160 



THE AMEBIC AI^ APICULTURIST. 



Bee-papers. 



It really seems as though old beekeep- 

 ers do not, to any great extent, take the 

 bee-papers. Of course, the old beekeeper 

 thinks he knows it all and there is no 

 need of the "useless" expense of a bee- 

 paper. This is a mistake, friends; you 

 should all take one or more of the bee-pub- 

 lications and thus keep yourself posted 

 concerning what is going on in the bee- 

 keeping world. Something new in the in- 

 terest of beekeeping is coming to light 

 each day, and there is but one way to keep 

 posted, and that is by reading the bee-pa- 

 pers. Then, again, every beekeeper should 

 not only read the papers; he should write 

 for them as well, and thus do his part tow- 

 ards making such periodicals interesting. 

 The best, and in most cases, the most val- 

 uable and interesting articles come from 

 the practical beekeeper. We invite all the 

 readers of the Apicultuhist to send us 

 short articles for publication. 



It is the novice and the beginner in bee- 

 keeping who subscribe for bee-journals; 

 that is, we judge so by the questions that 

 are received every day. We take pleas- 

 ure in replying to queries sent to this 

 office. Do not be afraid to ask them, as 

 it is apart of our business to answer them. 

 There is but one way to get the most in- 

 formation and that is by asking for it. 



A queenless colony. 



Oaylordsville, Covn. 

 I have a hive that has lost its queen, flow 

 ehall I introduce a queen to it? 



F. D. Flynn. 

 Keply. 

 If a queen can be obtained before any 

 of the young queens hatch, the cells 

 should be destroyed and the queen given 

 to the bees at once. If one or two of the 

 cells are open, let the bees alone for a day 

 or two ; then examine the combs, remove 

 the young queen and introduce the fertile 

 one at ouce, and she will be kindly re- 

 ceived. 



Mr. Alley. 



Chicago, III. 



Dear Sir: My bees have built out the 

 cells in some of the brood combs about 

 six-eighths of an inch wider than the 

 frames. Ought I to shave the combs 

 down so the cells will be the usual depth? 

 2. Are the leather-colored Italians any 

 better than the light-colored ones? 



J. F. Bauton. 

 Beply. 

 1. Is replied to on another page. 2. 

 I do not think there is any dilTerence, pro- 



vided both strains are reared with the 

 same care. I cannot see what the color 

 can have to do with the fertility of a 

 queen. Tlie leather-colored queens are 

 most likely to be impure. 



Queen-rearing 



One would hanily think it possible for a 

 person who has been engaged in queen- 

 rearing thirty years to tind or learn any- 

 thing new in that line; yet such is the 

 fact. In the " Beekeepers' Handy Book" 

 we gave a method for confining bees ten 

 hours in a queenless state. That seemed 

 a long time, especially on a hot day, to 

 keep a large colony of bees confined in a 

 small box, though the box had plenty of 

 ventilation. I have experimented in va- 

 rious ways to obviate that feature in my 

 method of rearing queens and can now 

 say that after much experimenting I have 

 found a plan that works perfectly, and one 

 that obviates the necessity of keeping the 

 bees queenless even two hours. 



One reason why the bees were kept 

 queenless so long was because the eggs 

 given them for cell-building would be de- 

 stroyed if given the bees too soon after tak- 

 ing their queen away. That difficulty has 

 also been overcome. Now, the bees are 

 kept in a queenless state just long enough 

 to have them become aware of it, and that 

 requires from one to two hours. When 

 the eggs are given them, queen-cells are 

 at once connnenced and not one egg is 

 destroyed. 



By the old method the bees were put in 

 the box in the morning and kept confined 

 till near sunset. Now, the bees are placed 

 in the box at any time in the day, and iu 

 less than two hours they are released and 

 are building queen cells and seem as hap- 

 py as can be. This new plan is a great 

 advantage over the old method, and as 

 the three editions of the " Handy Book" 

 (3,000 copies) are nearly all sold, and as 

 I have so much that is new to m;ike public 

 on the matter of queen-rearing, J propose 

 to rewrite entire a fourth edition of my 

 book and all will be printed in the Ari- 

 cuLTUiusr, after which it will be stereo- 

 typed and appear in book form. 



The work will be begun this fall and the 

 readers of our bee-journal will get well 

 paid for the money seut in for subscrip- 

 tion. Subscribe now. 



A backward spring. 



Our orders for queens have not been 



filled as promptly as I hoped, owing to 



the backward spring. However, I am 



now up with all received previous to 



