500 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1919 



ball the queen, it can be seen at once and 

 the queen reeaged; while with the other 

 methods, where the queen is automatically 

 released, if they ball her when the bee- 



If the wood in the cage is made a little deeper, the 

 cage may be used with a queen-nursery cage, by 

 inserting a piece of wood to take up the extra space. 



keeper is not around she would be killed. 

 One can leave the mailing cage with the 

 cardboard over the candy until the bees 

 gnaw this out and release the queen, or he 



can put a wooden plug over the cand}" and 

 release the queen himself. I do the latter. 



This cage works equally well with virgin 

 queens, and they can safely be introduced to 

 full colonies. If the wood in the cage is 

 made a little deeper it will accommodate 

 the regular Queen Nursery cage. In this 

 case the wooden cell cup is taken out of the 

 cage, and the hole it occupied placed over 

 the hole in the "Push-in-the-comb-eage. " 

 A small piece of wood takes up the extra 

 space and also covers the candy in the 

 nursery cage. When desired, this wooden 

 plug may be taken out and the bees allowed 

 to eat out the queen; or the beekeeper may 

 release her himself. I have used the last 

 method in introducing virgin queens to nu- 

 clei and find it by far the safest and easiest 

 method known. 



Another point in its favor for virgin 

 queens is the fact that the virgin queen 

 is in no way injured by remaining in this 

 cage a number of days. If bad weather 

 should come on and queens be delayed in 

 their mating and one has other virgin 

 queens hatching, the second virgin may be 

 confined in this cage until the first one has 

 mated and been removed from the nucleus. 

 Then the wooden block may be removed and 

 the bees allowed to eat out virgin number 

 two. 



Vincennes, Ind. 



SUMMER FIELD MEETS 



Hoijv they Make Better '^ekeepers 

 and How they Eliminate Bee 'dis- 

 eases 



By E. R. Root 



DUEING the 

 last ten 

 years sum- 

 mer field meets 

 of beekeepers 

 have come to be 

 quite the fash- 

 ion. While they 

 do not take the 

 place of winter 

 conventions they perform an important serv- 

 ice in the way of actual demonstrations in 

 the apiary. From a social standpoint they 

 are invaluable. The picnic feature stimu- 



lates not only 

 good feeling but 

 a spirit of co- 

 operation. If the 

 beekeeper re- 

 ceives no other 

 benefit, the 

 knowledge he 

 gets concerning 

 prices and the 

 crops available at a time of year when he 

 is getting ready to sell his crop will more 

 than pay for the cost and time in going to 

 the meet. But this is not all. Mr. Bee- 



Fig. 1. — Field meet ;U the liuiuc of C. B. Howard, Hayts Corners, N. Y. Tliis was the largest gathering 

 of beekeepers at any iieild meet I attended a year ago. Between three and four hundi-ed were present from 

 all parts of the State. It was impossible to get a general view; but the picture shows the crowd forming 

 a circle around Dr. Phillips who was then speaking. Beekeepers came from all over the State in auto- 

 mobiles, returning the same day. 



