April 30, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



279 



tial to queen-rearing-, and without them success is im])ossi- 

 ble." Such claims can only be made throug-h a lack of be- 

 ing- conversant with the literature of the past, for consUler- 

 able was said on this subject durinjf the latterseveiitios and 

 eighties, in opposition to the claims then made, that all that 

 was necessary to rear g-ood queens was to put a frame of 

 brood in a hive and set the same on the stand of a populous 

 colony, after removing said colouy.to a new stand. Such a 

 procedure was spoken against by many, on the ground of 

 its not providing young bees for the work of queen-rearing. 

 The author of " Scientific Queen-Rearing " plainly states in 

 that book, that " Nature designed young bees to do this 

 work," and that book was written during the year ixsj*, and 

 the experiments leading up thereto were conducted during 

 the previous five years. To be sure, these young bees were 

 not caged, a pint at a time, for this work, for such would 

 have been considered as a move in the wrong direction, as 

 it undoubtedly is now. Why go to the extra work and ex- 

 pense of caging a pint of young bees when such are in the 

 upper story of any populous colony by the thousands ? 



All careful observers know that very few but young 

 bees, of the rig-ht age for queen-rearing, are in the upper 

 stories of our hives during the working season of the year. 

 Why cause the bees to " thrash and mourn at the loss of their 

 queen and brood," and be thrown into an exceedingly ab- 

 normal condition, under which conditions no really good 

 work at queen-rearing can be done, as is shown by the short 

 life of queens so reared, and their workers, when all know, 

 or should know, that the best, long-lived queens, giving 

 long-lived workers, are reared only when a colony is in as 

 nearly a normal condition as possible ? It is far easier to 

 set a frame of prepared cell-cups into an upper story of a 

 colony, where there are thousands of young bees of the right 

 age, in a perfect normal condition, than to adopt all the 

 " fuss and feathers" of catching and caging a pint of bees, 

 and then throwing tliem into a frenzy and an abnormal 

 condition, only to get inferior queens in the end. And this 

 has to be done every time a batch of cells is to be reared, 

 while with the normal plan as given in " Scientific Queen- 

 Rearing," that gives the best, long-lived queens, (as thous- 

 ands who have used that plan can testify), one preparation 

 of a single colony in early spring, will give a batch of per- 

 fected queen-cells, of the highest order, three times a week 

 during the whole season. 



Accepting and advocating a plan for rearing- queens 

 with only a pint of bees, can only prove a backward move- 

 ment, with all desiring the best of queens, or the improve- 

 ment of stock : and the only plea I can find for such a mode 

 of procedure is that a person maj' be able to place a 

 maximum number of queens on the market at a minimum 

 cost. If the statement that, " Nearly every bee-keeper now- 

 adays starts his cells by taking up a pint or so of bees," be 

 true, the bee-keepers of " nowadays " are to be pitied, for 

 to rear good queens the warmth of the cluster must be kept 

 up to a temperature of from 95 to 98 degrees, as I have 

 proven several times with a self-registering thermometer ; 

 and no pint of bees can maintain this temperature, except 

 in very warm weather. With the advent of a cool day or a 

 cold night, the embryo queens would be partially or wholly 

 chilled, all of which would be verj- much against any good 

 results. 



But we are given to understand that the reason why 

 this pint of young bees will do such good work, lies in the 

 fact that they are all of the right age, without any old bees, 

 for. say thej', these " older bees are a detriment." I wonder 

 how many believe such a statement as that. Can it be true 

 that all of the good queens that have been reared from the 

 time Samson found the colony in his lion's carcass, down to 

 the nineteenth century — which brought to us the stock from 

 which our own bees sprang in so nearly a perfect condition 

 as we found them — were reared without these detrimen- 

 tal (?) old bees ? No one can believe such a proposition. < ild 

 bees are as surely needed in the production of good queens 

 as are the 3'oung ones, even if they are worthless at cell- 

 building and supplying the royal larvie with chyle for their 

 growth. And the science that tells of no old bees for queen- 

 rearing is wrong. 



