1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



21 



Bee Journal, for which I subscribed, 

 continuing a constant reader for 25 

 years, and then failed to renew. I 

 missed its regular visits more than 

 I anticipated, so before that year ended 

 I sent my remittance, which I have not 

 failed to do since, making 41 years 

 I have taken it. All these years I 

 have carried on farming in connec- 

 tion with beekeeping. 



For thirty years I have made my own 

 foundation, and that of neighboring 

 bee-keepers, on a Given press ; also 

 most of my hives, using a Barnes' foot 

 power saw, and consider them as accu- 

 rately constructed as those turned out 

 by factories. 



My present apiary numbers 115 colo- 

 nies. We had a bountiful fall honey 

 flow from buckwheat and goldenrod. 

 European foulbrood first made its ap- 

 pearance in my yard about five years 

 ago, and I have put up a strenuous 

 fight against it, and in this I found the 

 American Bee Journal an invaluable 

 aid, proving once more that we are 

 never too old to learn. 



APIARY OF C. E. MILLER AT CLARK'S SUMMIT PA 



HOME OF C. E. MILLER. WHO HAS BEEN A SUBSCRIBER TO THE AMERICAN 

 BEE JOURNAL FOR MANY YEARS 



I find in ray home market a ready 

 sale for my entire crop, and this mar- 

 ket demands both comb and extracted 

 honey, for which I am always able to 

 obtain a fair price. I formerly kept a 



part of the bees in a house, the use of 

 which I have discontinued, as I lost a 

 large percentage of queens at the mat- 

 ing season. 

 Clark's Summit, Pa. 



BEE-t^EPiNG ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson. Mareneo. 111. 



How to Hatch Bee-Eggs in an Incubator ? 



In American Bee Journal for De- 

 cember, 1916, page 424, "Montana" 

 asks the question, "Can you give me 

 some information on how to hatch 

 bee-eggs in an incubator?" and Dr. 

 Miller replies, "No; I never heard of 

 bees' eggs being hatched in an incuba- 

 tor, and very much doubt if it can be 

 done." 



A California sister, Virginia P. Hew- 

 itt,'' referring to;, this, sends an ad 



clipped from the Diamond Match Co.'s 

 catalog, the ad offering queens for sale, 

 and the statement is made : " All our 

 queens are hatched in Petaluma elec- 

 tric incubators." She adds : " I read 

 a few days ago of an Oregon woman 

 who had hatched some queens in an 

 incubator just as an e.xperiment." 



It is perhaps unfortunate that in bee- 

 keeping parlance the word "hatch " is 

 used with two different meanings. We 

 say "The young larva hatches out of 

 the egg three days after the laying'of 



the egg," and we also say : " The young 

 worker-bee hatches out of its cell three 

 weeks after the laying of the egg. 

 According to that the same being 

 hatches twice, and some have advo- 

 cated that the word "hatch" should 

 apply to the first act only, and that in 

 the second case we should say, " The 

 young worker-bee emerges from its 

 cell three weeks after the laying of the 

 egg. It might, however, be a little 

 awkward in some cases to be denied 

 the use of the word "hatch " with both 

 meanings. It would hardly do to say, 

 "All our queens ate emerg-ed in incu- 

 bators." 



However all this may be, it is plain 

 that in the ad the hatching in the incu- 

 bator refers to the emergence of the 

 queen from her cell. There is nothing 

 new in that. A good many years ago 

 there was much said in bee literature 

 about hatching queens by artificial 

 heat, and it was then practiced to a 

 considerable extent. When young 

 queens are hatched in an incubator, 

 the cells are put in the incubator after 

 they are sealed; probably the riper the 

 better, for it has not been claimed that 

 better queens were reared in an incu- 

 bator, only that it was more conven- 

 ient for the beekeeper; just as it is for 

 his convenience that queen nurseries 

 of the present day are used. 



But the hatching about which "Mon- 

 tana " inquired was the hatching of 

 f^S'-^i which is quite another affair. If 

 any one thinks Dr. Miller is not justi- 

 fied in doubting the possibility of 

 hatching bee-eggs in an incubator, it 

 ought not to be a hard thing to test the 

 matter. Just put in the eggs, and then 

 watch for the appearance of the tiny 

 larvre. Even if the young grub should 

 appear, it would hardly survive very 

 long without the presence of nurse- 

 bees to feed it. On the other hand, 

 when a sealed cell is put in a nursery, 

 and the young queen emerges from it, 

 she will get along quite well • for a 

 number of days with no nurse-bees 

 present, provided a lump of queen- 

 candy has been put in the compartment 

 with her. 



Wintering 



I am'very doubtful as to how to win- 

 ter my bees. We have a cement base- 



