AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



751 



hive queenless, too, for it might swarm 

 away out hero on this prairie, and carry 

 ofif all my fine drones. 



" Why don't you keep the drones in 

 nuclei, too, and then they would not 

 swarm ?" Oh, drones do not seem to 

 fly nearly so active and constant from 

 nuclei as they do from a strong colony. 



"Oh, yes; I now see you believe in 

 'powerful colonies,' as you call them." 

 That's what I do. I can do more with 

 one good, strong colony than with a half 

 dozen weak ones. 



To keep my nuclei strong, 1 let my 

 queens lay a frame or two of brood be- 

 fore shipping them, if I am not crowded 

 too much with orders. But, if I can't 

 do this, and I am compelled to ship as 

 soon as they begin to lay, I bring frames 

 of brood from other yards, and keep 

 them up, and I tell you it is a good 

 thing to have a yard with laying queens 

 all the time to draw brood from in this 

 queen-business. 



When I have more cells than I have 

 nuclei to take them, I always have a 

 few strong, queenless colonies in some 

 of my yards, and I draw frames of brood 

 and bees enough from them to take all 

 my surplus cells, which increases my 

 number of nuclei a little every once in a 

 while. 



I don't fool any time away introducing 

 virgins, for I find that a virgin is nearly 

 always a few days longer in beginning 

 to lay, than one that is not moved at all. 



" Yes, but don't you lose more time 

 when you give cells, than if you had vir- 

 gins to put in ?" No. You see my nu- 

 clei are only queenless three days when 

 I give the cell, and the cell usually 

 hatches the next day after I put it in, so 

 ray nuclei are queenless only about 5 

 days, and it is best for them to be queen- 

 less awhile when we introduce virgins. 

 So the cell will hatch out and its queen 

 lay just about as quick as my introduced 

 virgin ; and I like it better. It is less 

 trouble, and somehow I like the queen 

 better, too. 



In the queen-rearing business, one 

 must have some system about it to make 

 a success of it. Every one must know 

 his post of duty, like taking down a cir- 

 cus tent, if we wish to get along fast. 



We have gone over all this " pre- 

 amble," and only shown the" good work- 

 ing side of it all. Now, to show you 

 that it is not all sweet and no bitter, I 

 must tell you that all the cells do not 

 hatch, and we often lose queens in mat- 

 ing, and for these reasons some of our 

 nuclei go without queens so long that 

 they take a laying worker, and a great 

 many other things go wrong. 



But I have learned to do just like the 

 bees do when the sun melts their combs 

 all down, and just go to work and repair 

 the loss as quickly as I can, and I am 

 here to tell you that queen-breeders have 

 their ups and downs just as much, or a 

 little more, than honey-producers do. 

 Now I hope I have made this all plain. 

 Jennie Atchley. 



C!«MVEMTIO»f DIRECTORY. 



1893. 



"Plme and place of meeting. 



June 16, 17.— S. E. Kansas, at Bronson. Kans. 

 J. C. Balch, Sec, Bronson, Kans. 



Oct. 11, 12, 1:5.— North American (Interna- 

 tional), at Chicago, Ills. 

 Frank Benton, Sec. Washington, D. C. 



In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editor. 



North Aiuericau Bee-Keepers' Association 



President— Dr. C. C. Miller.... Mareng-o, Ills 



Vice-Pbes.— J. E. Crane Middlebury, Vt 



Secretary— Frank Benton, Washington, D. C. 

 Treasurer— George W. York... Chicago, Ills 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— Hon. R. L. Taylor.. Lapeer, Mich. 

 Gen'l Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago, 111. 



Fi-aiiois K. Al»1>ot contributes to the 

 June 2iew Eutjhmd Mugazlne an article, fully 

 illustrated, dealing with " The Boston Tea 

 Party." and the men and events of that 

 time; Prof. Julins E. Olson, of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin, gives an extended and 

 judicial review of " Norway's Struggles for 

 Political Liberty "—it is an article which 

 will interest all students of the histoiy of 

 popular constitutional government; Price 

 Collier describes " The Old Meeting House 

 in Hingham, Mass.," said to be the oldest 

 church organization in the country, and 

 Charles Frederick Danfortli gives a timely 

 travelers' guide to the ••Trout Fishing in 

 New England." the season for which opens 

 this current mouth. 



Dr. Miller's "A Year Among the 

 Bees " is a book of over 100 pages. It 

 commences with the necessary work in 

 the spring, and runs through the entire 

 year, detailing the methods of doing, as 

 well as telling when to do, all that 

 should be done in the apiary. Bound in 

 cloth. Price, postpaid, 50 cents ; or 

 clubbed with the Bee Journal for one 

 year, for $1.35. 



