.luiie. 1!)12. 



American Bge Jonrnaij 



175 



»=i^ga^II] 



the approach of winter, not so much 

 for the climate as for recuperation ; a 

 period of rest, ami to "catch up" with 

 our fishing, hunting, and to have a 

 " good time " in general out in the 

 open air. It does us good in many 

 different ways. Our bee-business ties 

 us fast to the stake of constant toil for 

 8 months a year, and from M to 20 

 hours a day. Bee-keeping properly 

 carried on here is a proposition of 

 toil, and we must resort to periods of 

 rest. The best way to take this rest is 

 to leave the business with an honest 

 and industrious man and get away. I 

 couldn't and wouldn't spend a winter 

 up where you are. It makes my frail 

 body and thin limbs quiver to think 

 about what you have to stand these 

 hard, cold winters. 



Di.xie bee-keepers are blessed with 



a good climate and great opportunities 

 for their line of business. 



Northern Bee-Keepers' Appeal for Bees 



In Gleanings in Bee Culture for May 

 1st, we read an appeal to Southern bee- 

 keepers, for the benefit of the North- 

 ern apiarists, who have lost heavily 

 during the winter. It reads: 



"There are many bee-keepers in the 

 Southern States who doubtless will be able 

 to do their brethren of the North the good 

 turn of puttingtheni on the track of bees in 

 box-hives." 



The editor offers to publish a free 

 list of those who may lend a helping 

 hand. Surely, when any one takes 

 such a stand for our industry, its 

 greatest good must lie very near his 

 heart. 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Stations for the Observation 

 of Bees 



BV T. U. KR.\KENBUHL. 



The article on "Co-operative Apiar" 

 ian Experiments in Canada," in the 

 February issue of the .American Bee 

 Journal, was to me of great interest. 

 Mr. Morley Pettit is on the right road 

 to fasten facts on bee-keeping, to cor- 

 rect errors, to solve questions about 

 locality, etc. The correspondence re- 

 minds me of the "Stations for Obser- 

 vation of Bees," as they have had them 

 in Switzerland for more than 2."i years. 



I have before me the report by Mr. 

 Juestrich, at St. Gall, about the work 

 of the stations their first 2.") years. 



The aim of the stations is to investi- 

 gate the condition of the nectar-flow, 

 weather, life and activity of bees ; to 

 examine technical questions and meth- 

 ods, etc. 



When the motion was put before the 

 bee-keepers to erect these stations, 

 some greeted it with enthusiasm, and 

 others had a doubtful smile. 



In 1885 there were 4 stations started; 

 now there are 38 ; of this number, 8 are 

 double stations. They are scattered 

 through the German-speaking part of 

 the country. They all range from 29.') 

 meters (Basel >)80 feet), to 1468 meters 

 (Davos 4890 feet) above sea level. 



Each station is equipped with ther- 

 mometer and scale, and makes daily 

 notes and reports monthly to the chief 

 (Mr. Juestrich). He compares, sifts, 

 corrects errors, gives hints, etc., and 

 works out monthly and yearly reports 

 for publication in the liee Journal. The 

 yearly report fills the February number 

 of the paper, and is in form and con- 

 tents a masterpiece of lasting value. 



The climatic and floral conditions of 

 this small country are very variable, 

 and the reports of the stations vary 

 also. Statistic and graphic tableaux 

 show the differences, and are of great 

 value to the thinking reader, especially 

 for the bee-keeper around a station with 



the same climatic and floral conditions 



The observer further reports about 

 the nectar-flow, source of pollen, the 

 winter consumption, and shows the 

 farmer and fruit-grower the great value 

 of bees as pollenizers. He works for 

 up-to-date rational bee-keeping, shows 

 the best way of brood stimulation, win- 

 tering, harvesting, reports diseases, etc. 



With the years they found out that 

 the best bee for north of the Alps is 

 the brown or native bee. By pure 

 breeding and careful selection the 

 Swiss suppress and eliminate the im- 

 ported Italian and Carniolan blood. 



Foul brood insurance and inspection 

 with the help of the Government, and 

 breeding of the black race (Rassen- 

 zucht), are on the way to great success. 



