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EXPERIMENTS 



In Getting Yohiijs: Queens mated 

 Above the Zinc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY E. L. PRATT. 



I have been experimenting consider- 

 able this season, on getting queen-oells, 

 and young riueens mated beliind and 

 above ((ueen-excUiding metal. I have 

 found that Mr. Doolittle was a little 

 bit hasty, or mucli mistaken aljout get- 

 ting queens maled as he decribes in 

 his book, do everything you will with 

 the young queen until she takes it into 

 her head to tly out to mate. This is 

 where the plan lias failed with me 

 every time. Out of the manj- times that 

 I have tried it, in various ways and 

 under dilierent circumstances, she has 

 been balled. I cannot account for it 

 in any way. Whj- the bees will tol(-r- 

 ate a second queen in the same hive 

 for several days, and then ball her, is 

 a question with me. If the queen in 

 the other part of the hive is failing. 

 balling does not happen. 



If a hive is divided into two parts, 

 and a cell put into each, both will 

 hatch, and the queens will mate all 

 right ; but if they are left in tlie same 

 hive any length of time, one of them is 

 sure to be balled. The only wa\- that 

 I have been able to get a queen in each 

 section, is througli a cell. Strange 

 virgin queens will not be accepted. I 

 have picked oft" the combs in one side 

 of a hive, divided in this way, eiglit 

 young q\ieens about two hours old. 

 They were unharmed by the bees, or 

 by eacli other. They did not seem to 

 notice one another at all. 



In a private letter from Dr. Tinker. 

 he says that he has no trouble in get- 

 ting queens mated from his "cham- 

 bers," which .ire arranged with double 

 metal, and a frame of comb between, 

 in such a manner that the queens can- 

 not peep through the perforations at 

 each other. 



The plan of securing cells over a 

 zinc honey-board is an easy and inex- 

 pensive one, but the serious defect 

 with it is, the young larvaj are neglec- 

 ted, to a certain extent, and poor 

 queens the result. One day I "pinched" 

 about thirty queens from these cells, 

 on account of their small size. 



The zinc is valuable for presei'ving 

 cells from flying queens. One time I 

 had given a queenless colony fort^-five 

 fine, large cells, many of them natural, 

 to care for until they were cut. When 

 I went to them, a few days hxter, I 

 found that a virgin had got in, and 

 was having great sport tearing down 

 my "dollar bills." Since then I keep 

 all cells where flying queens can not 

 enter. 



The new Alley plan has been suc- 

 cessful with me. as far as I have tried 

 it, as given in liis jiamphlet. It re- 

 quires constant atlenlion or swarming 

 will result. By combining the two 

 melliods I found that this constant 

 watching was done! awa}' with, and 

 swarming was impossible. On the sec- 

 ond day, just before sundown, trans- 

 fer all cells from tlie Ijuilding colony to 

 an upper story of a strong colony, over 

 zinc, and have them completed there. 

 The great risk is in waiting until the 

 tliird day. 



The erowding-iiut method of secur- 

 ing cells is good, but the draw-back is 

 incessant swarming. The plan that 

 suits me best, is a combination of the 

 Doolittle and Alley plans, with a little 

 Tinker and Pratt mixed in. It is sim- 

 ple, not very expensive, and eflectual. 

 The queens are well developed and 

 strong. When I put one of the cells 

 (secured by this motliod) into a nu- 

 cleus, I can go to them in ten or twelve 

 days, and take out a fine laying queen, 

 invariably. 



Secui-insr Heallliy <(iieen-CeUs. 



The method which I employ for se- 

 curing healthy queen-cells in abun- 

 dance, is as follows : 



The colony chosen should be of good 

 strength, and prepared after the Doo- 

 little method of taking away the queen, 

 and feeding for three days. 



I use the Alley plan for preparing 

 the larva; ; but, instead of attaching 

 the strips to an old comb, I use a bot- 

 tom-bar that will just fit between the 

 end Ijars of my frames, to which the 

 strips are attached. 



A piece of foundation about three 

 inches wide is fixed to the top-bar of 

 an empty frame, and tins prepared bot- 

 tom-bar is put just below the founda- 

 tion. 



If the colony is very strong, give it 

 an extra empty frame with a small 

 piece of drone-comb starter : this will 

 kecj) the bees from building drone- 

 comb on the cells, to liother one when 

 cutting them out, 



Date the bar and insert the frame 

 between two comlxs of pollen and hon- 

 ey. Feed all the while. On the third 

 day, remove the frame and cells to a 

 full colony, separated by queen-exclud- 

 ing metal. Give to the rearing colony 

 the queen on the frame of brood frcnu 

 the next most populous colony. In three 

 days' time the colony from which the 

 queen was taken will be ready to rear 

 a batcli of cells, wlien the balance of 

 the brood can go to the colouj' that 

 just finislied theirs. 



In this wa_y, two colonies with one 

 prolific queen will give from twelve to 

 fourteen cells every six days, and no 

 colonj- need to be (jueenless for more 

 than six days. If the finishing and 



capping of the cells is done in the su- 

 per over the queen-excluding honey- 

 board, one day can be saved on each 

 batcli of cells. 



To cut out tlie cells, remove the bar 

 to which they are attached, or nursery- 

 cages can be slipped over eacli cell, 

 and the frame left on the super until 

 the cells or virgin queens are needed. 



If the cells arc finished \>y another 

 colony over the excluding metal, the 

 super should be well stocked with 

 hatching brood, and the jn-epared 

 frame should be placed between two 

 frames of brood in the larval state. 

 This is to insure abundance of food to 

 the 3'Oung queens. 



Marlboro, Mass. 



GRANULATION. 



Hoiv Can Extracted Honey 

 Kept in Liquid Form i 



be 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY GEO. P. HOWELL. 



Can any of the readers of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal give me some 

 light on tlie question of keeping ex- 

 tracted honey from granulating in 

 cold weather? or if not keeping it from 

 granulating, at least delay it ? 



Last winter, although very mild, I 

 was so much troubled with mj' honey 

 in glass jars, candying, that I gave up 

 selling it at a time when my sales 

 would have been very good. I had to 

 take back the honey so often, put it 

 through the process, that is, putting 

 the pans in hot water, renewing lables, 

 etc., that there was not much money 

 coming to me. 



I am aware that granulated honey is 

 sold in the North in great quantity, and 

 that most prefer it in that condition ; 

 but down South the}- do not want it that 

 way, and one can not talk them into 

 buying it. 



The moment a jar shows white, its 

 fate is sealed, and it is destined to re- 

 main on the shelf until taken back. 



Last winter, a dealer, so much an- 

 noyed by all sorts of questions asked, 

 and by the assurances of knowing ones, 

 that '• that white stufi"" was not pure, 

 etc., so disgusted him, that no talk on 

 my part, or evidence ofiered to prove 

 the purity of the goods, and even bet- 

 ter terms could move him. His ans- 

 wer was, "I would not handle that 

 honey, if you gave it to me." Wfiy, it 

 takes all of my time trying to convince 

 the people that it is pure — a thing they 

 do not want to believe. 



If the producer could have a talk 

 with every consumer, at every store, he 

 might make this matter clear, aUliough 

 I know from expierence that his task 

 will be anything but sweet. 



