1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



323 



you. Now close the hive, and give the bees a chance 

 to fasten these strips, and to deposit food for the 

 use of this young larvae, which Ihcy will not be long 

 in doing, having a plenty of bees for the work on 

 the start. 



Leave them to themselves just tour days; do not 

 wait until the 5th, or some of the cells may be 

 sealed, and in that case the chance is not so good to 

 make a good selection of the cells to leave. Now, 

 open the hive, and loosen each strip from its comb 

 with a sharp knife, being careful not to damage any 

 of the cells on the strip, but cut a little into the 

 main comb instead. If all the above directions have 

 been closely followed, you will be surprised at the 

 long rows of cells on these strips. Choose the best 

 ones to leave, and "steal" out the larvae from the 

 other cells, leaving the food, which will soon be re- 

 moved by the bees into the cells of your selection. 



The queens will hatch from these ceirs about the 

 IStfl day from the time the strips were inserted. In 

 this way I have never failed to get a good supply of 

 well developed queen cells. To those who are not 

 satisfied with their past success in queen rearing', I 

 would say, try this plan, and you will be surprised 

 at, the number of choice cells a good colony will 

 "put up." 



I have had single colonies build 40 and 50 cells on 

 these strips, but 20 is the most I ever left after the 

 4th day, and this was in a hive where the bees had 

 started queen cells preparatory to swarming. This 

 was my first batch of cells for the spring of 1879. A 

 good, strong queen hatched from each of these 20 

 cells. I now have 18 of them in my yard, and a 

 neighbor has the other two, and each is doing "its 

 duty" in a strong colony of bees. 



The above method may seem slow and tedious to 

 some, before trial, but I do not find it so for me, 

 after giving it a fair trial, and I am sure I am fully 

 rewarded for all the trouble it causes by getting a 

 superior quality of queens. Hereafter, I shall rear 

 all my queens in this way, "dollar queens" and all; 

 and when I find I can not afford such for a dollar, 

 why, of course, I shall have to charge more. 



O. H. TOWNSEND. 



Hubbardston, Ionia Co., Mich., April 16, 1880. 



leys? § qpriqMRfc 



ii'fr-Y little boy, 8 years old, is much interested in 

 mJ5J! bees; he has a stock of his own, and reads 

 Gleanings. He says he is going to write 

 you, and tell you how he helps papa make frames 

 and sections; but I'll tell you first that he nailed 

 last season almost all my sections and frames for 

 the use of 50 stocks, and did not stay from school 

 one day to do it. His sister, :> years older (we have 

 only the two), put in most of the starters, and helped 

 much in extracting. I make a bargain with them 

 and pay them for their work. I think it better than 

 to eompei them to do it. 



Mrs. Cotton has an advertisement in the Youth's 

 Companion, enticing the innocent ones to write 

 to her to be swindled. Let me suggest that you 

 writ<» to the editors of that paper, showing her up 

 to them in her right light. Is it not your duty to do 

 so? FRANK M. Chapman. 



Morrison, 111. 



We have already notified the Youth's Com- 

 panion, some time ago, in regard to Mrs. 



Cotton, but it seems that they, like many 

 other papers, are not only slow to be con- 

 vinced, but, after they are convinced, prefer 

 dropping the subject rather than giving their 

 readers a word of warning. I am very glad 

 indeed to learn that the children can help, 

 and much admire the wisdom of your way 

 of getting them to help, friend C. We, too, 

 find employment in the honey season for 

 quite a class of little ones, at the kind of 

 work you mention. 



Mr. Root:— I am only a boy of 11 years, and yet 

 know quite a good deal about bees, but am constant- 

 ly learning more. I have to make all the sections 

 which father uses, which will this year amount to 

 about 8,000 or more, besides helping in a great many 

 other ways. Last summer father gave me a very 

 nice swarm of bees. The colony from which they 

 were raised had an imported mother. I enjoyed 

 reading the boys' column very much. 



We have over 200 swarms of bees, and it is quite a 

 job to take care of them all. We are at present 

 feeding ground feed, which they carry away quite 

 fast, but I have seen a good many bringing in nat- 

 ural pollen. Charlie C. Millek. 



Marengo, 111., April, 1880. 



Well done, Charlie. It seems you not 

 only take a practical part in taking care of 

 tbose 200 colonies of bees, but that you also 

 read the journals. This is well ; for we 

 have men who read and don't practice, and 

 others who practice and don't read. To ac- 

 complish the most, the two should go hand 

 in hand, and you may tell your papa for me, 

 that he should thank God for a 11-year old 

 boy, who can do both already. 



Mr. A. I. Boot: — I am a boy of 15 summers. Last 

 year I thought I would go into bee-keeping, and see 

 if I could not get a little spending money by so 

 doing. I purchased a hive of common black bees of 

 one of my neighbors for $3.75. I next sent out to 

 Mr. Newman of Chicago for a movable frame hive, 

 and then set to work to transfer my bees, which I 

 did without being stung except once. I succeeded 

 nicely in doing this. I increased to 4 hives, and got 

 a little surplus honey but not very much. I have 

 purchased a Barnes circular saw, and mean to have 

 about 20 hives by next fall, if I can. I have induced 

 3 of my neighbors (one a lady) to keep bees, and they 

 want me to furnish them with comb fdn., smokers, 

 honey knives, etc. Inclosed find $15.00, and if there 

 is any left after filling the order, please notify me of 

 it, and I will trade it out some other time. This 

 $15.00 is every cent I have. I am going to get a 

 queen as soon as I can get money enough saved up. 

 I don't know when that will be, as I have got to sell 

 enough from this order to buy lumber for some 

 hives. I go to school, so I do not have any chance 

 to earn anything. Fred L. Mark ham. 



Tyler City, Conn., Mar. 18, 18so. 



Go on, my young friend, and may God 

 bless your work ; but do not let your bees 

 draw your mind too much away from your 

 school. If education is neglected when 

 young, it is seldom that the loss is ever 

 made up in after life. Do not get too many 

 bees on your hands, until you get through 

 with your education. Boys should be boys, 

 and 1 know by experience that it is not well 

 to be burdened with cares too heavily, at the 



