THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



55 



hive. Now place the two wide frames 

 iu the centre of the hive, with the per- 

 forated metal sides towards each of the 

 two brood nests, thus dividing the 

 hive (so to speak) into two compai-t- 

 ments, the queen being placed iu th6 

 side containing no queen cells. We 

 now close the hive and await results. 

 The bees go all through the hive at 

 pleasure ; but the queeu is confined to 

 four frames. 



The colony, already affected with the 

 swarming fever and the queen restrict- 

 ed in her egg-laying capacity, will, in 

 one or two days, start new queen cells. 



The bees will complete and nurse 

 the fine natural cells on the four frames 

 in the other side of the hive. Now a 

 day or two before these first con- 

 structed cells are ready to hatch 

 (about eight days), open the hive and 

 cut out and use these cells ; at the 

 same time take the queen from the 

 other side and place in the. side from 

 Avhich you have just removed the cells. 

 On the four frames from which we have 

 just taken the queen, we will find a lot 

 of very fine natural queen cells about 

 ready for sealing. 



The queen, now having empty cells, 

 will immediately go through the four 

 frames and deposit eggs in all vacant 

 cells, when new queen cells will be 

 constructed. Just before the cells on 

 the other side of the hive are ready to 

 hatch, cut them out and use and put 

 the queen on that side. Proceed in 

 this way as often as the queen cells ma- 

 ture, which you will find to be .about 

 every seven or eight days. 



In this way our cells are all reared 

 in very powerful colonies, in a per- 

 fectly natural Avay and under the 

 swarming impulse, and finer or better 

 queens you never saw. 



If we do not let any young queen 

 hatch in this hive, nor allow a cell to 

 be capped over in the part containing 

 the queen, the colony may be kept 

 building and rearing queen cells until 

 late in the season and the colony will 

 not attempt to swarm; at least such 

 has been my experience. 



The section boxes in the wide frames 

 should be removed as often as filled 

 and replaced with new ones. 



I ofler this paper for your considera- 

 tion, hoping that I have assisted in 

 giving new food for thought and 'Us- 

 cussiou. 



Mr. Bktsingeu. — I believe in rear- 

 ing queens easily. It makes little dif- 

 ference how we rear our queens if the 

 colonies are brought into a swarming 



■ condition. There are severa. grand 

 points in the address. The experience 

 of the past together with our present 

 knowledge Avill soon culminate in a 

 perfect mode of rearing queens. AVe 

 are coming nearer to it every year. 



Mk. Isham. — Experience teaches 

 me that queens reared in a natural way 

 are much better than those reared by 

 artificial means. 



Mu. Balch. — I try to rear queens 

 for gentleness and long life, — some 

 seasons ai'e poorer than others for this 

 purpose. In rearing queens I follow 

 the natural course of the bees as near- 

 ly as possible. 



Mr. Aspinwall. — I think that the 

 practice of rearing dollar queens has 

 been injurious to the beekeepers in gen- 

 eral and that the practice of rearing 

 and selling untested queens is a great 

 detriment to any man who goes into 

 the queen rearing business, and it 

 has a tendency to lead them to sell 

 worn-out queens as untested queens. 

 It is all very well to say you can judge 

 of the worth of a queen by her color, 

 size, etc. I claim you cannot tell. A 

 queen that will produce beautiful work- 

 ers will not always duplicate herself. 

 I first decide upon what queen I wish 

 to breed from, and when the eggs are 

 about one day old, I prepare my col- 

 ony which is to rear the cells selecting 

 one with many young bees, and re- 

 moving all the eggs, brood, etc. ; leave 

 them a day, then give them a card of 

 prepared brood in which this strip of 

 comb containing the eggs has been se- 

 cured. Let the eggs hatch and then 

 destroy, not every other one, — but 

 destroy two and leave one. As quickly 

 as destroyed I turn the rest down so 

 there will be plenty of space between 

 the cells. About the sixth day, or after 

 the cells have been sealed, I examined 

 the comb to see how many queen cells 

 I have and which are the best. I gen- 

 erally desti-oy the poorest when witliiu 

 two or three days of hatching. 



Mr. Bat.ch. — I agree partially with 

 Mr. Aspinwall. I also agree with Mr. 

 House. I want no queens for breeding- 

 purposes that are less than three years 

 old and older if they retain their vital- 

 ity. I want to see the progeny of 

 their daughters and granddaughters. 



Mr. Locke. — This is one of the most 

 important subjects to the lioney pro- 

 ducer. The question is. How can we 

 produce the queens that will give the 



