1880 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



369 



the queen cell stand at right angles to the 

 brood in the combs. After doing this, my 

 assistant put on the mats and covers, and 

 marked the slates. These cells hatched as 

 satisfactorily as any I ever tried. Another 

 lot inserted in the same way were not looked 

 at for 18 days ; at the end of which time, we 

 got a nice laying queen from every hive, so 

 far as I know. How much labor is involved 

 in raising queens in this way? 



RAISING QUEEN CELLS; DOES IT PAY? 



Neighbor Clark has just brought me 30 

 queen cells. I gave him the brood and he 

 raised the cells, and returned them in 10 

 days. He made a single colony produce the 

 30 line ones, in 10 days ; S:-!.<)0 cash for the 

 use of a single colony just 10 days. What 

 do you think of that? lie did it on the plan 

 given in another column, by friend Brooks. 



Ernest declares that I do not sufficiently 

 recommend the large sized smokers, in pref- 

 erence to the small ones we sell in such 

 quantities. He uses a large sized Simplicity, 

 and yesterday he used it from noon until 

 supper time, without once filling or lighting. 

 I used it after supper, and must confess that 

 the large bellows, and large fire pot holding 

 over a quart, were rather good things to 

 have, with a large colony of hybrids. These 

 hybrids, and some black bees kept by a 

 neighbor, have been so troublesome when 

 opening hives, that we should have had to 

 stop work or ruin the apiary, had we not got 

 out our wire cloth house again as we did last 

 year. After Ernest had used it for awhile, 

 he declared it made him too tired to carry it 

 about from one hive to another, for you 

 know, if you have your queens and pounds 

 of bees promptly, we can not stop a minute, 

 robbers or no robbers. 



"•Father, you just let me have one made of 

 light pine strips covered with mosquito bar, 

 and see if we can't have something that will 

 do just as well, and not make one so tired to 

 carry it." 



"All right; tell Mr. Gray to make the 

 lightest frame he can possibly, and have it 

 strong enough, and give him the dimensions 

 you wish. 1 ' 



FRAME COVERED WITH MOSQUITO BAR TO 



SET OVER A HIVE WHEN BOBBERS 



ARE TROUBLESOME. 



In a couple of hours it was done, and the 

 whole structure, finished complete, only 



weighs 18 lbs. It is 5 ft. high, 3 ft. wide, 

 and 5 ft. long. The upright pieces are Hxi, 

 the others, §xf . The boys have two of them 

 now, and they are just jubilant over them. 

 The whole structure can be afforded for 

 SI. 50 set up, or $1.00 tied up in a bundle, 

 mosquito bar and all. When you have combs 

 or the stool in your hands, you can carry the 

 tent as they call it, by putting your head un- 

 der the top bar, and walking right along to 

 the next hive. They have just added a wide 

 double hook to the center to hold heavy 

 combs while looking for a queen, or doing 

 other work, and now they say they can till 

 orders no matter whether honey is coming 

 in or not. 



WORK IN THE APIARY FOR AUGUST, AND 

 REARING QUEENS FOR THE MARKET. 



Neighbor II. says he would rather raise 

 queens in July and August than in June, 

 for the reason that there is not so much hon- 

 ey in the way ; and I do not know but that 

 he is pretty nearly right. At this season we 

 have an abundance of pollen from the corn 

 and other sources, and if you have plenty of 

 tilled combs, your queens will rind room 

 more readily, than when the honey is com- 

 ing in so plentifully. Well, my experience 

 with our apiary for the last few weeks has 

 convinced me that one smart man can take 

 care of 300 colonies devoted to queen rear- 

 ing, if he has metal cornered frames, and 

 Simplicity hives. No colony is to have more 

 than 5 combs; if there are too many bees for 

 5 combs, divide them. Each hive should at 

 all times have unsealed brood in some 

 stage. Queen cells or a newly hatched 

 queen is to be given every stock as soon as 

 a queen is taken out. In our apiary of late 

 we have had about two laying queens a 

 month, from each hive. Suppose you are 

 to do only half as well, and you will have 

 300 queens per month, worth, at the very 

 lowest, 9 180.00. Your cells may be from the 

 best stock known, almost as well as from the 

 poorest. To take charge of such an apiary 

 brains are needed I assure you, and the boy 

 who expects to succeed at it should have a 

 mental training equal to that of a college 

 graduate. Such a thing as a fertile worker 

 should never be known ; and if one is found 

 it should be considered a disgrace to the 

 owner. 



22d.— Strong stocks, both blacks and Ital- 

 ians are storing considerable honey from 

 what I suppose to be the red clover, from 

 the dark green pollen found on every laden 

 bee, and also found in considerable quanti- 

 ties in the combs. Just now it looks as if a 

 held of red clover might be of more value as 

 a honey plant than Simpson or spider plant 

 cither, and it would be a great deal easier to 

 raise. Although the patch of spider plants 

 is now one of the most beautiful sights you 

 ever saw, they are not yielding honey at all, 

 as did the first that came out. The Simpson 

 plants an; doing a little better, but I fear we 

 shall have to conclude that honey is a pretty 

 uncertain commodity, in any plant or blos- 

 som. If the spider plant should "open up" 

 again, I will let you know. I am very thank- 

 ful, deeply thankful, that honey enough is 

 coming so we do not have to do any feeding. 



