1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



591 



Two days later the nearly mature cells are 

 placed in queen-cell protectors and placed 

 in these colonies." 



"What are queen-cell protectors?" 



"They are a sort of cone-shaped affair 

 made of wire cloth or wire wound in a coil 

 just a little larger than the cell, and hav- 

 ing a hole about the size of a leadpencil in 

 the small end for the queen to come out 

 through when she bites the covering from 

 the point of the cell. The A. I. Root Co. 

 keeps them for sale, and will send you a 

 sample, if you so request, with five cents 

 for the same. They are used to keep the 

 bees from destroying the cell before they 

 fully realize they are queenless, or for any 

 other reasons. " 



"I am glad to hear of these; but does this 

 insure a certain success in every case?" 



"Not absolutely so; but my experience 

 has been that, in nineteen cases out of twen- 

 ty, young, thrifty, vigorous queens will be 

 found laying in colonies thus treated, fifteen 

 days later." 



"But suppose I had rather buy my queens 

 than to raise them." 



"If you do not wish to raise the queens, 

 that is your privilege; but the apiarist who 

 raises his own queens is independent, and 

 no one is a full-grown bee-keeper till he 

 or she learns to do this. But you can send 

 away for the queens if you so think. But I 

 would advise you to raise a few queens, in 

 any event. It is something you will enjoy 

 after you once try it, and will be time prof- 

 itably spent besides, as there is little or no 

 worry over the introducing part with the 

 cells." 



"I am glad you touched this introduction 

 part, for I am not used to introducing 

 queens. Is there much trouble and loss 

 connected therewith?" 



"With the old veteran there is little loss, 

 and with the directions on the cages con- 

 taining the queens there is little trouble. 

 In this we are ahead of what they were a 

 quarter of a century ago. As a few days 

 without a lajang queen is of little conse- 

 quence at this time of the year I would ad- 

 vise, to insure against loss in introduction, 

 that the old queen be killed from nine to 

 ten days before we try to introduce a new 

 queen to the colony." 



"What do you do this for?" 



"This is to prepare them so they will 

 want a queen so badly that they will sure- 

 ly accept the new queen when given. Dur- 

 ing these nine to ten days they will con- 

 struct queen-cells from which to furnish 

 themselves with another queen, and also 

 perfect and seal all larval brood, so that 

 they can not construct more queen-cells 

 should all of these cells be taken off. Know- 

 ing this we proceed on either of these days 

 to open the hive, shake the bees off the 

 combs, so we can readily see all the queen- 

 cells which may have been started, cutting 

 or breaking everj' one off. This makes the 

 colony ' hopelessly queenless, ' as it is called, 

 so that they are glad to take any queen that 

 is offered them, so that the existence of the 



colony may be preserved. Now follow the 

 directions sent with every queen, letting the 

 bees eat the candy away till the queen is 

 liberated, according to the instructions ac- 

 companying the queen." 



"Have you any other plan?" 



" If you do not wish to go to this trouble, 

 there is another way, which is usually suc- 

 cessful. It is, to remove the old queen in 

 the forenoon of a pleasant day ; and at 

 night, after the bees have all returned home, 

 give them a little smoke; and when they 

 are filled with honey allow the new queen 

 to run in at the entrance, blowing in a puff 

 or two after her. Do not open the hive in 

 four or five days, in either case, and you 

 will rarely fail." 



EFFECT OF THE WEST INDIA HONEY ON THE 

 MARKETS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



A Corroboration of the Statement Made by Mr. 



Morrison, by one of the Most Experienced 



Commission Men. 



BY R. A. BURNETT. 



Mr. Root: — We have been much interest- 

 ed in the article written for your June 15th 

 issue by Mr. W. K. Morrison. It is a most 

 intelligent setting-forth of the actual condi- 

 tions that exist in the West Indies. The 

 natives of those islands are practically in- 

 corrigible, and very few Americans are so 

 constituted as to be able to bear with them 

 as associates or even as laborers. The 

 sentence in which he speaks of environment 

 as dragging down the native-born white is 

 a most intelligent conception of the fact 

 therein set forth. No man with a wife and 

 children can afford to run the risk that he 

 must take for their welfare. While it is 

 probably true that some man without fami- 

 ly ties can go there and live a few years 

 and gather money faster than he can else- 

 where, he simply sacrifices all social inter- 

 change for the time being. 



Mr. Morrison is very modest when he 

 says, " I do not think that the present tar- 

 iff" of a cent or so per pound on honey sent 

 to the United States avails very much: it 

 only tends to discourage trade." That has 

 been our opinion for ([uite a long time. We 

 dealt in Cuban honey only long enough to 

 satisfy some customers who were prejudiced 

 in favor of the Cuban honey (on the suppo- 

 sition that it had much more of the honey 

 properties than any other honey known), 

 that is to say, that it would stand the oven 

 test, and carry its aroma into the product 

 over any other honey in the market. It is 

 now some years since we had any call for 

 Cuban honey in preference to that produced 

 in the States. To a large user of Cuban 

 honey we would offer other honey which, in 

 our opinion, would give equally satisfacto- 

 ry results to the manufacturer, on the con- 

 dition that, if our directions were followed, 

 we would be responsible to them for any 

 damage that might ensue from the use of 



