MAY 1. 1915 



doubtless would liave been if there bad been 

 mueh honey coming in. 



When we had finished dequeening we 

 began starting a few nuclei each day until 

 we had twenty, and into these we put our 

 surplus cells, thinking they would furnish 

 a suflicient number of laying queens to 

 supply those colonies which should prove to 

 be queenless when we inspected for layers. 

 When the School Girl began insitecting, 

 however, we saw that we would probably 

 need more queens than our nuclei would 

 supply, so we began starting one stick of 

 cells each afternoon. (We always start 

 them in the afternoon, when the air will be 

 warm enough to prevent chilling the larva?.) 

 Since these sticks as they were removed 

 from the cell-starting colony were placed in 

 a luusery at this stage of the work, we were 

 using only one colony as a cell-starter. 



THE NURSERY. 



Our nursery consisted of a strong colony 

 with a queen below the excluder and two 

 combs of brood lifted into the super. Our 

 cells were placed between these broodf- 

 combs. We put two sets of nails in our 

 x-ell-starting combs so that each one could 

 hold two sticks of cells when placed in the 

 nursery. When the brood in the first two 

 combs was pretty well hatched we replaced 

 them in the brood-chamber and brought up 

 two fresh combs of brood. 



As there was little honey coming in we 

 fed the nursery slowly in the following 

 manner: A corner of the cloth over the 

 super combs was turned back a little to let 

 the bees come up to our feeder, which con- 

 sisted of a quart fruit-jar turned upside 



3r,i 



down on a saucer, with a little stick placed 

 under the edge of the jar. Over this we 

 placed an empty super covered with a cloth 

 and hive-cover. We used this primitive ar- 

 rangement in spite of the fact that there 

 were several hundred regular feeders of two 

 different types stacked up in the shop. It 

 offered less opportunity to robbers than the 

 outside style of feeder, and was more con- 

 venient to watch and fill than the division- 

 boai'd style. We fed sun-extracted honey 

 thinned with water. 



THE SMOKE METHOD OF INTRODUCING. 



When the School Girl had finished in- 

 specting and marking "L. Q.'s" and "N". 

 L.'s" in the book she introduced all the lay- 

 ing queens we had in the nuclei by the 

 much-lauded smoke method. We did not 

 find this absolutely infallible; but even so 

 we like it because it is so convenient, and 

 works often enough to pay. Then she sup- 

 plied all queenless colonies, including the 

 nuclei, with cells, and we left the apiary 

 August 19. 



Some time later (Sept. 20) the Mother 

 spent a few days at the apiary, where she 

 inspected the colonies we left with cells, 

 irrigated orange-trees, and doubled up to 

 dispose of nuclei and queenless colonies. 

 She reported a rather large percentage of 

 "N. L.'s" where we put our last cells. It 

 was too late in the season, I suppose, and 

 some colonies had certainly been queenless 

 too long. This year we hope to begin work 

 somewhat earlier, especially if the honey- 

 flow is short. 



Ventura, Cal. 



QUEEN -MATING NUCLEI 

 A Perfected System Developed for Economy of Operation 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



How much does it cost to raise a queen? 

 Possibly the professional queen-raisers have 

 a fairly accurate idea; but those with whom 

 I have talked have been unable to say what 

 each part costs, or whether any one part 

 can be reduced further. 



rell-j)roduction by several methods is 

 fairly economical; and by one at least (the 

 Fuller) is brought, seemingly, to the lowest 

 terms. Introduction of virgins has also 

 been brought to as near perfection as the 

 business demands. Mating nuclei, however, 

 are much more costly than they should be. 

 The most costly are those of two or three 

 standard frames: and the least costly, when 

 properly used, are the " baby " nuclei. 



HISTORY. 



The use of small nuclei for queen-mating 

 dates far back, just how far we may never 

 know. 



Jonas De Gelieu of Neuchatel, Switzer- 

 land, writing in 1814, after sixty odd years 

 of beekeeping, carefully describes a nu- 

 cleus box six inches square and the method 

 of stocking and using it. He gives the 

 credit of its origin to Schirach ; and, as the 

 latter was famihar with the usages of much 

 earlier ages, it may date back away before 

 his day. De Gelieu's nuclei were fitted with 

 an a.ssortment of five combs, some empty, 

 some with honey, and one with brood, "es- 

 pecially maggots two to three days out of 



