1900 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



23 



"white heal" all the time. Bee-keeping 

 a delight? Yes, more than beautiful 

 landscapes, gorgeous clouds, sun-kissed 

 leaves, etc. Ves, nothing delights the 

 e^'es of the practical bee-keeper so much 

 as a colony of bees all ready for d/isi- 

 ness in the month of June. Then "they 

 are m\' vocation, my yatching, my gun- 

 ning and fishing, my satiating recreation." 

 .liiioi. If 1 only had the time and 

 si)ace, oh, how I would like to write a 

 whole article on each of these noble, in- 

 spiring thoughts. He who does not feel 

 his spirits quicken and his blood tingle to 

 the tips of his fingers and toes, on read- 

 ing those "notes" of ".Swarthmore," cer- 

 tainly lacks one of the great essentials 

 which go toward making the succe.ssful 

 apiarist. 



Then I am equally interested in those 

 non-swarming experiments, and am wait- 

 ing impatiently for the next number to 

 know more of the matter, as promised, 

 for if I can prepare my out-yard of 30 

 colonies in "one d<i\\" so there will be 

 no more swarming there than if worked 

 for extracted honey, I shall be fully satis- 

 fied, let alone the preparing of 100. But, say 

 "Swarthmore, " will you tell us as soon as 

 you can, certainly in time for next stmi- 

 mer's use, why you give a ripe queen-cell 

 to that colony having its queen kept 

 "behind perforated metal, on one comb, 

 until the brood in the remaining eight or 

 nine combs has passed the royal age," 

 in.stead of quietly removing the metal and 

 letting the cjueen back on the whole of 

 the combs again? By thus letting her go 

 on the combs again, we woul.d save that 

 "woeful wasteful" of keeping a colony 

 queenless more than a few hours. Please 

 . tell us more about this. 



Well, here I am with an already too 

 long article, and yet lack five pages of 

 being to the centre .stitching wires, in the 

 January number of the American Bee- 

 Keeper. Who ever would believe that 

 the American Bee-Keeper contained so 

 ffiany good things/ And all for 

 50 cents a year. Why the January 

 number is worth ten limes that amount 



alone, to the bee-keeper who "has eyes 

 to see. ' ' 



Borodino, N. Y., Jan. 13, 1900. 

 — » « » — 



Successful Artificial Increase. 



BY FRANK L. KEHN. 



^HIS spring I had six hives of bees, 

 all on moveable frames, of eight 

 frames to the hive, and desiring 

 to increase as rapidly as possible, and 

 yet so as not to impoverish the par- 

 ent hive, it became a question tome as to 

 what method would be best to adopt. 



This being my first year in the handling 

 of bees, it became a iiecessary adjunct 

 to success to Ihoroughl)' understand the 

 manner of the natural increase of bees; 

 after a close study of the bee and the 

 more careful scrutiny of the bees on the 

 framesat very close inter\'al, I determined 

 to proceed. 



Accordingly, on May 3rd I set four 

 hives apart as tho.se from which 1 would 

 make my nuclei ; the other two hives I 

 used in a different way. 



On Ma}- 3rd I had an opportunity to 

 make but two; on May 6 I make three 

 more; on May J 3th I made .seven, June 

 13th six; Aug 2nd another, and on Aug. 

 15th still another, making 20 nuclei, from 

 the four, and still leaving .sufficient in 

 each of the original four to recover and 

 gather and breed. 



In making the nuclei, have the hives all 

 ])repared before opening the parent 

 colony, thus: I nail the body with two 

 long nails just tight enough on the .sides 

 to hold to bottom-board temporarily; 

 plug the entrance with fresh grass as 

 tight as possible, then place a .strip of 

 wood across the entrance and nail with 

 one nail, so that not a bee can get out; 

 place division board and two frames with 

 one-fourth .sheet of foundation in hives. 

 The hives being thus ready, and having 

 the enamel cloth and cover handy I pro- 

 ceed thus: 



Smoke parent hive and after a few 

 minutes lift cover and remove division 

 board, lift frame after frame until I find 



