130 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



working with their usual vigor. H.ivingex- 

 perimented with the various plaus given 

 by different writers, none have given such 

 perfect satisfaction as the one l<iiovvn as 

 the queenless metliod. Just as wliite clo- 

 ver Ijegins to yield nectar, whatever colo- 

 nies are found nndiing preparations to 

 swarm are to be manipulated as follows : 



Have a nucleus box of sufficient size to 

 contain tliree frames; place in such t)ox 

 two frames tinit have some honey ; then 

 remove one frame of hatching brood, with 

 adhering bees and queen, to be placed 

 in nucleus between two frames already 

 there; cover the box and let it remain; 

 place a dummy in old colony to take place 

 of friime removed; examine carefully and 

 remove all queen cells if any have been 

 started. If sections are approaching com- 

 pletion it is best to place an empty set on 

 first, tliose removed iieing placed on top; 

 or, in other words, tier up. With honey 

 coming in freely the constantly liatching 

 brood may make it necessary to place the 

 third tier of sections on. Removing the 

 queen from the colony makes but slight 

 confusion wldcli subsides in a very short 

 time, when work progresses quite as well 

 as ))efore lier removal. I liave found it 

 better to leave the colony queenless ten 

 days, at wliich time all queen ceils are to 

 be removed. If the removed queen is val- 

 uable, she should at this time (ten days) 

 be caged and introduced back ; the bees 

 in nuclei shaken from tlie comlis in front 

 of their former home; the dummy re- 

 moved and the frame of comb and renniin- 

 }ug unhatched brood replaced from where 

 it was formerly taken. If the removed 

 queen is not considered of value, she 

 should be destroyed and a young laying 

 queen introduced which I mucli prefer to 

 introducing tlie old queen. If tiie old 

 queen is introduced, and there should be 

 another honey flow after white clover, 

 there is a probability of the same manip- 

 ulation being necessary again which would 

 not occur with a young queen. 



By allowing the l)rood to remain and 

 hatch in its own hive the colony will con- 

 tinue to increase rapidly ; therefore allow- 

 ing every I)ee of proper age to go to the 

 field as foragers. 



The above method is less labor than any 

 I have ever tried, and gives better results 

 in comb honey. 



If a swarm should issue naturally, the 

 queen is to be removed, queen cells de- 

 stroyed and treated in every respect as 

 above, returning the swarm to the hive 

 from whicli it issued. 



Bel'ore closing this it would be quite 

 proper for me to say, after commencing 

 this article, among other l)ee periodicals 

 brought by mail was the January number 



of the Bcblceepers' Magazine which con- 

 tained an article from tiie able pen of Mr. 

 G. W. Demaree of Kentucky upon the 

 same subject. After reading tiic article, I 

 found the principal factor employed in 

 tlie method described above to be identical 

 with Mr. Demaree's; that is, "queenless- 

 ness." His manner of disposing of brood 

 differs somewhat from mine, which I will 

 not allow myself to criticise here. 

 Chittenango, N. Y., Jan. 10, 1888. 



gn tlje glaitrtgcr. 



Sugar from Honey. 



The following editorial appeared in the 

 API, Oct. 188(5. 



The Natinn.il Convention, wlii(;h nipets at Imli- 

 anapiilis this month, should take some a<-tion re- 

 jtiirdnif!; tlie m:itier of ilisposinK of snvpliis honey. 

 We saggest for tlie consideration ot the meeting 

 that the sum ot $5,o00 tie collected froni the l)ee- 

 keepers throughout the I nileil State.s and i)aul 

 to tlie person who will devise some method for 

 converting honey into su^ar similar to griinulated 

 su;rar. We believe it can nnd will lie ih)ne, pro- 

 vided a proper inducement is lielil out and ii sum 

 fiulli ient is oflered to compensate I'or the time, 

 trouble and expense of con<luc,tiiig experiments. 



The above sum can be easily raised from the 

 beekeepers of this country. Small prmlucers 

 might pay $1 and larger ones as high as $5 each. 

 We resiiectfullv submit the above suggestions to 

 the convention for its consideration. 



Those present at the convention well 

 know about how much notice was taken 

 of the above suixgestioii. Well, I have the 

 satisfaction ot knowing that the idea was 

 not so very "cranky" after all, as the fol- 

 lowing extract from a letter to tlie Api 

 will sliow. 



Plaqnemitie. La., 



April 20, 1838. 



Mu. H. Al-LEV. 

 Dear Sir: I received a coiiy of your valuable 

 Joaiual. It contains many useful articles for the 

 beekeeper. I hope you will p;irdoii the liberty 

 I take in writing you, but one of the articles is 

 of great interest to me. I am a practical sugar 

 maker of tlie sugarcane and am umler the im- 

 pression that I can make a very good grade of 

 sugar from honey, which I have been contem- 

 plating doing for some time, liut have not the 

 means to give tlie experiment a fair test. Should 

 the beekeepers of the United States decide to of- 

 fer a premium to the one who will put the matter 

 to a practical test, I shall be glad to make the lii-st 

 exiieriments. r am almost certain that I can suc- 

 ceed; there is nothing dillicult about it. We can 

 make sugar from beets and pumpkins, why not 

 from honey ? Give me the means to give it a fair 

 trial and f will produce the sugar from honey. 

 Yours respectfully, 



Ali-kn F. Smith. 

 Well, friends, how is that? There's 

 nothing like being a little in advance of 

 some other people. I stated some time 

 since that the extractor must go, and it be- 

 gins to look that way. I predicteil that 

 zinc lioney-boards and all other lioney- 

 boards must go aud (take notice, Editor 