Bee-keepers' associations of the 

 neighboring countries, Baden, Wurtem- 

 berg, Bavaria, Monrovia, Bohemia, 

 Thuringia, Tyrol and others begin to 

 follow the Swiss. 



The observers work without com- 

 pensation, for bee-keepers, as a rule, 

 are an unselfish lot. ready to sacrifice 

 a little time for the common good. 

 They find satisfaction and reward in 

 their interesting work. 



Spring Sta., Ky. 



[Switzerland is setting a good ex- 

 ample to the rest of the world in many 

 things. There is something for us to 

 learn from the above information. — 

 Editor.] 



Large Numbers of Queen-Cells 

 By a Simple Method 



BY F. GRF.INER. 



There have been various methods in 

 vogue to have queen-cells built in either 

 queenless or queen-right colonies. 

 Brood-combs containing young larv-T;, 

 or eggs only, have been cut into narrow 

 strips, and these have been fastened to 

 bars flatwise. The bees have always 

 been ready to accept them and build 



queen-cells from the larvae contained 

 therein; artificial cells have been made, 

 then provided with royal food, and 

 larv.-E have been transferred into them. 

 The first-named method was awkward 

 and wasteful ; the second required good 

 eyes and a steady hand. Both of these 

 some of us do not possess any longer. 



No wonder Mr. H. L. Case's method, 

 of which I wrote in another periodical 

 a year or more ago, and which was again 

 explained at a bee-keepers' meeting held 

 in Syracuse, N. Y., Jan. 30 and 31, 1912, 

 attracted the attention of many. 



Mr. Oscar Dines improved on the plan 

 somewhat, inasmuch as he has made it 

 applicable to the sectional hive, hav- 

 ing the cells reared in the midst of the 

 brood-chambers, or rather, between two 

 of the sectional hive-bodies, by insert- 

 ing a narrow rim the size of hive, be it 

 a Heddon, Hand, or any other, and plac- 

 ing the combs, or the comb, containing 

 the young larvx to be transformed into 

 queens, into this in a horizontal position, 

 i. ('., flatwise. In order to make this 

 plainer, I will add a photograph of the 

 arrangement. 



The most important part, however, is 

 the treatment and preparation of the 

 comb to be used in this method. There 

 will be no transferring of larv;e, or look- 

 ing for those just hatched, etc., all of 

 which requires good eyesight and steady 

 hands. The comb which we select to 

 have our breeding-queen fill with eggs 

 should be a nice clean comb, not too 

 old. This, to begin with, is placed in 

 the center of the brood-nest of the 

 breeding stock and left 4 or 5 days. At 

 the end of this period the comb will be 

 found full of eggs, etc., if the conditions 

 are right. The bees are brushed off, 

 and it is prepared as follows : Begin- 

 ning at the upper end of the comb, hav- 

 ing it lying flatwise upon a table, de- 

 stroy 2 rows of cells with a knife, 

 mashing down the cells and cutting to 

 the midrib; leaving one row, and again 

 destroying 2, thus following down to 

 the bottom, or as far as there is brood, 

 destroying 2 and leaving one alter- 

 nately. Now, with a small chisel re- 

 move those destroyed or mutilated 

 rows of cells all over the comb in such 

 a way that you will leave every third 

 row of cells containing eggs or larvae 

 uninjured. 



Now, we must not leave all this brood 

 and give it to our cell-building colony, 

 or we would have many queen-cells 

 built and joined together. We want 

 these cells separate, so that we may 

 be able to cut them out conveniently. 

 Therefore, we take a small tool, or a 

 match, and knock out 2 cells in the 

 row and leave one uninjured, continu- 

 ing thus until we have treated each 

 row of cells which had been left intact 

 after the previous operation, in such a 

 way that only every third cell is left 

 untouched. 



The cells from which queen-cells 

 may be made by the bees are now 

 evenly distributed over the comb, and 

 this latter is ready to be given to the 

 cell-building colony, which, of course, 

 must be queenless with no brood, or 

 only sealed brood, in the liive. It is a 

 disputed question which is best, sealed 

 brood or none at all. There should be 

 an abundance of young bees in the 

 hive, for only such produce chyle or 

 larval food. 



