1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



743 



and in enacting such important legislation, is it not better to 

 " make haste slowly ?" 



There are quite a number of other incongruities which 

 call for discussion aad review. Section 8 of Art. VI. should 

 be changed in verbiage and made Sec. 2 of Art. III. And in 

 Art. X. the words "altered or amended" occur twice. Amend- 

 ments are always alterations. Why such tautology ? 



Section 7 of Art. VI. needs a complete revision. If there 

 can be collected no more than the regular annual dues, with- 

 out a majority of all the members of the Union, why talk 

 about calling for or making extra assessments ? 



If expensive annual meetings are to be held, there must 

 of necessity be a limit to the liability of the Union for 

 their expenses, or it will soon be bankrupt. I fully concur in 

 Dr. Mason's remarks in Gleanings, on page 670, when he 

 says: "This country of ours is too large" to warrant an- 

 nual meetings, and expensive personal representation. If it 

 is attempted to make it representative, it will fail, unless the 

 Union pays the expenses of the delegates ; and if the Union 

 pays the expenses of the delegates, then it will have but little 

 money left (if any) to pay for its only legitimate work — the 

 defense of its members in their legal rights, when unlawfully 

 assailed by ignorance, prejudice, and maliciousness. 



The whole thing is so incongruous and incomplete that it 

 seems necessary to refer it back to the next convention at 

 Buffalo for revision. Before it is in proper shape to present 

 to the " National Bee-Keepers' Union " it needs a thorough 

 overhauling and reconstruction, and as the convention con- 

 sidered it section by section, and then adopted it, no one now 

 can have the right to alter its language or requirements. 

 There is, therefore, nothing left for its advocates now to do, 

 but to await the action of the convention next year ; at least, 

 so it seems to, 



Yours for every progressive step, 



Thomas G. Newman, 

 Oeneral Manager National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



San Diego, Calif. 



[See New Constitution in full on page 738, and editorial 

 comments on the foregoing " criticism " on page 7-14. — Ed.] 



Reariug of Queens, aad Their Purity. 



BY DK. E. GALLUP. 



On page 596 Wm. S. Barclay mentions his surprise at 

 the purity of a black-Italian queen, etc. In old times, it was 

 first advocated, aud we started into rearing Italian queens in 

 a small box about 6 inches square, and with very few bees, 

 without any regard to their age, or whether there were any 

 nursing bees or not. Give them a small frame of brood and 

 eggs, and they would usually start two queen-cells, and often 

 from^larvEe too far advanced, etc. A queen was a queen in 

 those days, and we paid from So to $10 each for such queens, 

 and they usually came up missing in from 15 to 30 days from 

 the time of introducing. 



I started in as recommended by the man that I purchased 

 my first queen from, but it did not take me long to discover 

 that I could rear no good queens in that manner. From a 

 well-marked mother we could rear queens as black as crows. 

 They lacked all the requisites for rearing queens. 



Soon after, Mr. Aaron Benedict received his first imported 

 queen, and went with his little boxes on Kelley's Island, in 

 Lake Erie. Well, his queens reared from her were as black 

 as crows, and he decided that the mother queen was worthless, 

 andrdestroyed her. I had quite a discussion with him in N. 

 C. Mitchell's bee-journal, but could not make him own up ; 

 for if you convince a man agaiust his will, he is of the same 

 opinion still. So I dropped him in disgust. 



If we rear queens without proper nourishment, or lack of 

 warmth, etc., we can rear black queens from the very best 

 marked mother. A queen-cell may be so located in the hive 

 that a few days (just at the right age) of conl, damp, rainy 

 weather, will change the queen's color entirely; yet it does 

 not aflect her purity. Again, a lack of nourishment will 

 change the color. 



The past summer I inserted a queen-cell in a colony that 

 had been queenless several days, in the cool weather we had 

 in the spring ; I cut out all queen-cells, as I supposed. On 

 looking to see if the cell had hatched, I found it torn down, 

 and a small, black queen in the hive. I left her until I could 

 receive a queen that I had sent for. On receiving my queen, 

 I looked for the small queen ; she had laid a few eggs and dis- 

 appeared, and the bees had half-sized cells and larvas nearly 

 ready to seal in them. This small, black queen was from a 

 pure mother, fertilized by an impure drone. 



