1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



229 



should be the one authority to take the hon- 

 ey statistics of this country, if the bee- 

 keepers wish to derive any benefit from it. 

 It will not be difficult for our journals to 

 locate the producers and send them proper 

 blanks to be filled out and returned at a 

 given date to the secretary to be compiled 

 and published under the authority of the 

 organization. You will find it more relia- 

 ble than any thing else you can get. My 

 reason for making this statement is that I 

 have been a statistical correspondent for 

 more than 20 j'ears, and have fully enjoyed 

 the honor and the profits of the position, 

 which would average about 10 cents a year 

 in seeds. I do not wish to cast any reflec- 

 tion upon the head of the division; on the 

 contrary, Mr. John Hyde is doing wonders 

 with the means at his command. Suppose 

 the department would add a honey column 

 to its blanks now sent out, not one in 500 

 sent out would be filled out practically, in- 

 telligently, and with reliability. A statis- 

 tical correspondent should be a practical as 

 well as experienced man, and at times will 

 have to lose time to procure correct informa- 

 tion on certain subjects. I made many trips, 

 and lost time and horse hire thrown in, for 

 the benefit of the good and generous public; 

 but I do not believe there are many who 

 will lose time to procure correct informa- 

 tion to give to the good public, just for the 

 honor of the thing. On the other hand, if 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association sends 

 out blanks to practical bee-keepers, nine 

 out of every tea will make a correct report; 

 will take pleasure in returning the best in- 

 formation obtainable, because they will all 

 be interested in the reports, and it will not 

 all or nearly all be guesswork and exag- 

 geration. 



Little Rock, Ark., Nov, 25. 



(Those who make a business of bu3'ing 

 and selling know only too well that the 

 great mass of bee-keepers do not under- 

 stand the importance of putting up a first- 

 class article. The great bulk of the comb 

 honey that goes on to the market is un- 

 scraped, a great deal of it is travel-stained, 

 and much of it is poorly filled out, and, as 

 a consequence, it goes begging; but a real- 

 ly first-class gilt-edge comb honey will sell 

 on sight at good prices. 



Yes, we do need reliable statistics, and I 

 hope things may shape themselves in such a 

 manner that the National Association can 

 take hold of it. — Ed. ) 



QUEENS REARED 



UNDER THE 

 PULSE. 



SWARMING IM- 



Fertilizing Queens in Upper Stories; a Simple 

 and Practical Plan for Grafting Cells. 



BY F. GREINKR. 



What interests the honey-producer most 

 is how to get a good crop of honey. He 

 will leave no stone unturned to secure it. 

 The wise and experienced bee-keeper also 



knows that he must have his colonies in as 

 good condition when the honey season ar- 

 rives as is possible and practical. One of 

 the essential things to get the colonies into 

 best condition is, to have good queens. In 

 buying queens we do not have full assur- 

 ance that we are fretting good queens. If 

 we raise them ourselves, we at least know 

 what the parentage is on the mother's side. 

 We can select our breeding mothers. We 

 also know that they have been handled 

 carefully. 



It is often said queens reared under the 

 swarming impulse are better than such as 

 are reared at other times or under different 

 conditions. How true this is I do not know. 

 This much, however, I do know: Queens 

 may be reared during this swarming-period 

 more easily than at other times, so I prefer 

 to rear them for my own use during June 

 and July, the regular swarming months. 

 If the weather is favorable the last third of 

 the month of Maj^ when the apple-trees 

 and other fruit-trees are blooming, then is 

 a favorable time to begin. 



Some honey-producers will use swarm- 

 ing-cells from any of their colonies. 1 did 

 this myself years ago, but such a practice 

 can not be recommended. There will al- 

 ways be found a very few colonies in a yard 

 that outstrip the rest, not only in the larger 

 honey-yield but also in their milder temper- 

 ament, better markings, color, or other good 

 qualities. From such we should breed, 

 providing we are satisfied the stock is of 

 pure blood, be it Italian, German, or other 

 blood. I usually select one or two queens 

 to breed from. The colonies containing 

 them need not be crippled by drawing on 

 them for brood. Since we have become fa- 

 miliar with the newer methods it is not 

 even necessary to mutilate brood-combs to 

 obtain brood for our purpose. By means of 

 some simple and suitable tool. 1 prefer to 

 use a small camel-hair brush. We can re- 

 move young larvae from any brood-comb con- 

 taining them, without difficulty, and with- 

 out the least injury. This trick of trans- 

 ferring larvae is not a very late discovery. 

 It was first brought out by Mehring, a Ger- 

 man, who is known as the inventor of comb 

 foundation. He had found diff.culty in hav- 

 ing certain colonies start queen-cells from 

 selected brood, they seeming to be bound to 

 use their own for the purpose. He finally 

 hit on the idea of supplanting the larvse in 

 the cells started with other larv^ from his 

 selected stock, and he succeeded in thus 

 fooling the obstinate colonies. For some 

 reason Mehring's discovery did not then be- 

 come universally known, but of late years 

 has become a general practice. I do not 

 know that it is necessary to say much more 

 in regard to this art or trick; still, I will 

 tell just how I proceed. 



In the first place I go to my breeding col- 

 ony and get a brood-comb containing young 

 larvje. Almost anj' comb contains some at 

 this time of the year. This I take to my 

 workshop, and place it upon a clclh -cover- 

 ed board in front of the window. In order 



