460 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 16, 1903. 



and out came another from a box-hive. I 

 covered hive, bees and all with bee-canvas, 

 but of no avail. They covered the ground for 

 20 feet square on the g:rass, weeds and bushes, 

 and they know how they united, 1 don't, for 

 the canvas was held down tight by boards. 

 Now, June 29, they have TO pounds of comb 

 honey by actual weight. I don't know 

 whether that is the best or not, but it is good 

 enough for me. 



I would just as soon have a box-hive in 

 June as a good swarm on a tree, only for ex- 

 tra labor. I smoke them at the entrance, then 

 turn the hive upside down, place a box over 

 them, put the new hive on canvas, and drum 

 and smoke till the <iueen and majority of bees 

 go up. Then empty them in front of the 

 hive. Then 1 use an ax, take out the honey, 

 and let the old brood and crooked combs go 

 to the comb-box. I have transferred five with 

 greatest success, queen always going up, and 

 they go right to work. I used only starters 

 one-half inch wide, but full foundation is 

 better. 



I am a blacksmith, and I go about my t>ees 

 with sleeves rolled up, wide open collar, and 

 no veil. I believe bees know a coward. 



A. M. HoovEH. 



Vermilion Co., 111., June 20. 



Poor Season for Bees. 



I don't know whether I will get honey 

 enough to pay my subscription to the different 

 bee-papers or not. Last year was a failure on 

 account of wet, cold weather, and this is no 

 better so far. I had two colonies to starve 

 about two weeks ago. I did more feeding 

 last fall and this spring than I have altogether 

 for ten years. Two years ago I introduced 16 

 new queens. Some of them died the first 

 winter, and last winter they all died but five, 

 and only two of them are doing any good. I 

 have bought a good many queens in my time, 

 and I remember only two that lived over two 

 summers. 



If the weather continues cold and wet the 

 balance of this season I will be looking up 

 another climate, perhaps Delaware. 



Clearfield Co., Pa., June 29. G. W. Bell. 



Stanley Queen Incubator 



Au Arrangement that Allows the Bees Access to the 

 Cells and Queens at all Times. 



(Patent Applied for.) 



Best Season in 15 Years. 



We are having the best honey season here 

 that I remember for 15 years. Last year's 

 all season's rain started the white clover, and 

 the past spring rains have kept it gowing so 

 that our pastures, and even old meadows, are 

 nearly knee-deep with it. It's a beautiful 

 sight to us bee-keepers. 



I have 15 acres of alsike clover which the 

 bees seem to prefer to the white. The linden, 

 or basswood, bloom is poor this year, but we 

 do not need it. 



My bees are doing quite well. I have mostly 

 blacks. I find them best for comb honey. 

 One of my black colonies had gathered over 

 100 pounds of fine comb honey about the mid- 

 dle of June, when they cast their first swarm. 



I have been fairly successful in preventmg 

 swarming. I increased from 20 colonies to 

 30. Most of them are working in two supers, 

 a number in four and five supers. They will 

 average 100 pounds, spring count. 



Linn Co., Iowa, July 4. Jas. R. Smith. 



One of the greatest objections urged against 

 a lamp-nursery, or any kind of a nursery 

 where queens are hatched away from the bees, 

 is that the cells and their inmates are robbed 

 of the actual care of the bees. When the 

 bees have access to a cell, and the time ap- 

 proaches for the queen to emerge, the wax 

 over the point is pared, and, as the (|ueeu 

 cuts an opening through the cell, and thrusts 

 out her tongue, she is fed and cheered in her 

 efforts to leave the cell. A queen hatched 

 away from the bees loses all of this' food, 

 cheer, and comradeship; and, until intro- 

 duced to a necleus, or full colony, has not the 

 natural food that she would secure were she 

 among the bees. 



All of these objections are overcome by an 

 invention of Mr. Arthur Stanley, of Lee Co., 

 111. Mr. Stanley makes the cell-cups accord- 

 ing to the directions given in Mr. Doolittle's 

 "Scientific Queen-Rearing," sticking the base 

 of each cell to a No. 13 gun-wad. By the use 

 of melted wax these wads, with the cell at- 

 tached, are stuck, at proper intervals, to a 

 strip of wood exactly the length of the inside 

 width of a Langstroth brood-frame. Two 

 wire staples driven into the inside of each 

 end-bar, slide into slots cut in the ends of the 

 cell-bars, and hold them in position. 



The process of transferring larvie to the 

 cells, getting the cells built, etc., have all been 

 described in the books and journals, and need 

 not be repeated here. When the cells are 

 sealed they may be picked off the bar (still 

 attached to the gun-wads) ; and right here is 

 where the special features of the Stanley pro- 

 cess steps in. Each cell, as it is removed, is 

 slipped into a little cylindrical cage, made of 



Alfalfa in Midiigan. 



I am a new reader of the Bee Journal, and 

 have become quite interested in some of the 

 articles, especially the talk on alfalfa at the 

 Chicago-Northwestern convention, as reported 

 in the issue of June 25. I live in southeastern 

 Michigan, about 40 miles north and west of 

 Detroit. I have just'started in with bees this 

 spring, and hived my first swarm June IS. It 

 was a pleasure to watch them adjust them- 

 selves so quickly to their new home and go 

 to work. It was pretty cool and wet this 

 spring up to about the middle of June, when 

 it warmed up some, and now it is fine sum- 

 mer weather, and the busy little bee is now 

 making up for lost time. 



White clover and alsike are the present 

 honey crop. There is a field of alfalfa a few 

 rods west from me, but I can not discover 

 any bees at work on it. 1 am sure it is not 

 because there is no honey in it, for the nectar 



queen-excluding zinc, the cage being about 

 two inches long, and of such a diameter that 

 the gun-wad fits snugly, thus holding the cell 

 in place and stopping up the end of the cage. 

 The other end of the cage is plugged up with 

 a gun-wad. Long rows of these cages, filled 

 with sealed cells, are placed between two 

 wooden strips that fit in between the end-bars 

 of a Langstroth frame are held in position by 

 wire staples that fit into slots cut in the ends 

 of the strips. To hold the cages in their 

 places, holes, a trifle larger than the diameter 

 of the cage, are bored, at proper intervals, 

 through the upper strip, thus allowing the 

 cages to be slipped down through the upper 

 bar, until their lower ends rest in correspond- 

 ing holes bored part way through the lower 

 bar. 



A frame full of these cages, stocked with 

 cells, may be hung in a queenless colony, and 

 will require no attention whatever except to 

 remove the queens as they are needed. The 

 workers can freely pass into and through the 

 cages, cluster upon the cells, care for them, 

 and feed the queens after they hatch, exactly 

 as well as though the queens were uncaged. 



These cages are unsurpassed as introducing 

 cages, either for fertile or for virgin queens. 

 The bees are not inclined to attack a queen in 

 a cage to which they can enter, yet they can 

 surround, caress, and feed her. They can be- 

 come acquainted with her, and give her the 

 same scent as themselves. When desirable to 

 release her, one end of the cage can be 

 stopped with candy, and the bees allowed to 

 liberate her by eating it out. 



By putting food in one end of the cage a 

 queen may be kept caged, away from the 

 bees, the same as any other cage. 



Price, $5.00 by Express, 



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