THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



69 



sery, is taken to the (]iieenless nucleus. 

 A green plantain leaf is inserted in the 

 entrance, the cover removerl, and a 

 couple of whiffs of tobacco smoke, and 

 another as the queen is dropped, and 

 the cover is replaced. We thought that 

 was doing things quite rapidly, and re- 

 moved the cover to look a little longer. 

 Bro. A. says, "wait a few minutes, and 

 we will examine them again. He keeps 

 a record of the condition of the nucleus, 

 with a shoetack system. Ihe Rambler 

 will not undertake to describe the vari- 

 ous positions, slants, and angles, and 

 what they mean. 



About this time we returned to the 

 nucleus, and found every bee in the, 

 bottom of the nucleus in a stupefied 

 condition ; and when their senses re-- 

 turned, the virgin queen was accepted. 

 The plantain leaf soon wilted, and the 

 bees could pass to their work. It struck 

 the Rambler all of a sudden that these 

 200 nuclei, so well stocked with bees, 

 would make several good colonies, and 

 we asked what was to be done with 

 them. 



"Oh !" said he, "some frosty morning 

 I will brush the bees oft' into the grass. 

 It doesn't pay to unite and feed up. 

 The bees usually die during the winter, 

 and they might as well die now, and 

 save all of the bother. I purchase bees 

 in the spring to supply the waste." 



The little combs are packed away in 

 barrels, and securely headed up to keep 

 mice away from them. 



The full colonies were wintered out- 

 doors in double-walled Bay State hives. 

 We now and then found a drone-trap 

 kicking around in the grass. In fact, 

 we should judge that the grass had got 

 a little the start of Bro. Alley while 

 raising his 1200 queens and editing the 

 Af-i. His apiary was, however, about 

 as tidy as the average run of bee-yards 

 where there is much work done. ^Ve 

 have noticed that these gilt-edged api- 

 aries are the ones that do not bring in a 

 large amount of surplus cash. 



While in the Bay State apiary we did 

 not talk so flist or get so absorbed as 

 to fail to notice a very pleasant feature 



in the apiary. Two wee bits of grand- 

 daughters were upon his lap or following 

 his steps when at a safe distance from 

 the bees. They were indulged with 

 sauce-plates, and spoons and honey; 

 and while we were talking bees, the 

 honey was distributed in various direc- 



MR. ALLEY, BIR. PRATT (aN IN\T5TEUATE 



CIGAREITE SMOKEll) AND THE RAMBLER 



TALKING BEES, AND IHK TWINS 



EATING HONEY. 



tions. Bro. A. is positive in his views, 

 and believes his method of queen-rear- 

 ing is the method. His claim, that 

 queens should be reared from the egg, 

 though not mucii discussed at the time, 

 had the effect of setting the Rambler 

 to thinking about the matter, and the 

 results of our cogitations will be given 

 in our next. Rambler 



To tlie above wns appended tlie following foot- 

 note by Editor Root. 



[Now, look here, old friend : while 

 we are greatly rejoiced at this pleasant 

 glimpse of friend Alley's place of abode, 

 when you tell us you "ran down stairs" 

 on Bunker Hill monument we think you 

 are getting decidedly in the way of 

 skipping along almost too fast. I have 

 been up and down those "stairs," as 

 you call them, myself, and I did not 

 feel very much like nnining. In fact I 

 sat down and blowed several times be- 



