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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 9, 



I got five young queens mated, and they were afterwards the 

 heads of five as strong colonies as I had in my apiary of 40 

 or 50 colonies of bees. They were mated with Italian drones, 

 and were all extra good queens. I, on one occasion, made up 

 an artificial swarm by taking combs of brood from several 

 colonies. My purpose was to give them a queen-cell in a few 

 days, but forgot it. 



These bees reared a queen that cut the capping of the 

 cell in a little over eight days. The larvie must have been 

 over four days old at the start. She made a good queen. 



But, really, I prefer young larv:c of 1 day old for rearing 

 queens. 



Well, now. Dr. Miller ought not to be surprised because 

 some of us were surprised when a teacher in beeeoouomy of 

 his reputation seriously askt, "Whoever saw laying queens 

 fight?" Twenty years ago I was practicing the profession of 

 the law, and had much spare time in summer, and I spent it 

 experimenting with my bees. I had a miniature show-case 

 covered with glass, to test these matters. Queens always 

 fight sooner or later when caged together. Such is my ex- 

 perience. 



A neighbor of mine — a man noted for his knowledge in 

 animal economy — told me that he put two queens under a 

 glass, and the battle was fatal to both. Here is an excep- 

 tional case. Shelby Co., Ky. 



Some Suggestive Notes for Begiuuers. 



BY R. K. UOLTERMANN. 



September, to the provident, brings thoughts of winter, 

 and in the train of that the average bee-keeper, especially the 

 beginner, wonders how he shall winter his bees. In winter- 

 ing, as in many other lines, the beginner with one or a few 

 more colonies cannot adopt the same system as the advanced 

 bee-keeper. I am now writing particularly of outside winter- 

 ing. But there are certain conditions in which the colony 

 should be, which applies to all. In districts in which there is 

 no fall flow of honey the bees should be prepared for winter, 

 as far as the condition of the colony is concerned, early in 

 September. Those with the least experience with bees are 

 generally the most spasmodic in the preparation of their bees 

 for winter. If the bees have done well during the past season, 

 they are cared for and every effort made to carry them 

 through for the following season. 



On the other hand, if they have given little or no surplus, 

 the bees are pretty well allowed to shift for themselves, with 

 the " root hog or die " principle to the front. No person can 

 succeed in any line of business by such methods, and the 

 sooner the beginners look upon bee-keeping as a business the 

 better. I have been in pretty close touch with bee-keeping 

 for 17 years, and I find that the successful men in bee-keep- 

 ing are those who pursue an even tenor; they look forward 

 or prepare for a crop each season, and then quietly take mat- 

 ters as they come. If the season has been poor, and the bees 

 have not gathered enough for winter, they buy the granulated 

 sugar and feed. If it has been an exceptionally good season 

 they do net lose their heads and buy up all the bees in the 

 country. These men have the best success. 



Then we have those who "let their bees slide " after a 

 poor season ; they have had no returns, and will not lay out 

 extra money or labor, until they bring some returns. As a 

 result, most or all of their bees perish, and the empty combs 

 are destroyed by moths, or perhaps sold at a sacrifice. Next 

 season, or perhaps the one following that, bees do bettor, a 

 neighbor or two makes a little money, and the third season 

 our discouraged bee-keeper screws up his courage to a sticking 

 point, and invests, and the Investment Is again followed by a 

 bad season. He says It Is "my luck," when the fact Is, it is 



not what he has, but what he lacks or fails to exercise — 

 " common sense " — that leads to trouble. 



Then, no matter what the season has been like, keep right 

 on. First see that the colony has a queen ; if there are no 

 queen-cells built, and there is brood in all stages down to the 

 egg, you are fairly safe in assuming that the queen is there; 

 but it is better still to see her. It may be that there is not 

 brood in all stages, and particularly may this be the case 

 when there has been no honey-flow after basswood. Then 

 there is no other way than to actually see the queen. In 99 

 cases out of 100 I known when a colony is queenless before I 

 examine the combs, but this is something which can only be 

 acquired by long and much experience; 



Look for the queeu, smoke the bees as little as possible, 

 take the combs out quietly, and do not be too long looking 

 them over the first time, otherwise the bees get restless and 

 leave their position on the last combs before you reach theuj. 

 If the colony is queenless, but has good brood, and is a good, 

 full colony, and you want the bees, you had belter get a queen 

 at once. If 50 cents is an item of some importance with you, 

 get an untested queen ; a colony queenless for sometime, 

 especially when honey is not coming in, may, and is somewhat 

 likely to, kill the queen. Never put a tested or more expen- 

 sive queen into such a colony. 



Having a good laying queen in the hive, the next consid- 

 eration is the number of bees. Unless there are bees enough 

 to crowd four Langstroth combs, I would unite it with 

 another weak colony. I shall not here tell you how to do this, 

 but one queen of course must be destroyed, and the remaining 

 one caged. I would not unite fairly strong colonies, or one a 

 little below full strength, with a weak one — especially sound 

 is this advice to a beginner. Where the colony is not full 

 strength, I would contract it by means of a board so it can fill 

 the space it has. 



Next for stores : The weakest colonies require the fullest 

 combs because they will consume about as much as the strong, 

 and they can cover the least amount of comb. Give full 

 combs, or partially-filled combs, in preference to feeding 

 syrup. Give them winter stores as soon after Sept. 10 or 15, 

 as the absence of brood in the majority of the combs will per- 

 mit taking out the combs with the least honey and replacing 

 them with full ones, or nearly so. Do not divide the stores at 

 each side of the brood-nest, but put the fullest at one side, 

 and so on with the least honey at the other side. Next, with 

 your knife cut a hole in each comb, put it half way between 

 the two side-bars, and almost two-thirds of the distance up 

 from the botttom-bar. These are for winter passages, and 

 allow access through the cluster of bees without passing out 

 of it, as the bees would have to do when passing around the 

 comb, either top, bottom, or sides. 



Buckwheat honey is good stores for bees — so Is any other 

 honey as far as I know. Houey-dew is not honey at all. The 

 btes sometimes gather it. The flavor is generally rank, and 

 it is dark in color. To have such stored in a hive is generally 

 an exception, and the beginner need not worry lest such a 

 condition should exist without his knowledge. Having a col- 

 ony in this condition, the beginner, or any one else, has gone 

 a long way towards successful wintering. — Canadian Bee 

 Journal. 



Some Advantages of the Bee-Space. 



BY W. C. GATIIRIGUT. 



In the article on page 482, the assertion is made that no 

 bee keeper uses the bee-space for any other reason than be- 

 cause it is handy. Put mo down for one that finds the bee- 

 space very valuable In other respects, besides being the best 

 known arrangement for handling large numbers of bees when 

 time Is too valuable to brush and smoke bees off the frame 



