1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



267 



know how to raise a queen, but many of us do 

 not know the most economical manner of re- 

 queening where it requires 100 or 300 (iiu»ens or 

 more. In this climate, queens lay the year 

 ronnd.und irear out fast ; but, aside from this, 

 bee-keepers who restrain swarming see that it is 

 a subject of the first importance, and should re- 

 ceive more attention from the bee journals and 

 writers. It is not to be expected that (pieen- 

 rearers will voluntarily tell us their methods; 

 but i/o((, Mr. Root, as a journalist. n\ ill see that 

 we are supplied w ith the desired information. 

 Santa Ana, Cal.. Mar. 11. L. S. Emkrson. 



[There are so many different methods of 

 queen-rearing (and each one thinks his own 

 way is best) that it is a difficult matter to de- 

 cide betw een them. There are points of merit 

 in all of them. Much depends on whether you 

 propose to rear queens to sell as a business, or to 

 requeen your apiary the most economically and 

 at the besttimeof theyear. From your letter, we 

 judge you prefer to'do the latter. There is no 

 time w hen the apiary can be reciueened more 

 cheaply tlian during swarming time, when there 

 will be iiundreds of large choice cells from se- 

 lect queens, from which to choose. If we were 

 to requeen. we w ould not make any particular 

 effort to hunt up such cells; but w hile we were 

 performing other necessary manipulations we 

 would be on the lookout for such, say about 

 nine days old. These could be placed in nuclei, 

 and allowed to hatch and become mated: or. as 

 many think, it pays to have the old qurens le- 

 moved. or practically so. during swarming time. 

 The old queens, or over Iw o years old. can be 

 killed, and these nice svvarming-cells can be 

 placed in the hive. By the time the swarming 

 fever is over, there will be a nice young queen, 

 in all probability, reigning supreme, and swarm- 

 ing will have been controlled in tlie meantime. 

 By that time, too, the honey season will proba- 

 bly be over, and you w ill not have excessive 

 brood-rearing at the wrong time of the year; 

 but you will have instead brood-rearing just 

 when you want it— early in September — giving 

 the colony plenty of young bees to go into win- 

 ter quarters. And, again, during swarrning 

 time bees are less apt to tear down cells given 

 them or kill the young (lueens. The nicest 

 time in all tlie year to requeen, or, in fact, to raise 

 queens for aiiy purpose, is during swarming 

 time. If you desire to rear queens to sell as a 

 business, we would recommend you to the Doo- 

 little. Alley, or even to the plan given in A B C 

 of Bee Culture.] 



CORHECTION IN RAMBLER'S CONVENTION RE- 

 PORT. 



After reading the report of the Bee-keepers" 

 State Convention, at Los Angeles, Cal., as made 

 by the Rambler, on page 1(39, the spirit moves 

 me to make some corrections. The idea of his 

 trying to make out that he " kicked " when re- 

 qiiested to correspond with the lady managers 

 of the World's Fair exhibits for South(>rn Cali- 

 fornia! Why, every one could see that he was 

 '• filled with rejoicement" as the Irish girl said, 

 at the mere mention of it; and the only eonfu- 

 sion visible was that upon the face of the Ram- 

 bler. I have since learned that there are some 

 very bright widows among the aforesaid man- 

 agers; and as he confesses that Cupid still 

 haunts him, who can tell what the result may 

 be? Mrs. J. F. McIntyre. 



Fillmore, Cal., March 1.5. 



taking food nicely at entrances. They are all in 

 Dovetailed hives, sealed covers. 1 moved a 

 hive backward, off the bottoin -board, about 

 one inch, giving ventilation at front and rear: 

 put into the cellar Nov. 10. taken out Mar. 17. 

 The temperature was from 34 to 4,5°, usually 

 standing at 40. Harmon Smith. 



Ionia. Mich., March IS. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



GOOD CELLAR WINTERING. 



On removing my bees from cellar yesterday, 

 of 3t> swarms, fullcount, I report »iot <t suutrm 

 lost. I do not propose to lose any, as they are 



HOW T(J MAKE A VALUABLE FERTILIZER WITH 

 ONLV THE LABOR OF DRAWING IT. 



Friend Root:— I want to tell you how we get 

 a lot of fertilizer for iust drawing it a mile and 

 a half. As the snow goesoiT in the spring there 

 is a heavy , coating of mostly horse manure on 

 all the paved streets in our village; this is hoed 

 into piles in expectation of our team, which wc 

 start drawing the stuff on to the garden. Then 

 comes tile annual sireet-cleaning, done by the 

 village authorities. They hoe it up and we 

 draw it off. This gives xisliOor 70 loads; then 

 the streets are all swept every Friday all sum- 

 mer. Thisgives us about (i or 8 loads every week, 

 which we draw off promptly, and I think it is 

 worth nearly as much as stable manure which 

 we have to pay one dollar a load for. and draw 

 it too. As it is composed mostly of horse manure 

 it will heat rapidly if composted. 



Of course, we have to hire extra teams to keep 

 this all going promptly, and sometimes it seems 

 as if we could not attend to it; hut where there 

 is a will we can always find a way. r)ur streets 

 and parks are lined with maples. At leaf-shed- 

 ding time in the fall we devote a week to gath- 

 ering these and drawing these maple leaves, 

 which we pack under a large shed. These are 

 used to give all our stock a bed a foot thick all 

 winti'r. " It makes me feel happy when I can go 

 into the stable during a cold night, with the 

 mercury below zero outside, and see our three 

 cows and horses nearly covered with leaves. I 

 know they are as comfortable as they can be; 

 and what'a big pile of manure we have in the 

 spring 1 I think there is no bedding better than 

 leaves. They rot readily, are short, and are a 

 natural fertilizer, and we use them liberally. 

 They cost us nothing but raking up and drawing. 



Oneida, N. V. Edward B. Beebee. 



[Your suggestions are tiptop, friend B.; and 

 although ours is a town of only ;-'000 inhab- 

 itants. I have often thought of this very thing, 

 and I feel sure it will pay. Since I have seen 

 what a bushel of horse manure, gathered ac- 

 cording to our friend Eugene Davis, just as the 

 horses drop it. will do,* 1 have felt sure that it 

 would pay to have somebody go over the streets 

 and shovel this up. The authorities would cer- 

 tainly make no objection, and I really believe 

 a man would make good wages in a town of 

 any considerable size. People might laugh at 

 him for a while, it is true; but the laugh would 

 soon b(^ on the other side. Your ideas in regard 

 to gathering leaves are also excellent. A good 

 many times the wind sweeps them up into a 

 corner where a good big load can be gathered 

 very quickly. Somebody may suggest that it 

 is small business. In one of Vaughn's cata- 

 logues 1 notici' he advertises leaf-mold for 

 florists, at i?'J.00 a barrel. Now. these leaves, as 

 you say. make the best bedding in the world, 

 and I actually believe they are worth $2.00 a 



♦Better put your money into tliis tiian in nitrate 

 of soda or an if other cliemical manure. I shall be 

 glad to own v\p when sonielxxly can sliow me I am 

 mistaken. 



