1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



431 



a certain extent, and causes the most of 

 those on the tops of the frames to run down, 

 when the cover is lifted. I now proceed as 

 before, and, as a rule, use no more smoke 

 till I come to the closing- of the hive, when 

 the bees are driven out of the way for clos- 

 ing- up. If, at any time during- the lifting 

 of the first frame, or later on during the 

 manipulation, some of the bees become rest- 

 less and show fight, I gentlj' puff a little 

 smoke on these restless ones; but it is very 

 rarely that I have to do this. 



We now come to the colony which is known 

 to be ugly — so ugl};- that it will drive every 

 thing before it if we attempt to open it in 

 the same way we have been doing with the 

 others. And this is the one out of the 100 

 that I spoke of above. Here is where I use 

 smoke at the entrance. After having- decid- 

 ed that the loss from neglecting to manipu- 

 late such a colon}^ will be greater than will 

 be the loss from such a vigorous treatment, 

 smoke is blown in at the entrance, sufficient 

 to frighten the guards, when I begin to 

 pound on the top of the hive with the dou- 

 bled-up hand, say five or six blows. I now 

 blow more smoke in at the entrance, for, if 

 I do not, these vicious bees will be right 

 out after me; and so I alternate smoking 

 and pounding- for from two to five minutes, 

 or until I know that every bee is filled with 

 honey, and all of the " ugly" is scared out 

 of them. On raising the cover I find the 

 bees mostly at the top of the hive; and if 

 there is any black blood in them they are 

 ready to stampede all over the hive, down 

 under it, or anywhere else, which is very 

 unpleasant, and thus the manipulation has 

 to be done in a way not inviting" to the ma- 

 nipulator, even though there is some satis- 

 faction in knowing that you are master of 

 the situation, and that with the ugliest col- 

 ony ever dwelling in a hive. Even the most 

 vicious Cyprians can be handled in this 

 way. But, as I said near the start, with 

 only one colony did I use this last treat- 

 ment during the j'ear 1901. All of the rest 

 of my work with the bees, which was nearly 

 all the time from May to October, Sundays 

 excepted, was performed as given for the 

 first two. After the supers are on I gener- 

 ally use the second plan with all colonies 

 that I am oblig-ed to manipulate, as it has- 

 tens matters by driving the bees out of the 

 way which are between the stories or be- 

 tween the supers and the hive. But in all 

 of my manipulations I use just as little 

 smoke as possible with the accomplishing- 

 of the object sought. 



In closing let me say thiit, with the ex- 

 ception of a colony or two, I never open 

 hives unless there is something of impor- 

 tance to be gained by so doing. Each year 

 I set apart one or two colonies to "play" 

 with, or for the conducting of some experi- 

 ment I mtiy wish. These colonies are se- 

 lected out from those which need no smoke, 

 except in closing the hives, and are placed 

 near by the entrance into the apiary, so 

 that I do not have far to travel while ex- 

 perim :nting, nor far for visitors to go to see 



them. People who are afraid of bees, and 

 yet desire to see the inside of a hive, are 

 often off'ered from two to five dollars for 

 every sting they receive, but as yet I have 

 never had to pay any thing, although I oft- 

 en think I may, as these timid people often 

 become so enthused and enchanted that they 

 will thrust their fingers rig-fit in among the 

 bees, not remembering that only a few mo- 

 ments before they were sure they would be 

 stung if they went near them. 



QUEEN=REAR1NQ. 

 Why we Should Rear our own Queens. 



BY W. H. PRIDGEN. 



Since the dawn of modern apiculture 

 there has not been a time when there was 

 the same interest manifested in queens and 

 queen-rearing- as now. The tendency on 

 the part of hone3'-producers is, to a greater 

 extent than ever before, to rear their own — 

 not only because a larg-er proportion of 

 those reared at home give better results 

 than those transmitted through the mails, 

 all else being equal, but because the essen- 

 tial conditions for the production of the 

 highest t^'pe are more g-enerally understood. 



The cardinal points were given to tlie 

 public 5'ears ago b}^ men who spent much 

 time and talent in experimenting; and by 

 their persistent efforts the foundation was 

 laid, not only for the most fascinating 

 branch of our pursuit, but the most promis- 

 ing field in which to spend our thoughts 

 and energies. 



Bees are no longer reg-arded as bees with- 

 out considering- their qualities; but each 

 progressive bee-keeper is continually on the 

 lookout for superior honey-gatherers and 

 other desirable traits shown by individual 

 colonies. 



The ability to rear our queens from the 

 best mothers, and control their mating- to 

 some extent by weeding- out and preventing 

 the production of objectionable drones, and 

 thus, step by step, make permanent im- 

 provements in the working- qualities of our 

 bees, not only increases our profits but 

 lends enchantment to pleasure. 



We are indebted to Messrs. Doolittle and 

 Alley for the fundamental principles of 

 what is termed artificial or scientific queen- 

 rearing, who differ in some of the minor 

 details. For instance, Mr. Doolittle uses 

 artificial queen-cups to which he transfers 

 the larva: with a toothpick, while Mr. Al- 

 ley prefers strips of worker comb contain- 

 ing eggs ready to hatch, over which the 

 bees fashion the cells to their own liking-. 



As these veterans differ on some of the 

 less essential points, so also do others dif- 

 fer with them, and consequently the sub- 

 ject is kept alive — short cuts devised, and 

 modifications made bv^ the lovers of the art. 



In some of the manipulations, as much is 

 accomplished in a few hours now as was 

 formerly done in as many days; but what 

 works perfectly in the hands of those who 



