NOVEMBER 1, 1818 



747 



rial and labor entering into the newly made 

 goods ; or, to put it another way : A house 

 built fifteen or twenty years ago for $1500 

 is still worth nearly that amount in spite of 

 the wear and tear and depreciation, because 

 a new house like it can not be built to-day 

 for less than $2500. 



As Grover Cleveland once said, " We are 

 confronted by a condition and not a theoiy.'" 

 We may complain about the advance in the 

 pi'ice of the cost of living, but the fact re- 

 mains that the cost of nearly every thing 

 has gone up, and why not bee-hives? 



After writing the foregoing, we ran across 

 an item in the Oct. 23d issue of the Cleve- 

 land Plain Dealer that is very much to the 

 point. Here it is: 



TELL HOW COST OF BUILDINGS GROWS ; EXPEETS GrS'E 



FIGURES ON CONSTRUCTION AT REALTY BOARD 



LUNCHEON. 



Cost of dwelling construction has increased 15 per 

 cent in the past four years. Cost of building factor- 

 ies and other large structures has risen 17 per cent 

 in the same time. These statements were made to the 

 Keal Estate Board at its weekly luncheon yesterday. 

 Arthur P. Cody, real-estate man, explained the in- 

 crease in the cost of building houses, while Lawrence 

 Slatmyer, associated with his father, Henry Slatmy- 

 ei, in the contracting business, told of the cost of 

 erecting large structures. 



" Carpenters twenty years ago were getting 17 ^^^ 

 cents an hour," said Cody. " To-day they are getting 

 50 cents an hour." 



The difference between the increased cost for 

 dwellings and that for larger buildings was attribut- 

 ed by Slatmyer to the fact that a large amount of 

 unskilled labor is employed in excavating for and 

 erection of the latter, and that this labor has had an 

 advance of 20 per cent in wages during the past 

 four years. He pointed out that the average increase 

 for all kinds of construction has been about 5 per 

 cent a year. He declared that a factory building 

 elected four years ago which cost $62,681 to-day 

 would cost $73,779. 



THE MILLER SMOKE METHOD OF QUICK IN- 

 TRODUCTION. 



Within the last few days we have intro- 

 duced sixty or more queens into as many 

 colonies by the Miller smoke method. The 

 weather dui'ing this time has been hot, cold, 

 chilly, wet, and bright. Three or four colo- 

 nies, on account of our difficulty in being 

 able to get queens in time, were queenless 

 so long that they had developed laying 

 workers. However, we used the method 

 described by A. C. IVIiller on page 370 of 

 the current volume, and every queen was 

 successfully introduced, including the three 

 colonies of laying workers. It is well known 

 that the ordinary method of introducing 

 fails with laying workers; but the smoke 

 method seems to be a sure thing in season 

 and out of season with all kinds of colonies, 

 whether qtieenless or not. 



Here is the experience of another that is 

 worth recording at this point: 



I had a colony of bees that bothered me all sum- 

 mer. Early in June they lost their old queen and 



failed in getting another. A cell hatched, but evi- 

 dently the queen was lost in her virgin flight. I did 

 not discover that they were queenless for more than 

 two weeks; and as soon as I did I tried to intro- 

 duce a queen by the cage-and-candy method. I tried 

 this and failed. Then I tried to give them mature 

 cells, but they would not accept them. I next gave 

 them two frames of brood; but by this time there 

 were laying workers in the hive, and they would not 

 build cells. About the middle of August I wanted 

 one of my mating boxes that already had a laying 

 queen in it that was clipped. I did not care about 

 this queen, so I thought I would try to introduce her 

 into the hive that I have mentioned, by the smoke 

 method recommended by Mr. Arthur C. Miller, p. 

 370, June 1. The next day I looked into the hive 

 and found my clipped queen. She had been accept- 

 ed, and had nearly filled one comb with eggs. At this 

 date, Sept. 10, she has the hive well filled with 

 brood. A. S. Kinney. 



South Hadley, Mass., Sept. 10. 



" Why, the other day," said our apiarist, 

 Mr. Marchant, " by error I introduced by 

 the smoke method a queen in a hive where 

 there was already a nice laying queen. 

 Would you believe it? they accepted the 

 introduced queen and killed their nice lay- 

 er ! What do you think about that ? " 



If this method shall continue to be as 

 successful as it has been with us during the 

 last six months we shall recommend it ex- 

 clusively, and, what is more, it will be possi- 

 ble for queen-breeders to sell virgin queens. 

 Heretofore the business of selling such 

 queens has been unsatisfactory, in that the 

 recipients were not able to introduce them 

 by the ordinary caging plan. But the Miller 

 method makes a sure thing of it. A virgin 

 can be had for about half the price of a 

 laying queen. It will thus be possible for 

 thousands of beekeepers to avail themselves 

 of choice stock from our best queen-breed- 

 ers at a very low price, and then have that 

 stock crossed with their own vigorous strain. 

 Truly this will be a great step forward. 



THE SMOKE METHOD OF INTRODUCING IN 

 ROBBED-OUT COLONIES. 



After dictating the foregoing the follow- 

 ing letter came to hand. As it describes a 

 condition where the smoke plan of introduc- 

 ing was put to a severe test, we give it right 

 here : 



When I saw the article in Gleanings by Arthur 

 C. Miller in reference to direct introduction by the 

 smoke plan, page 370, I was very much pleased, and 

 at the same time had my doubts whether it would be 

 a success. Nevertheless I made up my mind to try 

 it. Having found one of my colonies hopelessly 

 queenless, and having tried every thing I could think 

 of to get a queen in without any success I ran a 

 laying queen in on the Miller smoke plan. After I 

 had opened the entrance about an inch the rest of 

 the bees began to rob this hive, so I closed the en- 

 trance up tight and left it closed until very near 

 dark, and then opened it about an inch. The next 

 morning the robbers were as bad as ever, so I made 

 up my mind to let them finish it up, which they did; 

 but, remarkable to relate, the bees that belonged to 

 the hive stayed there, and the next day were carry- 

 ing pollen. I looked in the hive and found them all 

 right, with the queen that I ran in laying finely. 



