Jan. 24, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



55 



number of years, and I heard him speak in terms of com- 

 ■mendation of them. If well coopered they will hold almost 

 anything- ; I never heard him say a word against them. 



Mr. France — While I was down at Mr. Dadant's, I ex- 

 amined those alcohol barrels ; I thought I would try them 

 next year for a small portion of my honey, as a large por- 

 tion of it was going to consumers; but unfortunately I 

 could not get alcohol barrels so clean but what there would 

 be a little of the alcohol flavor to it ; therefore I discarded 

 them. I want new packages for honey. 



Mr. Hershiser — One other barrel that hasn't been 

 spoken of yet I think is a good barrel ; it is the barrel that 

 is used by the glucose manufacturers ; they use a basswood 

 barrel, holding 650 to 800 pounds. I have used only a few 

 of these barrels, but I find they are excellent for the pur- 

 pose ; they are paraffined inside ; I used second-hand bar- 

 rels only. In almost every large city where glucose is 

 manufactured, I think they can be had from the manufac- 

 turers at verj' reasonable prices. There is another pack- 

 age that I saw in a manufacturing establishment in Buf- 

 falo ; it came from Wisconsin. I don't know the producer 

 of the honey that came in those packages, but they were 

 like a candy-pail filled with honey, and had the head put 

 in and the honey was candied. I think that was a very 

 nice package; it would hold. I should think, about .SO pounds. 

 Kow, while I am up, I would like to ask if those basswood 

 barrels used by Mr. France are paraffined inside ? 



Mr. Wilcox — I just want to say, I am sorry to see it go 

 upon record that any member of this convention recom- 

 mends the use of glucose barrels ; glucose barrels filled with 

 honey and sent to any market in the world would excite a 

 suspicion that they had had glucose in, emptied and re- 

 filled. I would not use a glucose barrel myself or any 

 sj'rup barrel, because all syrup so far as I know, is mixt 

 with glucose ; therefore I would not buy syrup barrels un- 

 der any circumstances whatever. 



Mr. France — In reply to Mr. Hershiser, I will say that 

 I was askt at one of our conventions if I waxt the barrels, 

 and my reply was no. 



Mr. Abbott — I want to suggest the question. Are we 

 not losing sight of a certain market for our honey ? I have 

 not heard any remarks on it at all, as I was out during 

 part of your discussion. I have not heard anything said 

 about honey for the home trade. I handle a great deal of 

 honey during the year ; but I would no more think of sell- 

 ing to any of my customers honey out of a wooden pack- 

 age than I would think of selling it to them out of a vine- 

 gar barrel. Honey, to me, is wholly unfit if it has been in 

 wood at all. I don't know of any way to get honey out of 

 wood without injury; if you scrape it out, you will scrape 

 the wood ; it is always filled more or less with sediment. I 

 notified the Dadants if they ever send me honey in a wooden 

 package there won't anj' more honey come into Missouri 

 addrest to E. T. Abbott, because I do not want it ; I cater 

 to fancy consumers, and I can't use that kind of honey at 

 all. Just now I am using bottles. I am just hunting for 

 somebody that has nice, bright, ripe honey in clean, new 

 cans, where I won't have to pick out the dead bees and 

 pieces of old comb, and strain all sorts of things out — 

 sometimes pieces of cob-pipes and plugs of tobacco, and 

 various other objectionable features. It is all true ; I have 

 had that kind of experience, and I simply ask you now. 

 Wouldn't it pay 3'ou better if the large producers would ca- 

 ter a little more to this trade ? We people who do not pro- 

 duce honey, but sell a great deal of it to consumers, will 

 find you a market for your honey if you give it to us in the 

 right shape. , I remember, not a great while ago, I got 

 some honey from a prominent bee-keeper in Iowa ; he sent 

 it down to me in some rusty, nasty, stinking looking cans, 

 and it made me sick to look at the cans, much less at the 

 honey. I strained bees' wings out of it, and all sorts of 

 stuff, and had to sell it at less price than I gave for it in or- 

 der to get rid of it ; it came from a prominent bee-keeper, a 

 man who writes for the l)ee-papers, and thinks himself an 

 authority. I can't sell that kind of honey. I am not say- 

 ing this to take sides in favor of barrels or cans ; I am tell- 

 ing you what we want. Will you not remember us when 

 you are putting up your honey ? We don't want any honey 

 in barrels, or anj' kind of wooden package ; we want it in 

 nice, clean, new tin cans. 



