852 



ter blood, etc. Now, as the honey-flow draws 

 to a close, and while there is still some honey 

 coming in from fall flowers, we go to these 

 hives that we wish to requeen and cage the 

 queen of each hive. We make a note of this, 

 and on the third day from tlie day we cage 

 the queen we go to the hive from which we 

 wish to requeen and take out a small j^iece of 

 comb containing larv83 of the desired age. 

 With this wrapped in a piece of cloth we 

 go to the hive containing a caged queen. On 

 opening this hive we find already started 

 several queen-cells, each containing a larva 

 and plenty of royal jelly. We now destroy 

 all queen-cells excepting two or three nice 

 ones, or as many as may be desired to leave, 

 and with the transfemng-instrument pick 

 out the larva from these and transfer the 

 larva from the piece of comb from the 

 breeding queen. We next jjut back the 

 frames, liberate the old queen, close up the 

 hive, and when opened again in a few weeks 

 one will be surprised to find two queens 

 laying, sometimes on different combs, and 

 again you will find them both on the same 

 side of one frame. 



This plan will work well on all queens 

 two years old or over. We have not as yet 

 tried superseding yearling queens by this 

 plan. The old queen will not tear down the 

 cells as supposed. Queens reared by this 

 method are the same as queens reared by 

 natural supersedure (at least they never 

 fight, and I never heard them quarreling). 



You will find this method superior to the 

 old in more ways than one. Your hives are 

 in no danger of becoming queenless, or the 

 bees balling the queen when introduced. 

 Tlie queens are seldom lost in mating. Nine 

 times out of ten you will find the two queens 

 in the hive when you open it. 



I presume that a queen-cell with a lan'a 

 several days old could be introduced in 

 place of transferring the larva, but we never 

 gave this a trial. 



At the present time, Sept. 8, we have 

 several hives with two queens, and we ex- 

 pect to requeen a few more yet this fall, as 

 we have a late fall flow of honey here from 

 wild thyme. 



To make the above plan a success you 

 must be sure to destroy all queen-cells and 

 cups excepting those you have transfen'ed 

 the larva to. With strong colonies we shake 

 tlie bees from the frames. This gives one a 

 chance to find all the cells. 



Prattsville, N. Y. 



[We believe Mr. Merwin has struck on an 

 excellent plan for superseding old queens. 

 It might work in the case of a yearling, but 

 we doubt it. This will be worth pasting in 

 the hat and trying out after the harvest next 

 year, — ]Ed.] 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 

 SKETCHES OF COLORADO BEEMEN 



BY WESLEY FOSTER 



HARRY CRAWFORD 



1 think it was in 1898 that father took a 

 one-horse wagonload of comb honey to the 

 city of Denver. 1 was allowed to go along 

 to see the wonders of the great city. About 

 half way between our home and Denver is 

 a little station called Broomfield. There 

 was there at that time a postoffice and store 

 combined, a creamery, and a railroad sta- 

 tion. Two or three houses made up the 

 remainder of the village. A low white cot- 

 tage set among a small clump of trees dis- 

 closed to our view a neat little ai3iary at the 

 rear of the grounds. Close beside the house, 

 but abutting upon the street, was the post- 

 office and store of the village. As father 

 always enjoyed the association of beemen 

 we decided to stop and water our horse and 

 get some crackers and cheese for our lunch. 



We met a quiet, unassuming young man, 

 slight of build, about average height, and 

 perhaps thirty years of age. This proved 

 to be our first acquaintance with Harry 

 Crawford, who was running the store and 

 postoffice and caring for bees on the side. 

 His apiary consisted of perhaps fifty colo- 

 nies in neatly painted dovetailed eight-frame 

 hives. Order seemed to be in evidence every- 

 where, and an absence of hurry and rush 

 was another factor noticed. Mr. Crawford 

 had not been married very long, and told 

 us he was increasing his bee operations as 

 rapidly as possible. In a short time he 

 hoped to drop the store and postoffice busi- 

 ness and use the room for a honey-house 

 and shop. At that time he had one or two 

 hundred colonies rented from others that he 

 was operating on shares in outyards. In 

 this way, by getting half the swarms he was 

 steadily increasing his own numbers. His 

 health had not been good for a number of 

 years, and soon after our first meeting he 

 began taking his family to California for 

 the winter, where living is so delightful, and 

 his health improved greatly. 



Comb honey is Mr. Crawford's sole pro- 

 duction, and the economy and systematic 

 management of his work makes it possible 

 for him, although not a robust man at all. 

 to care for five hundred to seven hundred 

 colonies with a small amount of help. Mrs. 

 Crawford, of course, helps, and, I believe, 

 some winters she has put together most of 

 the sections. Miles, their oldest son, who 

 is about twelve, is a great hel^j to his father 

 in the apiaries. 



Mr. Crawford has all supers, about 3I/2 

 to each hive, filled and ready during the 

 winter. All hives for increase are nailed 

 and painted in readiness. During March 



