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queens thqi would die naturally, and thus 

 frustrate the order of nature by letting or 

 causing some other to survive than llie 

 strongest? In selecting our queen-; to 

 rear from, do we always think what desi- 

 rable qualities we wish to perpetuate? 

 We don't care for light-colored bees, unless 

 we are sure other qualities always follow. 

 The queen that raised our lightest and 

 most beautiful bees was one of the poor- 

 est we ever had, and her daughter, raised 

 from her in her third season, was almost 

 as bad. The full banded, rather dark bees 

 have given us most honey, and during 

 poor seasons, like our last, those we felt 

 sure were full-blood Italians were far 

 ahead of hybrids. 



Who has not noticed that, swarms from 

 certain hives are almost sure to go off, 

 and others the reverse? 



We think it possible, even in our brief 

 day, to rear bees that are not disposed 

 to swarm (like non-sitters among poultry, 

 lor instance); nor to sting; nor to build 

 crooked combs; nor to crawl all over their 

 hive or outside of it when handled; nor 

 to get lost or do anything else undesira- 

 ble; but, on the contrary, to be neat and 

 rapid comb-builders, energetic nurses, ex- 

 peditious and indefatigable honey gather- 

 erers, but not robbers, and perfectly will- 

 ing to give up all their honey in the fall, 

 and take enough sugar syrup out of a 

 "teakettle feeder" in a couple of hours 

 ( »r more) to last them all winter, so they 

 won't have the dys-en-te-ry. 



a Sg< 



~J* wil 



MAKIJfft FRAMES, 



iood frames will last a lifetime it 

 ill certainly pay to take some pains 

 in making them, and as we handle them 

 many times each season, ever ounce of 

 useless wood or metals should be dispens- 

 ed with. "Whether they are put together 

 with nails or otherwise, if the top bar ex- 

 ceeda one foot in length we should make 

 them tapering so as to give the greatest 

 strength in the middle where it is needed, 

 for our frames we get out strips from J 

 lumber 18 J inches long by 0-16 in width, 

 and these when sawed from each end un- 

 til the saw cuts met in the middle gave us 

 the proper taper, and the pieces that 

 came off' were right for the ends of the 

 frame. We now do it much neater and 

 quicker by sawing completely through at 

 once ; thus : 



Let A represent a piece of board 18] 

 inches long by 3J-, broad at each end, and 

 3J at the middle; if our strip B is held 

 Jirmly against this and the straight tide of 

 A placed against the saw guage so 

 ;0 that the path of the saw is along the . 

 dotted line ; we shall have the desired 



shape. To hold R in the curved position 

 while being sawed, we nail fast to A near 

 each end a piece like C, the broad end of 

 course hooking ever J) to keep it tight up 

 to A. A small block will also be needed 

 nailed against the end of A to keep the 

 strips from slipping back and another 

 small strip nailed across the middle of A 

 with a sharp metal point projecting in lo 

 Bjust sufficiently to keep it from crowd- 

 ing the saw, completes the arrangement. 

 We need hardly add that the top of the 

 buzz saw table should be elevated so far 

 that the saw just reaches through olir : 

 stuff, to prevent sawing off our clamps (.' 

 The space between A and projections 

 on C should just allow our strips to go in 

 easily. 



EGOS FOR If ATCWIKG. 



|f AM afraid your ''25 cts. queens'' will 

 ILj ruin the trade. Don't you think you 

 have the thing to too fine a point ? I for 

 one am willing to try it, but if J find ir 

 will not pay, reserve the privilege of 

 stopping at any time. For 50 cents 1 

 would agree to put the comb in a wooden 

 box so there would be but very little dan- 

 ger but what it would carry safely ; would 

 also be willing to notify customers on 

 what day I would send it. I have a queen 

 now, received in October last, of the 

 "I'npper Dadant" importation. 



T. G. McGaw, Lock Box 64. 

 Monmouth, Warren Co.. 111., May 1,' 73. 



We have in prior years sent eggs by 

 mail, and hereby inform you that we 

 cheerfully concede to your proposition : 

 'To send a piece of comb with pure eggs 

 for 25 cents.!' From experience we have 

 found that a paper box, of suitable size, 

 the cover held on with a rubber string, so 

 the contents may be examined, is by far 

 ?he best way ; to ship to places where the 

 mail is to be carried on horse-back we use 

 a it'o box. 



As a partial answer to problem 0, 1 

 give you the following : "In June 72, wo 

 sent a piece of comb 2x3 inches to Deer 

 Lodge, Montana Territory, for J. M<-- 

 Dottgall, (who is now breeding queens for 

 us)) from which he raised 5 queens ; the 

 comb was G\ days in transit, and passed 

 through territory having a temperature of 

 from JO to !'0 degrees. 



JO. KUETCHMEU it Co.," 



Comr.o, Montgomery Co., Iowa, Apr. 7, '!?< 



As for ourselves we have as yet been 



unable to obtain an imported queen, but. 



hope to receive one in time for business. 



Asqther Straw. — For lady bee keep 

 ers; rubber cords or bands slipped over 

 the drawers at the ankles, and sleeves at 

 the wrists, are a very good protection. 

 0, Nowhere, 



