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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



good drones in the apiary. Should the 

 bees crowd the queen-rearing depart- 

 ment with honey, another story must be 

 added tilled with empty combs, keeping 

 the cells in the top story, or exchange 

 honey with a nucleus colony for a frame 

 of brood ; this will better the condition 

 of both. In case the honey-flow stops, 

 the feeder must be brought into use, or 

 the cells will not be started, or, if start- 

 ed, will be torn down. The same colony 

 may be used the entire season for ob- 

 taining cells. 



Perseverence will enable a person to 

 succeed in this business, as well as in 

 any other occupation. 



J. F. Michael,. 



The foregoing essay was then dis- 

 cussed as follows : 



Pres. Russell — We have now heard 

 the essay read by the Secretary, in the 

 absence of Mr. Michael, and would like 

 to hear the opinions and remarks of 

 those present upon it. Mr. Pouder, 

 what have you to say about this question 

 of rearing queens ? 



Mr. Pouder — I do not know of any- 

 thing more to add than has already been 

 said. I see Mr. Michael used the Doo- 

 little method, which I believe to be the 

 best one for the specialist, although I 

 have never reared queens on that plan. 

 I get my cells built in full colonies, and 

 have a nucleus hive the same as an ordi- 

 nary brood-chamber, and put three 

 division-boards in it, which makes four 

 apartments without interference with 

 each other. T use the Langstroth stan- 

 dard frame and hive ; they assist in 

 keeping up the temperature. And, 

 again, when a queen is disposed of, a 

 division-board can be removed, thus 

 allowing the bees to work with the next 

 queen. Mr. Michael's method is a good 

 one for the specialist, and I know that 

 he rears choice queens. 



Mr. Muth— This is a subject that has 

 been talked of so often that it is an old 

 one to the bee-keepers, but perhaps 

 there are a few young bee-keepers here 

 who would like to know how bees are 

 reared, and so I will give a few ideas. 

 It is a fact well worth knowing, that if 

 one wants to rear queens, the cells 

 should be reared in full colonies, and at 

 a time when the colony has plenty of 

 honey and plenty of old bees, as well as 

 young bees. If feeding is necessary, 

 then they must be fed. Now when the 

 cells are capped is the time to make the 

 nucleus. You make this by taking a 

 couple of combs filled with bees, and 

 placing them in a hive. After 24 hours 



cells may be given them safely. Bees 

 must be in close quarters to prosper. 

 Now we know that after the cells are 

 capped a few days, we can cut them out 

 and put them in the frames, but it is not 

 necessary to fasten them to the middle 

 of the comb. Take a pen-knife, cut a 

 cell out and lay it between two combs, 

 put the combs together so close that 

 they will stay, or lay ihem on top of the 

 combs. It takes but an hour or two 

 before the bees have fastened it them- 

 selves. Thus, you can see at once when 

 the queen is hatched. On the fourth or 

 fifth day after the queen is hatched, she 

 begins to lay. Good queens are only 

 reared in very full colonies. She gen- 

 erally hatches on the 16th day after the 

 egg is laid. 



Mr. Catterson — I want to give my ex- 

 perience in building up colonies. Five 

 or six years ago I had several nuclei, 

 and after the parent colony had sent off 

 a fine swarm, I had four or five cells ; 

 these I placed in the hives, and perhaps 

 the second day after that the queens 

 hatched. I was building up my nuclei 

 to make them strong, and I gave them 

 frames of brood and bees. About the 

 third day after this I noticed that there 

 was a young queen hatched, so I under- 

 took to build up these nuclei, and by 

 giving them combs of brood and honey, 

 I built them up to good, strong colonies. 



Mr. Manford — I have never had any 

 trouble in rearing queens, but I don't do 

 it in the way these gentlemen have told 

 us about. I always double up my colo- 

 nies at the beginning of the honey sea- 

 son, because it makes them strong, and 

 then they can gather the honey. Then 

 after the season is over, I do the divid- 

 ing. As far as bees being killed in unit- 

 ing, I have never had any trouble at all, 

 and I have been in the business some 

 eight years. 



(Continued next week.) 



Alley's Queen-Rearing: book, 

 or "Thirty Years Among the Bees," 

 gives the result of over a quarter-cen- 

 tury's experience in rearing queen-bees, 

 and describing the practical, every-day 

 work. By Henry Alley. It contains an 

 "Appendix," showing the improvements 

 made in queen-rearing the last four 

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 Nearly 100 pages, with illustrations. 

 Price, postpaid, 50 cents ; or clubbed 

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