1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



tliroe strongest, in early spring, gave 

 me ;3,)5, 301 and 309 eacli respectively. 

 Diuiiig tiiose eight years I had studied, 

 read and practiced all my wakeful hours 

 ab ut the bees, having keen enjoyment 

 in doing the same: for 1 never spent an 

 hour in ray life in work pertaining to 

 bee-culture without it being a pleasure 

 to n'.e; and this was brought about by 

 those winter evenings when I iirst began 

 to read up on the subject. 



Hundreds of nights have I lain awake 

 from one to three hours planning how 

 to accomplish some result I desiied to 

 achieve in regard to the practical part 

 of apiculture, which, with the help of 

 what I had read, caused me to accom- 

 plish what I had sought after. I have 

 found that if I would succeed, that, as 

 far as possible, I should read mainly 

 those articles and books which came 

 from the pens of practical bee-keepers, 

 for such were the ones who made a suc- 

 cess of their calling, and told just how 

 they did it. If you wish to learn farm- 

 ing, to whom do you go? to the man 

 whose farm grows up to weeds and bri- 

 ars, or to the man who produces good 

 crops each year '? To the latter, of 

 course ; so you should do in bee-keeping. 



I know that many of our most prac- 

 tical bee-men do not write for publica- 

 tion, and for this reason we can bring 

 in visiting during the winter, as another 

 help along the line of qualifying our- 

 selves. Then we have our bee-conven- 

 tions, which are held for this special 

 purpose, and while the cost may be con- 

 siderable, yet if we improve the time as 

 we should we can learn more than 

 enough to make that cost good, beside 

 the benelit we derive socially. All of 

 these things are great helps to us, and 

 should be eagerly sought after, as they 

 will be if we have the natural qualilica- 

 tions for the calling which we have 

 chosen. If any person loves something 

 else more than they do to study into 

 bee-keeping, and only do so as a sort of 

 duty, let them be assured that they 

 liave mistaken their calling and the 



sooner they leave it and go to that 

 wh ch at all times gives them pleasure, 

 the better they will be off, and the 

 better it will be for the world. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



THE CELL-STARTING COLONY. 



A Neat Method of Manipulation Con- 

 cisely Stated. 



BY "SWABTHMORE." 



I WISH to briefly outline a method I 

 liave used the past season for cell- 

 getting, which has given me re- 

 markably good results with, very little 

 labor and fuss: 



Hunt up the queen of a powerful 

 colony and lift her, frame and all, into 

 an upper story; place two empty combs 

 on either side of the one removed and 

 tier the whole above a zinc honey board 

 and allow the hive to stand thus until 

 the brood in the lower half has passed 

 the royal age (twelve days). 



Late in the afternoon of the twelfth 

 day remove the upper half containing 

 the queen to a new stand at some dis- 

 tance from the old location and allow 

 the bees in the lower half to remain 

 queenless over night. Unless you bestir 

 yourself quite early in the morning 

 place a screen over the entrance of the 

 half containing the queen and put that 

 hive in a cool, shady place; do not re- 

 lease the bees therein contained until 

 the bees in the lower half have been at 

 work on cells for two or three hours. 



Early the next morning prepare 

 young larvse by your favorite method 

 and place the frame containing them in 

 the middle of the queenless chamber 

 where it should remain undisturbed 

 until the following morning. Now 

 bring back the upper story and place it 

 on top as before, leaving the zinc in 

 place for yet another day. 



When the cells have been under way 

 thirty-six hours protect them with zinc 

 and divide them among two or three 

 other strong colonies, according to the 



