220 



THE AMEUWAN APICULTURIST. 



[Copyright.] 



THIRTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



By Henry Alley. 



QUEEN-REARING. 

 {^Continued from pa'je 208.] 



Two strong colonics were removed 

 from their hives and ]:)laced in the swarm- 

 boxes. When they had been confined 

 about two hours and seemed anxious to 

 be released and in the right condition 

 to commence cell buildmg, the nucleus 

 hives were prepared and the bees re- 

 leased. Of course they took im.mediate 

 possession of their new homes. Having 

 a surplus of queens at hand one was 

 placed over an aperture in the top of 

 the hive, and covered to keep the bees 

 from clustering thereon. This had the 

 effect to pacify and quiet the bees and 

 all indications of queenlessness soon 

 disappeared. At night the queens are 

 removed and cell building will proceed. 



\Vhile the bees seem to be aware of 

 the presence of the queen about the hive, 

 they are not satisfied with that state of 

 things and commence to construct cells 

 about the eggs given them. The pres- 

 ence of the queen is the means of pre- 

 venting the uneasy bees from destroying 

 the eggs. 



The results of such experiments were 

 most pleasing to me, and I consider this 

 plan of cell building a marked improve- 

 ment over the previous method given. 



By this plan the bees can be re- 

 moved from a hive and by the time 

 the proper preparation can be made the 

 bees are in condition for cell building. 

 No time is lost. Let me illustrate. We 

 will suppose that one of the best colo- 

 nies is at work in the secdons. That is 

 a good one to select for rearing queens, 

 The bees are placed in the swarm-box. 

 and in the course of two hours those 

 bees can be at work again not only in 

 gathering honey, but at building queen 

 cells. In less than three hours from the 

 time that that colony was disturbed the 



bees are all in the field and at work again 

 as smart as ever. 



By the old plan the bees were con- 

 fined in the swarm ten hours and the 

 entire day in honey gathering was lost to 

 them. 



If those who have tested the former 

 methods as given in the Beekeepers' 

 Handy Book will try this one, they will 

 readily appreciate the great improve- 

 ment in respect to confining the bees in 

 the swarm-box. 



Considering that bees must be kept 

 in a queenless condition for some little 

 time l)efore they are ready to commence 

 cell building, this latter method must be 

 considered by far the best one to adopt. 



Box-hives and modern bee culture. 



In the foruier editions of the Bee- 

 keepers' Handy Book, are given direc- 

 tions for using bees for cell building that 

 are in box-hives. At this advanced age 

 of apiculture one would be considered 

 far behind the times should he even 

 mention the words box-hive. The old 

 box-hive man is so far in the rear that 

 his way of doing and managing bees is 

 not to be mentioned or thought of. 

 Therefore, all the advice and methods 

 here given are intended to apply to 

 modern beekeeping and to movable- 

 comb hives especially. 



Controlling bees with smoke. 

 Now let us suppose we have selected 

 for cell building a colony as above de- 

 scribed. They have been fastened in 

 the hive by one of the screens men- 

 tioned on another page, and the bees 

 have been taken to the bee-room. It is 

 well-known that the smoke of punk 

 (rotten wood) will prevent bees stinging, 

 but has no effect to prevent them from 



