374 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



June 13, 1901. 



to each side of each little comb, containing brood, a cover 

 made of the stuff, -ivith '4 -inch strips nailed all around the 

 edges ; as shown at A. Fig. 1. Four small staples, C C C C, 

 driven part way into each corner of the lid, so as to project 

 or telescope into the section-box, will serve to hold the lids 

 in place until they have become glued a bit by the bees. 



When the lids are all in place, each little comb will be 

 in a compartment bj* itself, and each compartment may be 

 entered bj' the bees through the perforated zinc that covers 

 the two 1,'4-inch auger holes in the center of each lid, as 

 shown in the drawing, E E, Fig. 4. The zincs are nailed 



^ Fig. 4. 



BOTTOM OF FERTILIZER XUCLEUS-BOX. 



Fig.-4 is a view of the under side of H, showing holes uncovered; B, part 



of section-box: E E, holes covered inside with perforated zinc; 



F, flight-hole uncorked; dotted lines show position of 



thin board when excluder-holes are coveted. 



fast to the inside of each lid. Pieces of section stuff do 

 very well to close the zinc-covered holes when occasion 

 demands (see dotted lines in Fig. 4). A 'j-inch flight-hole 

 is cut just below the two large holes in one lid only. This 

 is stopped with an ordinary druggist's cork, which is easily 

 drawn when queens are to be introduced. 



Z^i Now run a perfect-winged and sound-legged young vir- 

 gin queen into each compartment ; then recork the flight- 

 holes and expose the zincs on all sides so that the bees can 

 readily enter all the compartments from the sides, yet no 

 queen can leave the compartment in which it is intended to 

 restrict her. Then hang the frames in the hives of such 

 bees as you may have just used in getting a batch of cells, 

 or any queenless and broodless bees you may have at hand. 

 Be careful, however, that there is no sort of queen with 

 them, virgin or otherwise ; and if they have been over three 

 days queenless, a little tobacco smoke should be used. 



i^r A very simple way of supplying the compartments 

 with young queens is to attach a ripe queen-cell to each 

 comb before adjusting the lids; then hang the frames 

 among queenless and broodless bees with flight holes 

 corked, and zincs exposed. The bees will at once occupy 

 the compartments, and in due time a young queen will 

 hatch inside each compartment. 



I — I Any queenless bees will soon enter the compartments, 

 and care for the brood and queens ; and as soon as they 

 become settled, feeding may begin. Feed a little sugar 

 syrup (no honey I each day : and at the end of the fifth, if 

 the^weather is fine, remove the frames carefully, bees and 

 all.'? Close all the entrances so none can escape from the 

 compartments. If the weather is very warm, cover the 

 holes on the flight side with wire net, as shown in the 



ALLEY CONFINING-SCREEN. 



engraving, taking- in as you do so, as many bees, that may 

 be on the outside of the boxes, as possible. 



Take these frames some distance from the old stand. 

 and set them out separately on stakes driven into the 

 ground, thus : 



•F 





SWARTHMORE'S FERTILIZING-FRAMES, WITH NUCLEUS- 

 BOXES IN PLACE. 



Toward evening open the flight-hole to each compart- 

 ment — three on one side and three on the other, as shown 

 above by the letters F F F. If the next day or two be fine, 

 each and every queen will leave its little chamber to mate, 

 and just as large a percentage will return safely as by any 

 method of nucleus management now in vogue. The life of 

 these little colonies may be sustained several weeks by 

 feeding lozenges of " Good " food everj' three to five days. 

 Press the food into the holes at the back of each box. The 

 blocks of Benton mailing-cages may be filled with " Good " 

 food attached to the back of each compartment by two 

 staples driven into the ends of same and hung on two cor- 



TOP VIEW OF COVER.— G, food feeder. 



responding wire-nails driven into the back lid, as shown in 

 engraving at G, Figs. 2, 3. 



Examinations for eggs may be made quite well through 

 the back-most holes, which are easily uncovered by unhook- 

 ing the Benton-cage feeders ; and when it is found that the 

 young queens are laying, thej' should be removed and other 

 young virgins supplied : or the frames may be again col- 

 lated and placed on a single stand where the laying queens 

 will keep in good health for an indefinite period. — Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture. 



Bees and Fertilization of Blossoms 

 Comments. 



Other 



3V ALLEN LATHAM. 



ON page 262, is an important as well as interesting 

 article on the subject of bees and the fertilization of 

 fruit-blossoms, by Thaddeus Smith. This article is 

 bound to raise a controversy if not hot words. I hasten to 

 put in my word in support of the writer in hopes to stem 

 the wrath to come from the other side. 



Provincetown, Mass.. is the town at the extreme end of 

 Cape Cod Peninsula. The land here is from one to two and 

 one-half miles wide. It is swept by sea-breezes almost all 

 the time. It is thus a poor place to keep bees. No bees at 

 all are kept, as far as I can find. I have my summer cottage 

 there, and in the two summers that I have spent there I 



