220 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ferring. Select snch stocks as have good stniight 

 comb, and bees enough. Transfer them early iu 

 the spring, and save honey fur your own use, or 

 for feeding other swarms. But select good 

 straight combs for transferring, and a large; pro- 

 portion should be worker combs ; and if the liees 

 are numerous, you have in nearlj' everj' case got 

 a prolific queen, without asking wbetlicr they 

 cast a SAvarni the previous season. People that 

 have or keep bees in old box-hives for sale, as a 

 general rule do not read the Bee Journal, so 

 they will not be apt to know the difference be- 

 tween a good stock swarm and a bad one. Now 

 about the price. The seller will generall}' make 

 no distinction ; all are alike to him. But I have 

 seen swarms sold in the fall for ten dollars, tbat 

 were scarcely worth taking as a gift ; «nd I have 

 seen swarms sold at five dollars that were better 

 worth twenty dollars than others would be as a 

 gift. Understand, that at the pn sent day all 

 swarms can be made e.xtra ones, if taken in season. 

 With the movable comb-hive, if the queen is not 

 good, we can supply another ; and if tliej'^ lack 

 honejr, they can be supplied with that also. In 

 fact, everything, except the season, is under our 

 control. Some will be apt to tell you that if j^ou 

 have a poor swarm, it must remain a pocn* one ; 

 but you must not believe any such nonsense. 

 E. Gallup. 

 Orchard, loica. 



[For the American Bee Jour 



Raising Early Queens. 



Mr. Editor : — About those patented boxes and 

 processes for rearing and fertilizing j'oung Italian 

 ciueens, I have nothing to say. But I do say that 

 I can raise queens for one dollar apiece, if taken 

 as soon as fertile. 



In raising young queens, I agree with others as 

 to the starting and buildhig of queen cells. I 

 would use no brood or larvoe older than one day ; 

 but the trouble comes after they are batched ; es- 

 pecially, if raised early — and that is the time of 

 which I speak or write. 



After exiierimenting for years, I found that 

 the main loss was from regicidal attacks — (see 

 Mr. Woodbury's views in American Bee Jour- 

 nal, Vol. 2, page 157) ; and that these attacks 

 were owing to a scarcity of honey in the fields. 

 Consequently the guards are on hand in full 

 force, and will seize the returning queen, if she 

 has been scented with drones from other hives 

 than her own, and she will often be killed or 

 crippled. 



Huber thought there were two or more classes 

 among workers, and that their occupations re- 

 mained the same always. Other and later writers 

 maintain that it is chiefly owing to their age, and 

 that this makes the ditference in their occupations. 

 My own observations lead me to concur in this 

 lavter opinion, and to believe that I could apply 

 this knowledge to queen raising, and thereby 

 help me out of the difficulties I experienced, or 

 some of them. 



I think there are three classes of workers in the 

 hive. First, infants under ten days old. These 

 will be well received by any colony to which 

 they are given. The second class are those from 



the tenth to the twentieth daj^s of their lives ; and 

 these are the real sovereigns of the hive. These 

 are the chaps that kill my young queens, if honey 

 is scarce and they are busy with otlier cares. 

 Tlie workers over twenty days old are producers, 

 and are not apt to enclose a young queen on her 

 return from her wedding tour. 1 therefore use 

 bees over three weeks old in my nucleus hives, 

 and can get perhaps a dozen queens fertilized in 

 each hive prepared in this way : Move a strong 

 stock two or three rods away ; place your nu- 

 cleus on its stand ; give this nucleus a very 

 small piece of brood comb with queen cell at- 

 tached that will hatch in two or three days, and 

 also combs with honey in them. After the 

 queen is hatched, I tal<e away tliis brood comb. 

 If I wish to have more than one fertilized, the 

 extra ones must be caged in the hive until the 

 reigning one is removed, and for some hours 

 after. 



I commenced bee-keeping in 1847, being then 

 twenty-five years old. At present, I make it a 

 rule to winter fifty stocks. I am a farmer, and 

 was born iu the State of New Yoik. 



John L. Davis. 



BdliL Midi., Feb. 23, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Ventilating Button for Caps of Hives. 



I think experience teaches that the caps of hives 

 should be sufficiently ventilated to relieve them 

 from a confined and melting heat, when the bees 

 are storing honey in them in hot weather, and to 

 carry off all dampness in cold weather ; while at 

 some other times, little or no ventilation is needed. 

 It is necessar_y, therefore, to have some method 

 by Which ventilation can be easily regulated. In 

 the absence of a better plan, the following will 

 be simple and effectual. 



For ventilators bore four holes of one inch, 

 each, in diameter in the sides of the cap ; cover 

 these holes or ventilators on the inner side with 

 wire-cloth ; and on the outside put on the venti- 

 lating button, made as follows: Take a strip of 

 board, three inches long, one inch and a half wide, 

 and five-sixteenths of an inch thick; make the 

 ends oval, and cut awaj^ half the thickness of the 

 strip or button clear across its width, and to the 

 length of one inch and a quarter. In the centre 

 of The button bore a hole to receive a light one 

 inch screw, to hold it in place and around wliich 

 it revolves. To mount it, turn the halved side of 

 the button towards the Cap, and lay it horizontidly 

 and centrally below the ventilator, so that the 

 upper edge of the former will come flush with 

 the lowei- edge of the latter ; drive in your 

 screw, wiiich sliould be very firm iu the cap and 

 somewhat loose iu the button. Now turn up the 

 halved end of the button over the ventilator, 

 which will then be somewhat darkened, yet ad- 

 mit air freely, and be measurably protected 

 against driving storms. Willi the other end of 

 the button the air can be entirely shut off or 

 regulated at will. 



I have for many j-ears used the device above 

 described on some of my hives, with entire satis- 

 faction. Henry Crist. 



Lake P. 0., OJdo. 



