laoi 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



133 



Tlu'i-t' can bo no question that cutting \\\^ 

 the super into twenty-four llttio separate 

 rooms is the cause of the imperfect fill- 

 ing : but might it not be possible to 

 obtain perfect filling and retain the sepa- 

 rator ? With the lateral communica- 

 tion the "fence" gives us, we seem to 

 gain but little. in the way of perfect fill- 

 ing and sealing. But how about the 

 longitudinal free communication that 

 has not been tested so universally? 

 Therein lies the secret, as our experience 

 has proven. When we first introduced 

 the sepxrator into our supers we had no 

 wide frames to fasten them to. Making 

 saw-cuts into the ends of our supers, we 

 slipped the metal separators iato them, 

 thus dividing the super into six long and 

 narrow chambers. The sections we 

 used then were narrow, and so the bees 

 had unobstructed free communication 

 from comb to comb inside each long 

 chamber. As a result, the filling of the 

 sections was perfect, every cell sealed 

 clear to the wood, just as it had been in 

 the unobstructed super. jS"o sooner than 

 when we adopted the wide frame and a 

 section of equal width, stopping all com- 

 munication endwise, did we have poorly- 

 filled sections to conteni with, so we 

 cannot help blaming this one feature 

 more than any other. 



Mr. Scholl, in tho B3C Keeper.^' Review 

 for Mav proves by his illustrations, re- 

 producing a lot of filled sections, made 

 with different appliances, that the con\- 

 munication endwisi' is most essential in 

 producing perfectly filled sections. 



I am not in favor of changing fixtures 

 every few years; it costs too much 

 money ; still, it is well to know the facts. 

 The Betsinger super gives the most per- 

 fect communication of any super I am 

 acquainted with. The Hyde-Scholl 

 super may come very near it. However. 

 I am not ready to adopt either of them, 

 and shall probably continue the use of 

 regular cleated separator-supers for some 

 time to come. In fact, I have only just 

 adopted them. 



Naples. N.Y., May -3.5, 1901. 



HUNDRED-DOLLAR QUEENS. 



A Kick and Several Indirect Jabs Aimed 

 at the Editor and Other Objects -Our 

 Industry Now Retrograding, through 

 Improper Methods in Queen-rearing. 



liY HESUV AI-LEY. 



SAY, friend Hill, I'm going to kick 

 against your remarks on page 97, 

 May Bee-keeper. Tliere are a 

 good many queen dealers in this country, 

 and it is safe to say that any of them 

 have some particular queen or queens 

 that money cannot buy — t hat is. a 

 reasonable sum. If there are any 

 queen breeders who do not have 

 queens worth, as breeders, at least 

 ifl.'SO, all such should go out of the 

 business. Now, you must know, friend 

 Hill, that first-class stock— '-blood thafs 

 'way up" — does not come from ordinary 

 animals. Stallions, for instance, are 

 valued 'way no in the thousands, some 

 as high as .r^.T.OOO. Do yon suppose for 

 a moment that all the offspring from 

 such a valuable animal will be worth 

 ^ss.i.OOO each ? Well, 'tis the same way 

 with queen bees. I have several queens 

 that, for the common bee-keeper, would 

 not be worth more than one dollar each ; 

 but for bi-eediu'j; purposes I wiuld not 

 part with them. When I hav^- a breed- 

 ing q\ieHn that will dnpliciti^ herself 

 in 90 per cent, of her progeny. I con- 

 sider her worth anywhere from $l?,(\ to 

 S200. All queens are not worth fifty 

 dollars each : in fact, I have seen one 

 hundred queens that would not be worth 

 even a dollar for the entire lot : and 

 to-dav I belii've there are hundreds of 

 queens rf^ared and shipped that are as 

 worthless as so many flies. 



In some of the bee-papers there ^ave 

 appeared articles on queen-rearing and 

 profusely illustrated by queen-cells or 

 cell-cups fastened to a stick. All the 

 writers claim that their way of rearing 

 queens is far superior to any other in 

 use. The methods given and things 

 illustrated are as far from the natural 

 way of cell-building as anything can be. 



