328 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



December 



Mr. Doolittle now gives the following 

 directions: "Dip your sticks in wax, 

 give one, (ive, ten or twenty to any col- 

 ony for 48 hours, and you have your 

 cell-cups all right. Now, - start with 

 royal jelly and larvte, and when ripe 

 use a nursery as does Mr. Pridgen, and 

 you have the tiling with very little fuss- 

 ing." We would here invite the atten- 

 tion of the reader to the similarity of 

 the method employed by "Swarthmore" 

 {jfiven elsewhere in this- number. But 

 we will quote Mr. Doolittle a little 

 further, to show the strongest point in 

 favor of these wooden cups: "I cut tlie 

 cells apart with the pruning shears, but 

 the pieces of stick would not go into the 

 cell-protectors, consequently I expected 

 the bees would tear them down, as they 

 do other queen cells where given soon 

 after a laying queen has been taken 

 from a nuclei or colony, when not using 

 the cell-protector. To my surprise, not 

 a single cell has been destroyed. So you 

 will see that in this thing we have cell- 

 cups and cell-protectors combined, as 

 the wood reaches down past where the 

 bees naturally tear the cells open." 



Judging from the extent of our cor- 

 respondence upon this point, which luis 

 resulted from a communication pub- 

 lished some months since in the Bee- 

 keepers'' Review relating to our prefer- 

 ence for separable cells, instead of hav- 

 ing them non-separable. as they 

 practically are in the method given by 

 Mr. Doolittle, above, we believe it is 

 quite generally known that we prefer 

 the separable kind. We believe, how- 

 ever, that the protection afforded by the 

 wood is a matter too important to be 

 over-looked, where a large number of 

 cjueens are to be reared. 



Upon receipt of Mr. Doolittle's de- 

 tailed statement of his experiments witli 

 the wooden bar, and its success, our 

 thoughts were immediately and earn- 

 estly given to devising a plan whicli 

 would combine ease of separability with 

 the wooden protection. We regret 

 that space in this number will not per- 



mit us to give illustrations and a full 

 explanation of its result; but it will fol- 

 low in the near future. We would say 

 brielly, however, that the plan consists 

 of liaving a number of hardwood blocks 

 one-half inch square, through each of 

 which is bored a three-eighth hole, and 

 inserting in each hole a light waxen 

 cup. The whole lot of these blocks is 

 locked upon a flat surface, after f'.e 

 manner in which a piinter locks his 

 formes, and are given to the bees by tin* 

 same method as illustrated and de- 

 scribed elsewhere, above the frames. 

 When the quoins, or wedges are re- 

 leased the cells are free to be handled 

 separately. We have used quite a large 

 number of this style of cups and ceils 

 during the past two months, and have 

 yet to have the first one destroyed b\ 

 the bees. But little wax is necessary 

 in their construction, as the bloqk gives 

 practically an indestructable base. 



We think so well of the arrangement 

 that we should like to have those of our 

 readers who propose rearing queens 

 next season give it a trial and report. 

 The W. T. Falconer Manufacturi]ig Co. 

 have provided us with blocks which are 

 simply perfection, and we have no 

 doubt that they will be able to supply 

 them to all who may desire to try them, 

 as they will also with the wax cups. 



Bee-keepers' Convention. 

 Naples, N. Y., Nov. 23. 1900. 

 Pub!ish(>rs Ajucrican Bee-keeper, 



Geu'tlemen: — There will be a conven- 

 tion on the 13tli and 14th of December, 

 held in Canandaigua. N. Y., by the On- 

 tario County Bee-keepers' Association. 

 It is connected with a Bee-keeper.s' In- 

 stitute. Mr. VV. Z. Hutchinson. Editor 

 Review, will be in attendance. 



Yours Respectfully, 

 F. Greinek. 



Secretary Ontario County (N. Y.) Bee- 

 keepers' Association. 



