THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



125 



the day, and at dusk allow the new- 

 queen to run in at the entrance. 

 I find in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred they are accepted, and 

 when I open the hive to look after 

 them, which I do not do for three 

 or four days, I find them busily 

 engaged in filling cells with eggs. 

 In future after my experience dur- 

 ing the last two seasons, I shall 

 introduce queens by excliange in 

 no other way. 



Foxboro, Mass., Feb. 29, 1884. 



MAY BEES. 



By W. M. Egan. 



HOW TO MANAGE THEM. 



"Maybe"! can tell you something 

 about what to do and how to do it. 

 The sequel will show, so look care- 

 fully for it. 



The objects in view are always of 

 first importance, and it would be 

 well for each to decide at the out- 

 set whether he wishes to raise 

 queens, bees, beeswax, combs, 

 comb honey, or extracted honey, 

 for the management necessarily 

 differs, accordingly. 



Putting extracted honey at ten 

 cents per lb., we will try to give 

 the approximate cost of the others. 

 Twenty pounds of honey, if well 

 managed, would secure one pound 

 of beeswax, but we could not get 

 $2.00 for it. Ten pounds of honey 

 will raise a queen, counting all 

 losses in the" general average 

 through the season : a good way to 



sell honey if you have the demand. 

 Ten pounds of honey will also raise 

 a pound of bees ; perhaps it can be 

 done with less, especially with 

 large colonies. The beauty is, 

 though,' that these bees will gather 

 nearly four times as much honey 

 as it takes to produce them. 

 Combs could be built out on found- 

 ation, at very cheap rates, and 

 might be worked up to a paying 

 business, because there are many 

 who do not look after their bees 

 sufficiently to have the bees build 

 combs straight and perfect, hence 

 are put at considerable extra 

 trouble in handling their bees. 

 Every one, however, who makes 

 beekeeping a business, should use 

 particular pains in having nice 

 straight combs built, and plenty of 

 them, for they are alwaj's useful, 

 whether we raise queens, bees or 

 honey. 



The prime object in keeping bees 

 is evidentl}'^ to produce honey: all 

 others are but auxiliary. Beeswax 

 does not pay ; the others are but sup- 

 plies to the honey producer. With 

 this object in view then, let us set 

 about our task of accomplishing it. 

 As we cannot ver}^ well gather the 

 hone}^ distilled by the beautiful 

 flowei-s of God's creation, we need 

 bees to labor for us, and then, for 

 security and convenience we need 

 a home or hive to which the bees 

 may bring their stores. The bees 

 would supply the rest, but we can 

 help matters considerably by intelli- 

 gent forethought. 



It now creeps across m^' dull in- 

 tellect, that "nuiybe" 1 had belter 

 say, 