In order that the young bees may do their part, the old 

 bees are needed to bring in forage from the fields, and keep 

 up the proper temperature of the hive on cool days and 

 cold nights ; and especially to keep the colony in as nearly 

 a normal condition as possible, without which no fjood 

 queens can be reared, unless these conditions are kept up 

 artificially by man. the latter two of which even man can- 

 not supply in any other than an imperfect way. 



In all the experiments I have made, trying to keep up 

 the right temperature for queen-rearing with very small 



colonies, I have failed. For the same has always resulted 

 in a delayed development on account of the temperature 

 falling too low during cold spells, or the thing has been an 

 entire failure on account of the temperature running too 

 high for a short period, which is sure to result in the death 

 of the embryo queens. 



From all the experiments that I have tried during the 

 past 30 years of efi'ort at improved queen-rearing, I am con- 

 vinced that the best of queens can be reared only where a 

 colony is strong in numbers, with bees of all ages, and the 

 conditions the same, or very similar to, what they are dur- 

 ing times of natural swarming;, and in cases of the super- 

 sedure of queens ; and I say this after having tried all of 

 the plans of caging bees, etc., that have been put before the 

 public. 



I believe it to be of far more importance to us of the 

 present, and to those who are to come after, as well, that 

 we bend every effort to improve our bees as much as possible, 

 using only the plans which give the best, rather than in 

 trying short-cut plans that we may distance some others 

 who are trying to see how cheaply they can produce queens 

 and place them on the market. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



A Plan to Prevent Swarming. 



BY R. F. HII,!,. 



THE plan to prevent swarming practiced by the bee-keep- 

 ers in this locality seems to be exceedingly simple and 

 successful, and I give it as follows: 



The hive in general use is the ordinary 8 frame. As 

 soon as the bees appear to be crowded, or show disposition 

 to throw off a swarm, a hive filled with combs or founda- 

 tion is placed on the old stand. Two frames of brood and 

 the queen are removed from the old hive and placed in the 

 center of the new. If anj' queen-cells are discovered on the 

 combs, they are destroyed. A queen-excluder is placed over 

 the new hive, and, the old one, after the combs have been 

 carefully inspected, and royal cells destroyed, is placed on 

 top. All ingress and exit from the old hive is down and 

 through the new one, which the bees will immediately fill 

 with honey and brood. As soon as the brood is hatched 

 from the old combs, there being no further eggs laid, the 

 bees clean out and fill with honey. 



The process of placing new hives under old ones contin- 

 ues all season, in many cases as many as 4 or S hives being 

 stacked one above the other, the queen-excluder being always 

 kept next to the parent colony. If this plan is followed, 

 there is little or no trouble about swarming, and less about 

 queenless colonies. 



This, of course, refers to the production of extracted 

 honey, but it certainly produces a strain of bees that are 

 little inclined to swarm. 



My own experience and opinion about bees is that there 

 is a whole lot of humbug about prolific and long-lived 

 queens. The poorest queens appear to lay a great many 

 more eggs than I have any use for, as it keeps entirelj' 

 too large a proportion of the bees employed as nurses, and 

 too small proportion as honey-gatherers. 



The plan just outlined delays the egg-laying process, 

 because the queen has to wait until the new cells are pre- 

 pared. ' 



If a colony becomes weakened the most practical way is 

 to remove a few frames of brood from a strong colony, or 

 else shake them out into a stronger colony. 



Wormy frames, and queens that permit worms, I im- 

 mediately get rid of. Ramsey Co., Minn. 



Honey as a Health=Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3'2x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cdok- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample for 2 cts.; 10 for 10 cts.; 25- 

 for20cts.; 50 for 35 cts.; 100 for 65 cts.; 250 for $1.50; 500 

 for $2.75 ; 1000 for $5.00. If you wish your busine.«s card 

 printed at the bottom^of the front page, add 25 cts. to.your 

 order. 



