Nov. 13, 1902 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



729 



quality of the queens reared. When bees rear a queen, or 

 queen.s, in colonies having a fertile, or, in fact, any queen, 

 the nur.se-bees will lill the base of the cell-cups with jelly, 

 but not royal jelly. It is the same sort of food as is used in 

 feedinj;^ worker-larva?, coiisetiuently the queens so reared 

 are of a very poor quality ; they lack vitality and vi|.jor, 

 and are short-lived, unprolific, and worthless. In all my 

 queen-rearinp operations I have recoffnized all these impor- 

 tant facts, and have prepared the royal food before eggs are 

 given them. 



Those queens reared in colonies having queens have the 

 umbilical-cord attached as much as the naturally-reared 

 queens, and so they have as large a lump of royal jelly at the 

 bottom of the cell, as cjueens reared by any method. But such 

 jelly is of an inferior quality ; it was made up to nourish 

 worker-bees, not queen-bees. 



I never give bees eggs to rear a queen until they have 

 been queenless several hours, and given time to prepare the 

 royal food — a thing they are sure to do, and when eggs are 

 given them this royal food can be found in the cell-cup 

 within an hour after the eggs are given them. Won't some 

 one who has the means at hand, analyze the two foods and 

 report through the American Bee Journal ? 



I know of but one way to rear queens, outside of natural 

 swarming, that I practice, and Dr. Gallup must practice it 

 if he rears queens. 



One other thing that Dr. (lallup has not mentioned as 

 one of the causes of short-lived queens : The queen-dealer 

 is too apt to allow a colony to rear a large number of queen- 

 cells. If 100 cell-cups are given a colony of bees, they surely 

 would build them out, and nurse up some sort of queen-bee- 

 larvae. But not one queen in the lot would be of the least 

 value. Now, in Nature's way, how many queen-cells are 

 usuall)' found in a colony that has cast a swarm ? Gener- 

 ally but eight queen-cells, sometimes a few more, but often 

 a less number. Rear less queens per colony, and they will 

 prove much better. 



Dr. Gallup says he reared 36 queens that were all good, 

 first-class queens. I have no doubt that is so. But hundreds 

 of other bee-keepers have reared queens equally as good 

 and by a similar, and by different methods. I have reared 

 50,000 queens equally as good ; couldn't help rearing good 

 queens. All I had to do was to do just as Dr. Gallup did — 

 let Nature have her own way. But Dr. Gallup didn't send 

 any of those queens by mail to Bob, Dick and Harry, all 

 over the United States, and let them introduce them. Had 

 he done so, no doubt he would have heard as much growling 

 about them as he has done about other people's queens. 

 Why don't you try it. Doctor, and see how it works ? You 

 would soon have troubles of your own. 



I have come to the conclusion that we all rear queens by 

 the same method as does Dr. Gallup. There is no other way 

 to rear good queens. All queens reared in queenless colo- 

 nies are reared by Nature's best plan. The troubles with 

 the queens is not in the rearing, but in handling after they 

 are reared. Essex Co., Mass. 



\.J:L^.j!t>^ V4>^.JtL^.j!C^.^iCJiLJ>C^.JtC^>J'L^.^ Ui 



^ Our Bee-HeeDin^ Sisters 



Conducted by EMMA M, WILSON, 

 Smoker-Fuel Again. 



And, now, Mr. Hasty is objecting to my smoker-fuel. 

 Well, you know there is nothing in the world as perverse as 

 a woman (unless it is a man), and I am going to stay in the 

 wilderness a while longer. He says : 



" What in the world is the use of those of us that live 

 in the country makeshifting along with anything else than 

 the standard good fuel — rotten wood ?" 



Now, I say, " What in the world is the use of those of 

 us that live in the country makeshifting along with "rot- 

 ten wood when we have a good chip-pile right handy, and 

 all we have to do is to pick up the chips and drop them in 

 our smoker — no breaking or cutting necessary — we can pick 

 out the right size to put in the smoker without any trouble 

 at all ? What more can we want? Thej- last lots longer 

 than rotten wood, and make a better smoke. 



