THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



31 



Bee Keeping for Farmers. 



Some have adopted Bee keeping as the 

 business of life; and these have mostly 

 attained a flattering success. Others en- 

 gage in it as a pastime and amusement 

 chiefly. 



Apiculture has made great advances of 

 late years. The intelligent Bee-keeper 

 no longer consigns his favorites to a hol- 

 low log, or rude box, nor what is even 

 worse, to any of those absurd contrivan- 

 ces which have proved the ruin of thou- 

 sands of happy colonies of Bees, and pro- 

 voked the disgust of their unfortunate 

 owners. But providing himself with 

 some form of movable comb hive, well 

 constructed, and having a sufficiently ca- 

 pacious brood chamber (or main apart- 

 ment) and suitable arrangement for sur- 

 plus honey, he enters upon the pursuit 

 with fair prospect of success. Those who 

 have once learned how to keep Bees, 

 will not soon abandon the pursuit. — JFes^- 

 ern As^riculturist. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queen-breeding and the Cost of 

 Italian Queens. 



I was once amused by a would-be 

 wise Bee-man, under the following cir- 

 cumstance : I was on ni}^ way to in- 

 troduce a number of Italian queens for 

 a friend, when I reined my horse up to 

 a watering trough, and the following 

 dialogue took place : 



AVhat is that in your buggy, boxes of 

 honey ? (inquired Mr. Johnson, a portly 

 farmer.) 



No sir, I have some Italian Bees and 

 queens in those boxes. 



Now, Mr. Davis, you are doing wrong 

 in scattering all those yellow jackets 

 through* the country. They are run- 

 ning the black Bees out, and they won't 

 work, they don't make any honey. 

 What do you get for those queens ? 



They are worth, when safely intro- 

 duced, five dollars each. 



Five dollars each ! Oh ! I thought you 

 was a Christian man. Five dollars 

 each — It don't cost anything to raise 

 queens ; not more than it does to raise 

 flies. 



I replied. Mr. J., you may possibly 

 lie under a misapprehension of the facts 



in the case. If Italian Bees were as 

 you describe them, they would be quite 

 likely to perish during our long, cold 

 Winters. But, sir, you are quite mista- 

 ken about the industry of the Italian 

 Bee ; and I would like to ask how much 

 experience you have had in queen rais- 

 ing ? 



Oh ! I never raised any queens, but 

 my Bees always have queens enough. 



We argued the case at some length, 

 but he " would not be convinced." Mr. 

 J. was one of those men who hold to 

 an error on any subject, with the same 

 tenacity as to the most precious truth. 



But let us try the figures on the cost 

 of rearing queen Bees for the market, 

 as it appeal's that an erroneous view 

 has obtained in some quarters. Queen- 

 breeding, like any other enterprise, 

 should be prosecuted in the best modes 

 of the art, to secure the best results. 

 To do this we think that the nucleus 

 system proposes the most advantages 

 for producing queens in any considera- 

 ble quantity. We will make an esti- 

 mate of the results of 100 nuclei hives. 

 The first item of expense will be the 

 cost of hives, which for getting iip in 

 good shape, ready for use, will cost 

 about one dollar each, or $100.00 for 

 the lot. To stock 100 nuclei with Bees, 

 say by the first of May, will require 

 the Bees and most of the combs of 

 twenty -five fair stocks. To produce the 

 sealed queen cells will take the labor of 

 about ten stocks more, making thirty- 

 five stocks. 



Now for the results : In this latitude, 

 good queens can not be produced more 

 than four months in the year, viz.. May, 

 June, July, and August; and a good 

 average is 400 queens for the season. 

 Now let us see what our thirty -five 

 stocks should produce in honey if not 

 used for queen breeding. It has been esti- 

 mated at 200 pounds extracted honey per 

 stock, some stocks yielding''.300 pounds. 

 But we will take the lowest figure, 200 

 pounds each, or 7000 pounds, which at 

 sixteen cents per pound would be $1120. 

 Add to this the labor of an experienced 

 Apiarist, which for the four working 

 months Avould be reasonable at $100 

 per month— $400. Add to this the dif- 

 ference in the value between thirty- 

 five first class stocks with their increase, 



