THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



143 



^ rs ^HE DETAILS OF OUEEN 

 RICARING TOLD IN PLAIN 

 LANGUAGE. BY H. I). 

 BURRHLL. 



Our honey crops depeiul very largelj' 

 upon the queens. .\ colony with a good 

 (jueen often gives two or three times as 

 much honey in a season as some other 

 colony, apparently as good, with an in- 

 ferior queen; therefore, it is very im- 

 portant to have the best of queens. 



In rearing queens for our own use, or 

 for sale, the selection of the queen 

 mother is a matter of the utmost impor- 

 tance. Of course, we should take as much 

 pains to rear the best of queens for sale, 

 as for home use. The -.corking qualities 

 of the progeny of the (jueen should be 

 the first consideration, and beauty the 

 last, in selecting the queen mother. 

 Hardiness in wintering, good disposition, 

 comb building, and large, uniform size 

 of the workers, should be considered in 

 the order named. All the workers should 

 show three yellow bands. Italian bees 

 are almost universally acknowledged to be 

 the best. Other varieties of bees have 

 good points, but not enough to make it 

 worth while to have them replace good 

 Italians. Some hybrids are excellent 

 workers, but their temper, and their 

 transmission of good qualities, are too 

 uncertain. 



The husbands of our queens should also 

 receive atiention. With wired founda- 

 tion, and some care in replacing drone 

 comb with worker, and fitting a large 

 amount of drone comb in a few choice 

 colonies, it is possible to have nearly all 

 choice drones reared at home. If near 

 neighbors have bees, it will be necessary 

 to have their bees Italianized. 



Probably, queens reared under the 

 swarming impulse, or where a good slock 

 is prei)aring to supersede a failing queen, 

 are the best; although very good queens 

 may be reared at any time in the working 

 season if the cell-building colonies are 

 rightlj managed. All cpieens rearing 

 colonies should be kept strong and fed 



liberally when there is not a good flow of 

 honey. 



Good queen cells can usually be ob- 

 tained by removing a comb of eggs or 

 just hatched larvae from the colony con- 

 taining our choicest queen, cutting ob- 

 long holes in it, and inserting it in a pre- 

 pared colony; but, in my experience, the 

 most satisfactory results can be attained 

 by using the Doolittle cell-cups andjgraft- 

 ing larvte into them. I have tried many 

 plans for getting queen cells, but this is 

 the most' satisfactory of all I have tried. 

 Some may not understand the Doolittle 

 methods, so I will try to briefly describe 

 them. 



Get a hardwood stick about as thick as 

 a lead pencil, and shape one end like the 

 inside of a queen cell cup. Melt equal 

 quantities of rosin and beeswax in a tin 

 cup. A small glue pot is handy to avoid 

 danger of burning the wax. Dip the 

 stick alternately into cold water and into 

 the melted wax until the base of the cup 

 is about one-fourth of an inch thick, 

 tapering to a very thin edge at the open 

 end; the whole being about five-eights of 

 an inch long. Cut a piece of thin frame- 

 stuff the right length to fit snugly inside 

 the end bars of a brood-frame, horizon- 

 tally, and, with melted wax, attach the 

 thick ends of the cups to the wide side of 

 the stick. Cut away the lower half of a 

 brood-comb and attach to it securely the 

 stick of cell-cups, open end down. With 

 a small spoon, made from a quill, put a 

 small amount of rather thin royal jelly 

 in the bottom of each cell-cup. If royal 

 jelly is not likely to be found readily in 

 colonies preparing to swarm, a colony 

 should be made queenless five of six days 

 before we wish to start queen cells. From 

 the queen mother colony carefully re- 

 move, with the quill spoon, larvaj not 

 over one day hatched, and put one on the 

 jelly in each cell-cup. If the tempera- 

 ture is below So'', outside, all work with 

 brood should be done in a warm room, 

 and the brood wrapped in warmed flannel 

 while exposed to a lower temperature. 

 Insert the frame of cells iu the middle of 