T. F. Bingham, of smoker fame, says that sound, hard 

 wood is the best smoker fuel, and he is good authority. 



Rot in wood is slow combustion, and Jjust so far as it 



has rotted it is so much burned out, and will make that 

 much less smoke. What we want is the best. 



In getting chips for smoker-fuel I always pick out 

 sound, hard wood chips. Kotton wood is all right to start 

 with if you can't do better, but I can do better. 



While j'ou are tramping around hunting up your rotten 

 wood to serve as kindling for your summer's work, Mr. 

 Hasty, I will earn my 10 or 20 cents washing dishes, with 

 which to buy my saltpeter, which will serve to light mine 

 more than twice as long, and do a good deal better work, too. 

 No, sir I I am not going to throw ray saltpeter to the doga 

 yet. 



Now, honestly, Mr. Hasty, have you ever tried saltpeter 

 to light yoursmoker with ? If not, just try it. Who knows 

 but you may be living in the wilderness, too, some day ? ~) 



You can use wood soaked in saltpeter instead of cloth 

 if you prefer. One is just as good as the other. 



Cleaning Out Unfinished Sections. 



Have you had the bees clean out all unfinished sections 

 that have the least bit of honey in them, so that you cao 

 use them again next year ? If not, better have them do it 

 right away. 



Let the bees rob them, although it is a little late for it. 

 Then you will be sure they are thoroughly cleaned out. 



Stack the supers up in a pile and leave an opening 

 large enough for only one or two bees to pass at a time, 

 then they will not tear or mar the combs. If you have 

 enough of them to keep all the bees busy, you can spread 

 them out as you please, and they will not tear the combs. 



After they are cleaned out, pile up in the honey-room, 

 and cover up mouse-tight. It is nice to inspect all supers 

 as they are put away, to see if they are all right — no foun- 

 dation down, or anything of the kind, then they are all 

 ready for use next year. 



Bees Cleaning Off Leaky Honey. 



Did you ever have any leaking, dauby sections, some 

 with honey streaked all over the comb, others all watery 

 and sticky, making you feel as if you wanted to pitch the 

 whole business out of your sight ? 



Well, just give them to the bees to clean up, and you 

 will never recognize those sections after the bees have had 

 them from 20 minutes to half an hour ; but don't leave 

 them on too long, or they may empty them. Just leave 

 them long enough for them to clean up nicely. 



I have tried it a number of times, and every time they 

 have cleaned them up beautifully. Oh I it was such a re- 

 lief to get back nice, dry sections in place of the sticky ones. 



The Wax-Worm and Its Work. 



There has been more or less said in the Bee Journal 

 concerning the wax-worm and its destructive work. Please 

 give a brief description of its manner of working ; how it 

 is gotten rid of when it makes its appearance ; and a de- 

 scription of the worm itself. I think I have been troubled 

 with it a little lately. Illinois. 



Answer. — If there are any worms at work on your 

 combs you may be sure thej' are wax-worms. 



There are two species, one much smallerthan the other. 

 It is the larger one that does the most damage. If your 

 colonies are strong the bees will take care of the worms for 

 you, especially if the bees are Italians. 



You will occasionally see little burrows under the cap- 

 ping of the brood. Pick a hole at one end of the burrow, 

 then pick a hole at the other end, and follow along until 

 you find the worm, and kill it. 



But the greatest trouble with wax-worms is in brood- 

 combs that are not in care of the bees. In the spring, as 

 soon as the weather begins to be pretty warm, you may 

 look out for them. 



The eggs are laid by the bee-moth in the combs, and 

 hatch out into tiny grubs or worms, and when full-grown 

 are nearly an inch long, are not very much smaller around 

 than a small quill, and are of a grayish, dirty-white color. 

 It is while small and while growing that it puts in its work 

 of destruction. 



Examine j'our combs from time to time, and whenever 

 you detect any cells filled with webs, or a series of little 

 tunnels running across the combs from cell to cell, you may 



