682 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



will be continued until the field force in- 

 creases to the extent of ag-ain clog-ging the 

 brood-nest with honey, in case of a continu- 

 ance of the flow, or until the flow ceases, 

 as the case may be. Under the first-named 

 condition remove the colony as before; but 

 if the flow ceases, uncap some of the honey 

 in the combs, or mutilate the cappings, or 

 else feed a little syrup every evening; and 

 as soon as the eggs hatch, give the combs 

 to other colonies for the brood to be sealed 

 and then returned, thus increasing the force 

 of young bees without their having to feed 

 the larvas to any great extent, and thereby, 

 by keeping the same set of combs with 

 breeders all this time, but few are mutilat- 

 ed. In this way a queen may be kept lay- 

 ing when there is no nectar to gather, and 

 the small amount of larvas in the hive will 

 be well fed; but it should be remembered 

 that, as a rule, if a colony has held up in 

 brood-rearing, either from the efl'ect of a 

 heavy flow or no flow at all, eggs given to 

 them will almost invariably be destroyed, 

 and hence the advisability of allowing them 

 to remain at such times where laid until 

 they hatch, unless they can be given to 

 queenless bees or to those having virgin 

 queens. 



The average honey-producer will have 

 but little trouble in securing an abundance 

 of larva; of the proper age when wanted, as, 

 of course, this class will not attempt to raise 

 their queens when, from any cause, the 

 bees are not actively engaged in brood-rear- 

 ing, as they will want to do the work at a 

 time when they can raise perfect queens, 

 and that with the least trouble and expense. 



Having secured a small bit of comb, as 

 previously described, containing larva; just 

 hatched, surrounded by a clear or very 

 slightly milky speck of chyle, the larva be- 

 ing accepted all right when it can not be 

 seen on account of its smallness, we are 

 ready to make 



THE TRANSFER OF "BABY, CRADLE, 

 AND ALL." 



This idea was conceived by Mr. Willie 

 Atchley, a noted queen-breeder of Beeville, 

 Texas, who ingeniously transferred the co- 

 coons with tweezers, and met with such uni- 

 form success that he gave the plan to the 

 public, which led to the discovery of a much 

 more efficient tool for the purpose, and thus 

 brings to light the best, quickest, and sim- 

 plest method of transferring known to the 

 fraternity. 



As can be seen by the illustration, the 

 transfer end of the stick is slightly round- 

 ing, and should be a fraction larger than a 

 worker-cell, while the funnel-shaped cavity 

 in the end affords protection to the larva or 

 egg in the bottom of the cell or cocoon when 

 taken up on the stick. The bulging part 

 slightly stretches the mouth of the cocoon, 

 and makes it fit sufficiently tight for it to 

 adhere to the stick as a cap does on a gun- 

 tube, and at the same time preserves its 

 smoothness, even when sufficient pressure 

 is exerted to make it fit smoothly in the 

 queen-cup, and adhere to that. When a tis- 



sue too thin to preserve its form is taken up, 

 instead of the whole cocoon, which is some- 

 times the case, even when the most of them 

 work well, it need not be transferred, as 

 such are seldom accepted, while, on the 

 other hand, there is sometimes a loose thin 

 tissue on the outside that can be rubbed off 

 with the fingers before inserting the cocoon 

 in the wax cup. 



Sometimes when several thick laj'ers are 

 taken up the3' separate, and one adheres to 

 the stick and the other to the cup. The one 

 on the stick is left ready for the next cup 

 while the empty one must be removed from 

 the cup into which it is left before another 

 will stick. We seldom have the first trou- 

 ble except with comb not exactly old enough, 

 and the last when it is very old, and nei- 

 ther is a very serious matter. 



With a piece of comb that works well the 

 transferring can be done as fast as the 

 stick can be inserted into the cocoon and 

 then into the cup, while with other pieces 

 in which the cocoons do not readily loosen 

 up when bent back and forth it is necessary 

 to move the stick slightly back and forth as 

 though attempting to shove the cocoon out 

 sidewise before it lets go and adheres to 

 the stick. 



As before explained, the sink in the cup 

 for the reception of the cocoon is smaller 

 than the transfer-stick, which admits of 

 sufficient pressure when the transfer is 

 made to make the cocoon fit snugly against 

 the sides without its reaching the laottom 

 and thereby becoming disfigured. 



The cups should be warm enough to mash 

 up without cracking, so as to admit of 

 slightly stretching, for the best results. 

 Simply press the cocoon down into the cup, 

 give a little twist, and the work is done. 



Eggs can be transferred in this way as 

 well as larva;, but are no better than larvse 

 /usi hatched, besides not being as readily 

 accepted. Another consideration is, we can 

 not judge of their age, and hence do not get 

 a batch of queens as uniformly good as 

 when all are of the same age, for the rea- 

 son that the first to hatch receive better at- 

 tention than the others, as is often the case 

 with queens from natural cells. 



This can be overcome in a measure by 

 selecting eggs lying on their sides on the 

 bottom of the cells, instead of those stand- 

 ing on end as the queen deposits them, as 

 the former are about ready to hatch. 



Whether we use eggs or larvse we want 

 them of uniform age, for the reason given 

 above; and to be of uniform size and qual- 

 ity all must be accepted at one and the same 

 time, and especially in case larvje are used 

 instead of eggs. The first queens to emerge 

 from a batch of cells are almost invariably 

 the best, but not, as some might conclude, 

 because the larvae from which they are rear- 

 ed were older, for the fact has been verified 

 that there is not always as much difference 

 in the emerging of the queens as there is in 

 the age of the larva; used; and the sooner 

 the queen emerges or is ready to emerge 

 after the egg is laid, the better. Although 



