THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW: 



217 



grafted Cells, which I give, the number 

 depending on condition. These cells are 

 allowed to remain two days when they 

 are again given to bees made queenless a 

 few hours before; the queen and brood 

 beitig returned to the hive from whence 

 they came. Three days later I give thirty 

 to fifty cells to one colony to care for 

 until ready to hatch; the remaining col- 

 onies having their queens returned as be- 

 fore. While it is a great deal of trouble 

 to rear cells this way it has never failed 

 to give me as good queens as those raised 

 under more favorable conditions. I fully 

 tested this method last fall, rearing 

 queens for six weeks under the most un- 

 favorable conditions and my assistant 

 apiarist complimented me this spring on 

 the large size of the queens found in our 

 nuclei; all being reared late by this last 

 method. 



.■^s the cells must be taken care of on 

 the tenth day, it will be in order to tell 

 just how I do this. I use an introducing 

 cage made as follows: a block of wood 

 4 inches long, i inch thick, and ij^ 

 inches wide, has a i '4 -inch hole bored in 

 it V of ail inch from one end. Wire 

 cloth is tacked on each side over the hole, 

 then a '2-inch hole is bored from each 

 end of the block to connect with the large 

 hole The short '2-inch hole is now 

 bored with a 3/^ -inch bit to within 'g of 

 an inch of the large one, making a shoul- 

 der for the cell to rest on. To introduce, 

 place the cell, point down, in the large 

 hole. A piece of perforated metal is put 

 over the end for protection, the other hole 

 being previously filled with candy made 

 of granulated sugar. 



I very often allow the cells to hatch in 

 a cell-nursery, and put the virgin queens 

 in the introduction cages instead of put- 

 ting in cells, .\rmed with these cages 

 containing queen cells, or virgins, and a 

 lot of mailing cages, I go to my nuclei, 

 and, as I catch the queens, give one of 

 the cages containing a cell or virgin 

 queen; all being done at one and the 

 same operation; it not being necessary to 

 again open a nucleus until another queen 



has begun laying and is ready to send off. 

 One of the rules I have laid dow-n is to 

 never catch a queen from a nucleus unless 

 I have a queen -cell or virgin to put in at 

 once. If this rule is followed you will 

 never have played-out nuclei. Another 

 thing, I find it always pays to keep 

 enough nuclei so that each queen can 

 pretty well fill the combs with eggs be- 

 fore she is taken away. During the sum- 

 mer months, when we have a long slow 

 flow, we very often give the fourth frame 

 to our nuclei; and more, we extract 

 honey from them; sometimes as much as 

 40 pounds on the average, or more, dur- 

 ing the season. 



This always leaves our nuclei strong 

 and ready for winter. We always winter 

 them just the same as full colonies. 



With the best of management fertile 

 workers will sometimes make their ap- 

 pearance; and, to dispose of them quickly 

 and surely, I go to a nucleus having a 

 laying queen, take the queen and one 

 frame of brood and gently set them in 

 the hive or nucleus containing the fertile 

 workers. I have never lost a queen in 

 this way; and, of course, the fertile work- 

 ers at once disappear. I also use this 

 method in introducing queens from one 

 hive to another in the same yard; and it 

 always works, unless there is a dearth of 

 honey, or the colony is extra strong. 



In no business are there so many ups 

 and downs, and ifs and ands, as there are 

 in queen rearing; and unless a man is 

 patient, careful and methodical he better 

 let queen rearing alone. 



Hu'rro, Texas, .\pril 17, 1900. 



'HV BEES BUILD QUEEN 

 CICLLS IN THAT PART 

 OF THE HIVE WHERE 

 THE QUEEN CAN'T GO. 

 BY K. R. JONES. 



Nature has provided that bees will con- 

 struct queen cells when any one of the 

 following conditions exist, viz.: failure 