(Secretary — Pretty good advertisement for Mr. Abbott, 

 and for producers, too.) 



Continued next week.) 



I Contributed Articles, l 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work 

 ing for. Look at them. 



Rearing Queens in Early Spring— Some Advice. 



BY G. M. nOOI,ITTI,E. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes as follows: "Will you 

 please tell us thru the columns of the American Bee 

 Journal how early in the spring we can commence 

 to rear queens, taking the stage of advancement in drone- 

 rearing as a guide ? In other words, if we commence to 

 rear queens when we see larva- in drone-cells, will drones 

 from that larv;t be on hand to meet the queens when they 

 are ready ? If so, in this way we can tell just when it will 

 do to commence queen-rearing, no matter whether we are 

 located in Canada or Florida." 



If the correspondent, or any one else, uses any of the 

 plans by which larva; from 24 to 36 hours old are given to 

 the bees from which to rear queens, said queens will per- 

 fect and emerge from their cells in from 11 to 12 days from 

 the time the cells are started, as a rule, for, by an experi- 

 ence covering a period of 30 years I find the average time, 

 taking the seasons as they come, and the season from early 

 spring- to late fall, for a queen, is three days in the egg 

 form, nearly six days in the larval form, and seven days in 

 the chrysalis, making a period of nearly 16 days from the 

 time the egg is laid to the time the young queen emerges 

 from her cell. Very warm weather will hasten the develop- 

 ment during all stages, to a slight extent ; while very cool 

 weather, or inactivity with the bees, as in the fall of the 

 year, retards this development. I have never known this 

 development to be hastened to a greater degree than hav- 

 ing the queens emerge from their cells in IS days ; but I 

 have had it so retarded in the fall of the year, especially 

 where queens were reared in upper stories, that they did 

 not emerge from their cells, or become fully mature, till 20 

 days from the time the egg was laid by the mother queen. 

 But, as I said before, about 16 days is the rule, and it is one 

 which can be depended upon in nine cases out of ten. 



Then, as a rule, the young queen does not go out to 

 meet the drone till she is from six to eight days old, seven 

 and one-half days being about the average during the sum- 

 mer months, so we have the time as being not far from 17 

 to 20 days from the starting to rear queens to the time they 

 would naturally fly out to meet the drones, where every- 

 thing is favorable. Occasionallj' a queen will fly from the 

 hive, evidently in search of drones, when from four to five 

 days old ; and I have known them to be 28 days old before 

 becoming fertile, but in nine cases out of ten queens are 

 fertilized when from seven to eight days old, when the 

 weather is favorable. 



If the above is correct, and I believe it is, then it will 

 be seen that we shall want flying or mature drones in 17 

 days, at least, from the time we start our queen-cells. 



I have not as carefully observed the time of the matur- 

 ing of drones as I have that of the queens, but from the ob- 

 servations I have made along this line, I find that the 

 drone is in the egg and larval form about In days, or one 

 day longer than the workers, and about 14 days in the 

 chrysalis form, making a period of about 24 daj-s from the 

 time the egg is laid to the emerging drone. 



From six to eight days after the drone emerges from 

 the cell it goes out for its first flight, to void excrement, 

 mark its location, etc., similar to what the worker-bees do, 

 which is called their first play-spell, during which they 

 mark their location also. After this first flight they go 

 out every pleasant day from 12 to 3 o'clock, p. m., to meet 

 the queens, if they are to be found, so that we have about 

 32 to 34 days from the time the queen lays the eggs in the 

 cells for the drones, to the time they are ready to meet the 

 queens. Therefore, as we had from 17 to 20 days from the 

 time we commenced to rear queens to the time the queens 

 would go out to meet the drones, it will be seen that the 

 drone-eggs should be laid 17 days, at least, before we start 

 to rear queens, and this would bring the time to where the 

 drone-brood would have to be sealed from six to seven days. 



Of late years I never commence to rear queens until 

 plenty of sealed drone-brood appears in ray drone-rearing 

 colonies. Usually, I wait longer than this, the rule which 

 I adopt being, not to commence to rear queens till the eyes 

 of the chrysalis drone commence to change from the white 



