GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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Funnel and glass Ijox with excluder 



with the glass Ijoxes. and 1 know their great 

 advantages. 



The choice of the stock for breeding must, 

 of course, be a most careful one. I demand 

 from a queen of which I wish descendants 

 that she be at least three years old, her colo- 

 ny during those years being ahead of the 



A, a Imtton foi- holding- the glass; B, a groove for the glass; C, a 

 staple for holding the frame: E, P, holes for feeding; G, entrance; H, 

 hole for ventilation, corresponding to a groove in the front of the breeding- 



others. The brood 

 must be regular and 

 compact, which must 

 be true also witli the 

 garlai:d of pollen. 

 I do not like bees 

 that make manj' wax 

 bridges between the 

 combs, nor do I like 

 ill-tempered bees. I 

 (^emand from the 

 (|ueen that her an- 

 ccstois and sisters 

 have the same fine 

 qualities, and I w-ish 

 the color of the bees 

 to be uniform and 

 of a dark appear- 

 ance. It is desirable, 

 but not always pos- 

 sible, that there be 

 no yellow spot in the 

 abdominal segments. 

 The same scrupulous 

 selection lias to take place with the colo- 

 ny furnishing the drones, and the old age 

 of the queen is here still more important. 



As to the rearing of the queens I think T 

 have nothing new^ to say. The matter is 

 known well enough. The mature queen-cells 

 ai e put into an incubator or into little cages 

 of wire in a strong 

 colony till they come 

 out. In the first, the 

 temperature must be 

 99 degrees F., and 

 the young queens 

 must have at their 

 disposition h o n e y 

 and water. I gener- 

 ally have tlie cells in 

 little cages where I 

 introduce from ten 

 to twenty bees. Be- 

 fore making up the 

 nucleus I mark each 

 (|ueen on the back 

 Avith color. Mark 

 a few drones first 

 before attempting to 

 paint a queen. With 

 the left hand I take 

 the queen by her 

 wings, holding' her 

 slightly on the plate 

 of the table, and 

 with tlie riglit hand 

 I give her the mark. 

 T li e illustration 

 shows my own con- 

 struction, which I 

 have used many 



