62 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



April 



And now I wish to have my say in re 

 j^ard to liow I clip a queen, even did our 

 good editor thinl<; last fall all other ways 

 but his inferior. Having found the 

 queen, catch lier by the wings, using 

 the thumb and forefinger of the left 

 hand ; and if you get all four of the 

 wings you will never regret it after you 

 see how readily a queen with no wings 

 is found afterward. Having the queen 

 by the wings, as above, take your jack- 

 knife, which should have one of . its 

 blades kept very sharp for this purpose, 

 and place the sharp blade on ttie wings 

 of the queen. Now lower both hands 

 down within an inch or two of the tops 

 of the frames, so the queen will not be 

 injured by falling, when the knife is 

 carefully and lightly drawn, the wings 

 severed and the queen runs unharmed 

 down among the bees below. And no 

 scent from your hands will cause the 

 bees to ball the queen, for all you have 

 touched that belonged to her were the 

 wings which you now have between your 

 thumb and finger. Don't be afraid of 

 cutting your finger, for if your knife 

 has a keen edge, and you stop drawing 

 your blade as soon as the queen drops, 

 you cannot do so. Having the queen 

 clipped, close the hive and mark it so 

 that you can know at a glance at any 

 time that said hive contains a clipped 

 queen. 



Horodino. N. Y. 



BROOD CONTRACTION, BEE POI- 

 SONING ETC., IN GERMANY. 



BV F. (JHEINER. 



SPEAKING of honey crops. Dr. Dzier- 

 zon says: "The art of securing a 

 crop of honey in an off-year is un- 

 derstood only by those who have fully 

 grasped what the nature of the bee is. in 

 particular as it relatesto their increasing 

 tendency." 



According to his ideas nothing is more 

 (letrimental to thi; storing of honey than 

 excessive brood-rearing at a time when 

 the harvest is on ; but he savs in good 



years the bees will crowd the brood-nest 

 with honey sufficiently, and thus reduce 

 the amount of brood in the hive to a safe 

 allowance. In years when the flow is 

 light, the bee-master must see to it that 

 too much brood is not reared ; he must ] 

 contract the brood-chamber. Dzierzqn 

 advances here another and singular idea; 

 he claims in a poor honey-season the 

 bee-master will reap greater profits from 

 his bees than in a good season, on the 

 basis that in a poor season he alone has 

 honey to sell, and that at a good price, 

 while in a good season every bee-keeper 

 has honey to sell, the markets are over- 

 stocked and the prices are too low to 

 leave a profit. 



The dangers of overstocking our mar- 

 kets in America are not to be feared to 

 such an extent as it seems is the case in 

 Germany; but otherwise there is much 

 truth in all Dzierzon says. When tliere 

 is a little honey coming in every day, a 

 colony with a good queen will continue 

 to breed and use up what honey is 

 brought in by the workers. With brood 

 reduced, some honey may be harvested ; 

 but it is a fine point when to contract 

 and to what extent. Dzierzon's diamond 

 rule to cage the queen and thus pre- 

 vent all brood-rearing for a time, has 

 been found wanting by all the b;ASt 

 bee-keepers in (xerraany, such as Vogel. 

 Uerlepsch and others, and it is not prac- 

 ticed at all any more, and I believe only 

 few American l)ee-keep('rs adhere to it 

 now. 



A brood restrictor made its appciirancp 

 in America a number of years ago. but 

 we hear nothing more about it. The 

 same thing has been rc^-invented by 

 Kuntze, in (xermany. He proposes to 

 restrict to about three L-frames ; says 

 three L-frames of brood are sufficient to 

 satisfy the bees and prevent over-popu- 

 lating the hives. The appliance con- 

 sists of a hive made of perforated metal 

 inside the hive proper, is not unlike a 

 wide frame, being supported from the 

 rabb(>t. 



While I h('li(^V(' — yes know — that con- 



