lf)01 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



43 



plugs flush witli the wood with a forming 

 stick, then make into the center of eacli 

 wax-plug an impression one-half inch 

 deep ; then put tiie bars away ready to 

 be drawn upon at any time when cells 

 are wanted. If you practice the Doolittle 

 plan of cell-getting simply place the top- 

 bar in the sun for a bit to warm and with a 

 forming-stick burnish or polish the cups 

 l)y first passing the stick to the mouth 

 and then rapidly twirling it in the bot- 

 tom of each cup, and. after shaving oil:' 

 the bits of wax. proceed to transfer the 

 larvie etc. With the Alley method cut 

 pegs of one egg each and set them one in 

 each iiole with a drop of molten wax. If 

 you practice the Pridgen method place a 

 ■'eradle-and-all" in the bottom of each 

 cup, just as he told you, or you may graft 

 eggs as I have explained in a previous 

 letter. 



After the cells are well under way, 

 bring the top bar and the cage proper to- 

 gether, slide a tin between each cell, put 

 the zinc in place ; slip all into a regular 

 frame arid you have something of regular 

 size which may be handled or placed 

 anywhere like an ordinary frame with 

 no further trouble until the cells begin to 

 hatch, then a strip of wire-cloth should 

 be placed over the zinc inside the slats 

 which bind the metal, or the cage may be 

 placed with queenless bees wlio will care 

 for and feed the young queens. The 

 lower holes of the cage are to hold 

 sponges which act as corks to each com- 

 partment in confining the young queens ; 

 also, when saturated with honey to fur- 

 nish food during their imprisonment. 



When you have once secured good 

 cells, one on each plug, across the entire 

 length of the bar, do not destroy them ; 

 shave them off carefully, remove the jelly 

 and use again and again. An egg may 

 be grafted into each cell and the cage at 

 once placed in the midst of a powerful 

 colony without further manipulation, 

 when, at the end of a week, a lot of fine, 

 natural or swarm-cells will be found nice- 

 ly built out. To give the bees plenty of 

 Continued on page 44. 



THE SWARTHMORE APIARIES. 



T 



(8ee page 52.) 



HE full-page picture presented in 

 this number of The Bee-keeper 

 will be of interest to those who 

 have followed the instructive and en- 

 tertaining series of articles now appear- 

 ing, from the pen of " Swarthmore,"' 

 whose portrait also constitutes a part of 

 the rather harmonious medley. In 

 response to our request for aiT explana- 

 tory letter, " (Swarthmore" wrote: 



My Dear Editor : In the upper left 

 corner is a view from the banks of the 

 DelawareRiver, which flows through tliis 

 section and which waters a wide range, 

 furnishing a never-failing honey source 

 throughout this entire section about 

 Philadelphia. The honey is light amber, 

 of good flavor and of excellent body, 

 and mostly gathered in the autumn. 



A corner in my home yard is shown 

 in the largest picture and below this a 

 group of several little fertilizing hives. 

 The apiarist is introducing queens a la 

 Alley, with tobacco smoke. These small 

 hives hold frames i}4 x8>^, and are the 

 most convenient and least expensive for 

 queen-rearing on a large scale. You 

 will notice that each hive is stilted 

 above the ground by attaching a stake 

 to the side of hive. These stakes are 

 held in place by screw-eyes and are 

 easily removed at will. When we set 

 out these little nuclei we generally se- 

 lect a plot where the grass will likely be 

 undisturbed, and when grown up it 

 forms the best protection possible to 

 the colony, also furnishing excellent 

 marks for flying queens. The stakes 

 raise the hives high and dry, which is 

 very important in this latitude. The 

 details of the fertilizing hive, also the 

 breeding-queen hive, are shown in the 

 foreground ; also one of the "Swarth- 

 more '" nursery cages, both explained in 

 articles already written and in your 

 hands. The IT. D. feature is extended 

 to these little hives in that four of the 

 small frames just fit inside an L-frame 

 and at the proper time a full colony may 

 be broken into ten to fifteen parts to 

 form queen fertilizing colonies. 



The frame standing upright shows very 

 distinctly the scheme for securing brood 

 and honey for the little hives. 



In the out-yards we feed these little 

 colonies from inverted salt shakers and 

 electric lamp bulbs, but at home we drop 

 lozenges of good food into each hive 

 every few days. Yours truly, 



" Swarthmorp:."' 



