814 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAi^. 



stamens and pistils changed into petals, 

 making them worthless for the bees. 



But oftentimes there are sources of 

 honey within reach that the bees 

 promptly find, altonugh they may have 

 entirely escaped your attention. And 

 some of the garden flowers— mignon- 

 nette, phacelia, etc., are rich in nectar. 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY. 



Beeville, Texas. 



PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



licssou No. 5. 



(Continued from page 781.) 

 BEARING QUEENS EXTENSIVELY. 



I forgot to tell you in last lesson that 

 you could dip cells and rear queens in 

 upper stories as per Mr. Doolittle, and 

 fine queens can be reared that way. 



Well, if we wish to rear queens 

 largely, and have all good queens, the 

 same as natural swarming, we will take 

 the following plan, which is our latest, 

 to-wit : 



We dip our cells, as per Doolittle, ex- 

 cept we have a small part to the bottom 

 of the queen-cell stick just the size of a 

 worker-cell, about '^^ of an inch long, 

 then when cells are dipped, there is a 

 little sink in the bottom just right to 

 take the cocoon from the bottom of a 

 worker-cell. We place an old, tough 

 comb in our breeder's hive, and when 

 we get larvfe hatched in the comb, the 

 younger the better, we use them just 

 as quick as we find the eggs have 

 hatched. 



We now cut out a piece of comb con- 

 taining just about the amount of larviv 

 we wish for this present work or time, 

 and take a sharp razor and shave down 

 the cells just as low as possible not to 

 disturb the larvaj. Then take a small 

 pair of watchmaker's tweezers and re- 

 move tlie cocoon, little larva, and all, 

 and put it right down firmly in the little 



sink made to take it when the cells were 

 dipped. All this we do sitting on a box 

 or stool, right by the side of the hive 

 made ready to take the cells. 



Place them right on the combs, just 

 under the sealed honey, or in a rainbow 

 circle over the comb, so as to be in the 

 midst of tlie nest, and when the bees are 

 properly prepared, made broodless, and 

 queens on the combs of honey for from 

 12 to 48 hours, we get two-thirds, on 

 an average, of all our cells saved, and 

 all as./i?ie queens as by natural swarm- 

 ing, or by any other plan I ever saw. 



The little larvse get no check at all, 

 are out of the hive but a few min- 

 utes, and the bees are not even shaken 

 off the combs where the cells are placed, 

 and the bees at once (yes, before we get 

 them all stuck on the combs) attend to 

 them, and we can by this plan pet the 

 most even lot of cells and queens of any 

 plan yet tried. 



To prepare the colouies, we select 

 some that we have good reason to be- 

 lieve are good cell-builders — those that 

 are good honey-gatherers and working 

 finely, and are prosperous. Take away 

 all their brood and queen at about night- 

 fall, and let them remain so until about 

 noon the next day, on an average ; some 

 we graft in sooner, say in the morning 

 early, and some are not ready until the 

 second day. Any way they are ready 

 when they show the queenless sign, and 

 mourn. Just as soon as their hive is 

 opened, and queen-cells can be seen 

 about here and there, and near or about 

 the pollen, if they have any, then they 

 are ready. 



In this way we prepare from five to 

 ten colonies at night, and lately we have 

 succeeded in getting 19 out of 20 cells 

 saved in one strong colony, and if care 

 is taken in selecting the very smallest 

 larvie, the queens will all hatch out at 

 about the same time, and all are built 

 out about the same length, and are fine 

 indeed. 



We are having hatched at this writ- 

 ing (June 4th) about 50 queens daily, 

 and our queens are mated at the proper 

 time, large and prolific, and I believe 

 this the nearest after natural cells of 

 any plan yet known, and I believe nearer 

 all good queens, as we sometimes have 

 little, stumpy queens by natural swarm- 

 ing as well as other ways. 



There are so many ways to start 

 queen-cells that I have thought best to 

 give the only one giving us the best re- 

 sults, and by this method we can rear 

 all the queens we need, and the old 

 queens can be caged and then introduced 

 back to their colonies when the cells 



