74 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Nay 



can be rendered in the same way. 



When wax is once damaged by 

 burning, it it very difficult to bring it 

 back to its natural color without the 

 help of acids, and for this reason it is 

 important to melt it properly the first 

 time. 



The above directions have been 

 given by us to a number of our lead- 

 ing honey-producers who have found 

 it difficult to render their combs 

 properly, and we do not know of a 

 single instance where they have not 

 succeeded, when the directions were 

 properly followed. 



We would advise all bee-keepers to 

 have a special vessel or boiler, in 

 which to render up their wax, which 

 should be used for no other purpose, 

 for it is very difficult to cleanse a boil- 

 er that has been used for wax so as to 

 employ it for other purposes, and the 

 house-wife cannot be blamed if she ob- 

 jects to her wash-boiler being used in 

 anything relating to the honey-bee 

 — Dadant in A. B. J. 



THE REARING OF GOOD QUEENS. 



Dr. Miller seems to think that a 

 young queen emerging from a cell not 

 less than ten days after the bees com- 

 mence to give it full attention, ought 

 to be all right, according to the ob- 

 servations of HerrReepen. It is true 

 that they should be all right since no 

 doubt the queen and worker larva? are 

 fed upon the same kind of food up to 

 the fourth day, and, theoretically, at 

 least, they should be as good, but 

 practically they are not. And here 

 we have again an illustration of the 

 difference between mere theory and 

 practice, 



Dr. Miller seems to have overlooked 

 one very important item, and that is 



the relative amount of food the work- 

 er and queen larva? receive if design- 

 ed from the moment of hatching. A 

 queen-larva hatching in a queen-cell 

 in a colony making preparations to 

 swarm, is invariably flooded, so to 

 speak, with the royal jelly, while all 

 larva? designed for workers are invar- 

 iably scantily fed at the start, or for 

 the first four days. 



Now my observation shows that the 

 most prolific, and especially long- 

 lived, queens were abundantly fed 

 during the first four days of the life 

 queen-larva?, and I think I will be 

 fully sustained in this observation by 

 all experienced queen-breeders. 



On the other hand I never saw a 

 good queen that had not been proper- 

 ly fed for the first four days of her 

 life ; and I think I was one of the 

 first, if not the first, to rear queens by 

 transferring small larva?, from 18 to 

 30 hours old, to queen-cells well filled 

 with royal jelly after the removal of 

 its occupant. These queens would 

 all hatch on the tenth day after, and 

 would often be large and fine, to all 

 appearance. Still, I never reared one 

 in this manner that was extra prolific 

 and long lived, and hence I abandon- 

 ed this way of rearing fine queens, be- 

 cause in developing a new strain of 

 bees, as I have been doing for the 

 past nine years, it became absolutely 

 necessary. The result has been an 

 improved bee, highly prolific, and 

 great workers. 



Out of swarming time it is possible 

 to bring about all the conditions for 

 rearing perfect queens as follows: 



Catch and cage a queen of a strong 

 colony full of young bees, and take 

 away all of their brood and give them 



