34 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 18. 1900. 



Winter fiew of the Apiary of Mr. Frank L. Rchn. 



These operatioius must be done as rapidly as can be, 

 so as to keep all bees that are possible on the frames before 

 the eifect of the smoke has worn off. 



In this way I proceed until I secure all I want at that 

 time. In some cases, where I found sufficient honey and 

 egg's in one frame, and had sufficient clinging bees, I used 

 that alone, or shook a few bees from another frame. 



I replaced the frame with the queen in the old hive, and 

 gave it several frames with foundation, replaced the cover, 

 and let it alone for about a week or ten days, when I again 

 ■went thru the same process. 



There are three cardinal points to make this a success, I 

 find, viz.: First, that the eggs must be under three days old; 

 second, the bees must not be releast until after nightfall of 

 the fifth day after dividing, and then only allow an entrance 

 of about one or two inches ; and third, that the cover must 

 not be removed, or frames disturbed, until the eighth day 

 after dividing. 



On the eighth day I draw the two side-nails so I can 

 raise the body from the bottom-board, and clear out the 

 dead bees and examine the frames to see the number of 

 queen-cells the bees have started and capt while closed up. 

 In every case I have found at least sis, and have had them 

 in numbers varj'ing^ up to 30 on a single frame. When I 

 found quite a few, I would cut out some, and make more 

 nuclei, and insert a couple of cells between the frames, and 

 these queens would hatch about the same time. 



The queens I reared in this way I have found to be large 

 and prolific, and have yet to find the first one that I can saj' 

 is " no good." 



Every week or ten days I would go to the nucleus hives, 

 go over them, and give them a gentle smoking to inform 

 them I would prefer they would load up ; raise the hive from 

 the bottom-board, brush off any dead bees, and watch closely 

 for any indications of moth or refuse; replace the board, 

 examine the frames, and as soon as I see the queen is 

 mated and laj'ing nicely, I close down and mark the hive. 



Then I go to the other two hives that I had reserved at 

 the beginning, and take from them all the frames that con- 

 tain any quantity of sealed brood ; brush all the bees off, 

 put them in an empty hive temporarily, and put frames 

 with foundation in their place, putting them in alternate!)-, 

 as far as possible. There being all the bees arid queen 

 left behind, they take hold of the foundation immediately, 

 and in a few days they have a perfectly full frame of comb 

 filled with eggs. 



The frames of sealed brood I give to every nucleus that 

 I think would be better by a little encouragement, and in a 

 few days it has a great quantity of young bees, which is 

 very stimulating to the health of each j-oung colony. 



This process I practiced several times during the sea- 

 son. Every time I gave a frame of sealed brood, if I 

 thought the colonj' was growing well in population, I would 

 give one or two frames of U-sheet of foundation, but being 

 careful in every case to see that I did not scatter the bees 

 over too many combs, and always keeping the combs on the 

 east side of the hive, to warm up as early in the day as 

 possible. 



From one of the four original colonies used I made 12 

 nuclei the past season ; and later, at three different times 

 during the summer, I took two frames of sealed brood (with- 



I out bees) — that is, six frames in all — and in September I 

 also took six frames of honey and gave to nuclei. On Oct. 

 IS, when I packt this hive, it had eight frames exceedingly 

 full of honey, bees, and brood. This queen is a leather- 

 colored one, very long, and pure in color clear to the tip, 

 but is mated with a hybrid drone ; her bees have five bands, 

 very plainly markt, but are somewhat cross in disposition, 

 tho great gatherers and unexcelled breeders. 



In every case each colony of bees gathered sufficient 

 stores for winter, and when I packt them, the middle of 

 October, all had a great deal of brood and bees, and all had 

 eight frames. 



Next year I shall change my method a little by rearing 

 and using virgin queens, inserting each in a nucleus. I do 

 not intend to limit myself in number, as I believe nobody 

 knows until tried how great a number one can create from 

 a single colony. 



I herewith show a photograph I made of my apiary on 

 the summer stands, and another of it in winter quarters, 

 the latter showing all but two of the hives under one shel- 

 ter. The back of the shelter is to the north. 



Delaware Co., Pa., Nov. 27, 1890. 



Qualifications of the Genuine Bee-Keeper. 



BY G. M. DOOUTTLK. 



AS the labors of the year 1899 have drawn to a close, and 

 the long winter evenings of the first of the year 190O 

 are upon us, I thought that I might be excused if I 

 were to say a few words on what I consider the duties of 

 the apiarist along the line of spending these evenings in 

 such a way that we may be gaining in knowledge regard- 

 ing the pursuit we have chosen in life. 



Having once chosen a pursuit in life, it becomes all to 

 look after that pursuit with all diligence. In no business 

 engagement is this more imperative than when the culture 

 of the honey-bee is to be the occupation ; and in no way can 

 this be done to better advantage than in reading the bee- 

 literature of the day. How often have I tried to get certain 

 persons who were about to embark in bee-keeping by way 

 of purchasing a few colonies of bees, to take a bee-paper, or 

 to send for a good book on bees, only to be met with certain 

 excuses which went to show that the person addrest would 

 not make a success with bees. 



A man or woman who is not willing to put a few dollars 

 into the bee-reading of to-daj' shows by that very thing that 

 he or she will not make a success ot it ; for had the)' the 

 right kind of love for the little busy bee they would devour 

 all the reading on the subject which came in their way as 

 eagerly as a hungry man eats a good dinner. It is just this 

 hungering and thirsting after knowledge regarding the 

 practical part of bee-keeping that insures success ; and un- 

 less a person does so hunger and thirst after knowledge 

 along some special line of the many industries of the world, 

 he or she will never make a success at anything, except, 

 perhaps, it may be their working by the day or month, 

 serving some one else. It is only the person who loves a 

 calling in life who succeeds by and thru such calling. c_. j 



One of the reasons wh)- there are so many " calamity 



