THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



147 



Mark the date on the top-bar of this 

 frame. The object of this is to get 

 a frame of brood that will hatch rap- 

 idly. I treat all that I wish to run for 

 increase in just this manner, after they 

 are strong enough to crowd four 

 frames, always drawing all frames 

 given, as described above. Just as 

 they begin to hatch nicely, great care 

 should be used so as not to get the 

 queen but take all adhering bees. 

 Two of these frames of brood and 

 bees will make a good nucleus, but I 

 use three or four if I have so many 

 that hatch together. 



In the morning of some warm day, 

 take a nice clean hive and put as 

 many of these frames in as you can 

 afford, taking only one frame however 

 from a hive. The novice may fear 

 putting so many strange bees together 

 lest he should induce them to quar- 

 rel, but there is no danger as every 

 bee if she attempts to leave her own 

 comb "bumps noses with a stranger" 

 taking the fight all out of her. This 

 mixing up also helps to keep the old 

 bees from going back to their old 

 home. Let them be in this condition 

 one hour ; by this time all the know- 

 ing ones have gone home and they 

 will take anything you have a mind to 

 give them for a queen. If it is a 

 queen that has come a long distance, 

 or a virgin queen, I carefully Hft up 

 one corner of the quilt without smoke, 

 and let her run in on the combs ; if a 

 cell, rest it carefully in one corner be- 

 tween the top bars of a couple of 



frames. A laying queen from my 

 own yard I let run in at the entrance. 

 The old stocks are managed in this 

 way until they have increased to the 



uU capacity of the queen. Then if 



I have occasion I draw from them 

 more heavily. The young colonies 

 are built up by adding brood without 

 bees ; or, better, exchanging one of 

 their combs from which the brood has 

 hatched for one about to hatch. But 

 after they get a laying queen of their 

 own I help them no more except by 

 adding empty combs as they require 

 until the two have reached a strength 

 that will employ the full laying powers 

 of their queen and then treat them 

 just as the ©Id ones ; drawing brood, 

 bees, etc., as they can spare it. If this 

 plan is carried late into the season the 

 nuclei should be formed by taking 

 more frames to start with, "say eight," 

 so they may be strong in bees at once. 

 In following this plan one must be 

 posted in the flora of his locality or 

 else be willing to feed liberally if he 

 starts nuclei after the honey flow has 

 ceased. 



Thorn Hill, Onon. Co., N. V. 



DOES BEEKEEPING PAY? 



By G. W. Dejiaree. 



For the benefit of those who may 

 be in want of information as to 

 whether they may safely take up the 

 business of beekeeping, with reason- 

 able expectation of fair compensation 

 for outlay of capital and labor, I ask 

 the privilege to reply to your corres- 

 pondent whose article and list of 

 questions appear on page 64, current 

 vol. 'Api." In the first place "Apis 

 Canadensis" fails to recognize the 

 fact that bee culture, as a business 



