60 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



place the cage in a queenless colony ; if 

 none are in the apiary, place it in any 

 hive where the bees can have access to 

 the queen through the wire. It is not 

 necessary to open a hive to place the 

 cage in one of tlie brood-frames ; put 

 the cage on the frames, or on the hon- 

 ey-board, or in any place in the hive 

 where the bees of the colony can see 

 the queen. The food in the cage 

 should be so protected that the bees 

 outside cannot have access to it. The 

 very best thing to do is to introduce 

 the queen as soon as possible. 



If there is a colony in the apiary that 

 has been queenless more than three and 

 not more than twenty days, it will be 

 perfectly safe to put any of these bees 

 in the cage with the queen. 



We clip the following from "Stray 

 Straws" in Gleanings : — 



"Larger bees are advocated m the Api, 

 in the belief tliat doubling tlie size of tlie 

 bee will double the distance it will travel. 

 Does a croAvtly any further or faster than 

 a blackbird?" C. C. Millek. 



Dr. Miller is getting funny again. 

 Does the reader suppose that if we rear 

 larger bees we do not increase all other 

 functions in proportion to size? How 

 foolish for any one to talk as does the 

 Dr. What object could any one have 

 in view in rearing larger bees but in- 

 creased powers? Bless your soul. Dr., we 

 want larger bees to fly farther, gather 

 larger amounts of honey, and bees to do 

 everything in proportion to their size. 

 Suppose the crow has all its powers in- 

 creased in proportion to size, when 

 compared with the blackbird, what 

 then ? You seemed to have overlooked 

 this part of it, didn't you, Dr. ? We do 

 not know that a crow will travel any 

 faster than a blackbird, but most any- 

 body ought to know, it seems to us, that 

 a crow will carry twice as much corn 

 out of a field as a blackbird. Why not 

 compare a humming-bird to a crow? 

 Which of the two has the larger carry- 

 ing power ? 



Now if we can rear a strain of bees 

 whose honey sacs are three times as 



large as that of the common race of 

 bees, we have gained a point, haven't 

 we. Dr. ? We do not claim that this 

 can be done by any method thus far ad- 

 vanced, yet it seems to us that a larger, 

 and perhaps a much better bee can be 

 produced. The proper way to begin is 

 in rearing the queens. Increase the 

 size of the queens and an increase in 

 the size of the progeny will be the nat- 

 ural result. With larger bees, larger 

 cells, etc. We don't know when Dr. 

 Miller has been so hard pushed for 

 argument as in this matter of raising 

 larger bees. Try your hand at it once 

 more, Dr. 



EDITORIAL BUSINESS ITEMS. 



In our next issue we shall give a full 

 description, illustrated, of the plant of 

 The W. T. Falconer Manufacturing Co., 

 of Jamestown, N. Y. This firm do an 

 immense business in beekeepers' sup- 

 plies. We have nearly all our hives, 

 drone-traps, etc., sawed at their factory. 

 The workmanship and stock are not 

 excelled by any dealers in the world. 

 Their prices are the lowest, and the 

 gentlemanly treatment all receive from 

 the manager, D. E. Merrill, is worthy 

 of special ntiention. 



SUPERSEDE YOUR OLD QUEENS. 



Don't allow any colony to go into 

 winter quarters with an old queen. Such 

 a queen will most likely fail early the 

 next season. A colony which gives 

 promise early in the spring of a good 

 yield of honey will do nothing on ac- 

 count of the failure of the queen. 



It will pay to requeen colonies each 

 two years. Old queens are very poor 

 property. 



When a queen is three years old she 

 has seen her best days and should be 

 superseded. If you are a sul^jscriber to 

 our paper, send %2 for a daughter reared 

 from our $ioo queen. If you are not a 

 subscriber, send ^2.25 antl get a queen 

 and the Api one year. 



After May i the price of our work on 

 rearing queens " Thirty Years Among 



