4G(3 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



FHAMES OF BROOD WITH OR WITH- 

 OUT BEES, FOR BUILDING UP. 



AT.Sd SOMKTIIINC; ABOUT UrVI.N(J r.NTKSTi:ii 

 QUEENS. 



N the ABC book you speak of building up col- 

 onies by taking frames of hres and brood from 

 ilifferent hives, and putting- them together, etc. 

 Now, in my short experience with bees (this is 

 my second year) if T wanted to build up a weak 

 colony I would always shake off all the heex, and 

 just carry the frame of brood to the weaker hive. 

 I have always been afraid of making a rumpus, or 

 starting a tight, by putting even a few strange bees 

 in the hive. If 1 understand right, such care was 

 not necessary, only, of course, I should not take 

 my old queen along. Please make it a little plainer. 

 I have got untested queens of you twice this 

 spring— the first in the beginning of Maj', with one- 

 half pound of bees. I got them started all right, 

 but the queen was no good. I helped them along 

 with brood from other hives, and the queen laid 

 some, then she got to laying, as Mr. Garwood tells 

 in the June Gi.eaninos, two or three in a cell— in 

 the bottom, on one side, and near the bottom on the 

 sides. I didn't understand, but left her alone, and 

 about the 1st of June all at once she was gone, I do 

 not know where, and they had started queen-cells, 

 and have a young queen now. I think the old one 

 was about played out when I received her— one you 

 had got from the South, probably in the spring rush. 

 The other queen which I received about the ~.")th of 

 May, 1 think is first rate, but dark. 



S. I-. Loi'AU, ii-d.O. 

 Indianola, 9 Iowa, June ::2, l^-'S.-). 

 Friend J^., I think you will liiid that we 

 describe liow to eni])loy li)oth methods, in 

 the A ]> (' book. Where you want to 

 strengthen a weak colony, get a cond) con- 

 taining hairhing brood, and put it in your 

 colony to be strengthened, without bees. 

 The reason why you shake off the bees is. 

 that they might kill the (lueen of the weak 

 colony. The only ditliculty in this plan is in 

 linding the comb just right for your weak 

 colonies. If it contains too much tmsealed 

 brood, the bees of the weak colony may not 

 be able to nurse it well, and this will occa- 

 sion loss. Or if it contains more sealed 

 l)rood tlian the weak colony can cover and 

 take care of during the cool weather, loss 

 might ensue. What you want is a comb 

 containing a moderate patch of brood, all of 

 it sealed, and some of it hatching. Shake 

 off all the bees, and you have got it exactly. 

 The other plan is where you want a nucleus. 

 Take the comb— brood, bees, and all— from 

 say three or four dilferent hives. Put them 

 all in together in a new hive, or nucleus 

 hive, and there will rarely be any disagree- 

 ment : for none of them are at home, and 

 they soon get mixed up so that they do not 

 know which is which. As soon as they set- 

 tle down peaceably together, and start 

 queen-cells, you can usually introduce the 

 (jneen without any shaking, or they will 

 take nicely to a (|ueen-cell. 



Friend Ji..you bought two untested (pieens 

 — oiH' good and one poor one. The good one 

 is worth all you i)aid for both of them ; but 

 as a rule I should say that nine out of ten 

 prove to be good prolific queens. I think 



\ our remark unkind and uncharitable, both 

 to myself and the friends in the South, 

 when you intimate that any of us sent yoti 

 an old queen. I know it is very common for 

 those who make a purchase, to declare the 

 (pieen is old or unfertilized, if she happens 

 to fail or die ; and I am obliged to remind 

 our customers very often, that queens are no 

 exception to the rest of creation; and after 

 a long trip through the mails, it ought not 

 to be surprising that some should fail, or 

 prove to be short-lived. We have but little 

 opportunity for judging of the age of a 

 queen-bee I)y her looks : therefore too many 

 of us seem to juni]) at the conclusion that 

 queens never die unless from old age. which 

 is not true of any kind of animated nattu'e. 

 Perhaps, friend J^., you intended what you 

 said for pleasantry." None of our employes 

 ever let a ([ueeii go to a customer until she 

 is laying, and we have every reason to be- 

 lieve siie is all right ; and I have good rea- 

 son to think that those in the South, from 

 whom 1 purchased queens, are equally con- 

 scientious. Tntested (pteens are. of course, 

 sent without any guarantee ; but for all that, 

 the trade increases largely in them year aft- 

 er year. This season.! should say that 90 

 per cent of all our orders for queens are for 

 untested, even though a few have turned 

 out badly, like the one mentioned. Where 

 the queen never lays at all. we have been in 

 the habit of replacing her ; but where she 

 commences to lay. and soon fails, the pur- 

 chaser has to take the same chances that we 

 do in buving. 



Gleanincs in Bee Cultcre. 



I'uhlisUed Sciiti-Monthlu- 



.^. T. I^OOT, 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



TvlEDINA, O. 



TERMS: $1.00 PER YEAR, POSTPAID. 



For ClubliBE Eitoc, Soo First Page of Ecidi:: liitter. 



Rut Ooil hath t-lioscn the foolish Ihiiiprs i.l Die woild to coii- 

 duikI the wise: unci GotI hath l■ho^en tlicwenk thinjrs of the 

 iorlil to eonlound the thinjfrs which are inijrlity.— I. CoK. 1:J!7. 



We have to-day, June 27, 18f5, 0404 subscribers. 



UEPOUTS WANTED 



Wk should lie glad to know how 

 eisiblc lr:ini('s like them thus far. 



I!r( KWHEAT WANTED. 



Ik any of our friends have any of the common 

 gray or silverhull for sale, will they please let us 

 know how many bushels, and what they will take 



WATElillUHV WATCHES. 



While still inori- important improvements have 

 been nuide in these watches, the price is still lowei-. 

 We can now send (ii.EANiNc.s for one year to eveiy 

 one who will purchase a watch at the regular price, 

 $3.50. "Where you have recently paid us a dollar for 



