the future. It seems 

 lo me there is a long-felt need for some mode of advertising 

 and appropriate distribution, with methods that will place our 

 products more thoroughly in the hands of the consumer, and 

 by so doing increase the consumption. I believe the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association can be instrumental in doing 

 much good along the line mentioned by Mr. Dadant. 



What are the conditions of the markets to-day relative to 

 honey, especially extracted? Go to our city 1 restaurants and 

 hotels, and how often do you see it placed upon the table or 

 on the bill of fare? 



"Buckwheat cake.> and maple syrup." Yes, brother bee- 

 keepers, and now why do these spurious concoctions usurp 

 the place of our beautiful, health-giving honey? Is it not 

 pnrtially our own fault? 



Let us go to all our leading grocery stores, and take a 

 look at the situation. These are the great distributing centers 

 to the consumers, and the wide-awake merchant caters to 

 the trade, and will "push" those articles that he can turn 

 into money the quickest, and with the least exertion. Upon 

 his shelves can be seen fancy "Tea-Garden Drips," "Vermont 

 jMaple Syrup," and various other sweets, put up in fancy 

 packages of various sizes, highly ornamented with attractive 

 pictures and lettering calculated to catch the eye. These 

 packages are an ornament to his shelves, and a pleasure to 

 sell, and put up in quantities to suit the trade. .A.nd now, 

 brother bee-keepers, isn't it about time we we're getting into 

 the band-wa.gon? Of course we have the adulterators to 

 fight, but it seems to me that here is work for the National 

 and various State organizations, in cooperation with its mem- 

 bers, to overcome this poisoned sentiment, and gain the con- 

 fidence of the public. We trust the National meeting at St. 

 Louis in September will thoroughly discuss this matter. My 

 idea of a mode of procedure would be as follows: 



Let the National issue a trade-mark under government 

 protection, to be .given to every honey-producer that is a 

 member of the National Bee-Keepcrs' Association, to stamp 

 each and every package of honey that is nut noon the mar- 

 ket, under conditions that his own private brand is to be used 

 in connection therewith. Let every State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation also i,=sue a trade-mark imder patent for the use of its 

 members in the same way. These certified trade-marks of 

 absolute purity accompanying each and every package of 

 honey, will evidently give it prestige and standing before the 

 public, and win the confidence of the consumer. 



Should these trade-marks be too expensive for the Na- 

 tional to give to each member, those tliat desire their use can 

 well afford to pay something for them. This will be an in- 

 centive for every honey-producer in the land to join the Na- 

 tional. It will also give each and every honey-nroducer a 

 chancr (n luiiUl \\\-i a trade based on the absolute merits of 



