174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



about two dozen, but under favorable conditions 

 can be induced to build 75 to IdO good cells at a time. 

 Fig-. 63 represents a comb from a Live of Carniolans 

 which had built at onetime 70 queen-cells. Cyprians 

 usually make 30 or 40 queen-cells, but may greatly 

 exceed this number under the best conditions, 



while Syrians nearly always exceed it, sometimes 

 even building' as many as 200; and the writer has 

 seen 350 cells constructed at one time by a single 

 colony of bees in Tunis. It might be thought that, 

 where so many were constructed, only a small pro- 

 portion of them would produce good queens. Such 



is not the case, however; for in general a much 

 larger proportion of the cells formed by these east- 

 ern races produce well-developed queens. But in 

 all hives some queen-cells are undersized. This 

 may be because they are located near the bottom 

 or sides, where space for full development is lack- 

 ing; but in many 

 iiisiances it arises 

 from the fact tliat 

 they are formed last, 

 and larvit that are 

 really too old to 

 make full-size per- 

 fect queens have to 

 be used. These small- 

 er cells are usually 

 smooth on the out- 

 side, and show thin 

 walls. In selecting 

 cells, only the large, 

 slightly tapering 

 ones, an inch or 

 more in length, and 

 straight, should be 

 saved. Yet good 

 queens may fre- 

 quently be obtained 

 - from crooked cells, 

 -= in case the latter are 

 ? large and extend 

 5i well into the midrib 

 2 of the comb. 



o 



a [I can not pass 



§ this by w^ithout 



i calling the read- 



i er's attention to 



s the thick top-bar 



5 shown. We have 



thousands and 

 thousands of just 



^ such combs in our 



1 yard, and a fair av- 

 a erage so far as burr 

 ^ and brace combs is 

 ^ about as shown 



1 along the bottom 

 ^ edge of that top- 

 § bar where you see 



2 the bees have built 



3 along the wood. 

 ■^ The photograph — 

 i and the same is 

 ic also true of half- 

 5 tones — can not lie, 

 ? and I am glad I 

 ■S have this picture 

 ^ as a partial vindl- 

 5 cation of what I 

 T have said all along 

 y regarding the val- 

 . ue of thick top- 

 Si bars, in doing 



away with one of 

 the great nuisances 

 we meet in bee cul- 

 ture. 



But let us return 

 again to our book. 

 On page 92 is a tine 

 illustration of a 

 simple and practic- 

 al method of cag- 

 ing queens. The 

 person shown, I 

 take it, is the au- 

 thor himself. The 

 method of caging 

 is one I have used 

 myself, and is both 

 easy and natural. 

 On page 96 is as fine an illustration of "han- 

 dling bees for pleasure and profit" as I have 

 ever seen. Our author speaks of it as follows:] 



It very rarely happens that a swarm falls to clus- 

 ter before leaving, but it may do so if it has 