All queen-cells should be started in a full, strong colony, 

 with abundance of nursing-bees, and if from any cause the 

 colony cannot gather food, they should be abundantly stimu- 

 lated, for stimulation creates activity and warmth, whether 

 that stimulation is natural or artificial. 



The cells can be transferred, after they are sealed, into 

 small nucleus hives containing two or three combs. I always 

 like to have my nuclei strong with bees. I kept my observa- 

 tion hive strong with bees, and reared four queens in it so the 

 boys could see the whole process. Orange Co., Calif. 



Uniting Weak Colonies in the Fall. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



When the time comes to unite I select the hive having the 

 queen I wish to retain, as the one to contain the united col- 

 ony. I now open this hive and take out what combs I think 

 will be necessary, leaving those containing the most honey, or 

 otherwise, as the circumstances may direct, although it is sel- 

 dom that united colonies have too much honey, when those 

 that are left, being sure the queen is on one of them, are 

 placed next one side of the hive, as closely together as I wish 

 them to be left for wintering. 



The bees which are on the combs to be taken are now 

 shaken off the combs and allowed to run into the hive, when, 

 after closing, it is left as it is, ready to receive whatever is to 

 be united with it. 



I next go to the one or more colonies which are to be 

 united with this first one ; and if they have a queen she is 

 hunted out and disposed of as I desire, when all of the frames 

 are removed but one, two, or three, iu accord with the number 

 of bees there are in this colony ; few being so small that only 

 one comb is left, aud in no case is a colony weak enough in 

 bees to need uniting, unless they can crowd on three combs 

 fixed as I am about to tell you. 



The combs left are generally those containing the most 

 honey, although some years there is little choice of combs on 

 account of all being liberally supplied with honey. The 

 combs (two or three) are now spread apart from one to one 

 and one-half inches, and placed in the center of the hive, 

 when the hive is closed and the bees shaken off the combs 

 taken out, so that they can run in with those left on the 

 spread-apart combs. I fix any others that are to be united in 

 the same way, in some cases putting as high as four or five 

 in with the one having the queen, but not usually more than 

 one, two, or three, according to the number of bees each 

 contains. 



I now wait till some cool, cloudy, raw, windy day, or some 

 morning when there has been a frost, or nearly so, when I am 

 ready for the uniting, which is very simple. The hive having 

 the queen is uncovered, or, if the cover is a mat or quilt, this 

 is rolled back till the comb next the vacant side of the hive is 

 exposed, when I go, smoker in hand, to those ready to be 

 united with it, blow a few dense puffs in at the entrance, 

 quickly uncover the hive, blow in freely of smoke over and 

 around the three spread-apart combs, when I place the first 

 finger of each hand between the first two combs, and if three, 

 the big fingers between the next, when the third and little 

 fingers clasp over on the outside of the outside frame, the 

 thumb tightening on the other side at the same time, when 

 the three frames, bees and all, are lifted out all together aud 

 carried to the open hive having the queen, and all lowered in- 

 to said hive in a body, the same being placed close up to the 

 side of the exposed comb. The quilt is now rolled over all the 

 frames but the last, when another and another lot is brought 

 in the same way till the required number are in, when the 

 hive is closed and the uniting accomplished. 



If the day is cool and raw enough, or the night has been 

 cold enough, the bees which are to be carried will be com- 

 pactly clustered on and between the spread-apart combs, and 

 after you get the " hang" of the thing a little you can carry 

 them where you wish without any flying iu the air or being 

 left in the hive. Why only three combs are to be left under 

 any circumstances is that a person cannot grasp more than 

 these with his hands, and to separate the clustered bees in any 

 place is to make a bad job in losing bees and have them fly all 

 over you and out into the cold to perish. By removing the 

 hive and stand from the old location no bees are lost by re- 

 turning, although some will return and hover over the old 

 spot on the first flight for a little time ; but you will soon find 

 them with fanning wings at the entrance of their new home, 

 which they accept ever afterward. — Gleanings. 



See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 717. 



