(Entered at Ibd PustrOEQce at Chicago as aecond-Claes Mall-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George VV. York & Co., IIH W.Jackson Blvd. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAY 16,1907 



Vol, XLVII— No. 20 



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CdifoHal Jiotes 

 and CommeTifs 



Don't Start Queen-Cells in Nuclei 



A ripe queen-cell may do all right in a 

 nucleus, and a virgin issuing from a nucleus 

 may be fertilized all right, and may be all 

 right for laying; but the beginner should be 

 cautioned never to think of using a nucleus 

 in which to start queen-cells. To be sure, a 

 weak nucleus will start queen-cells, and such 

 cells will cost very little, but they will be 

 worth still less thau they cost. A full colony 

 is none too good to be used for starting cells. 

 The growing larva should have all possible 

 advantage of full warmth and full feeding. 

 Only so can a good laying queen be counted 

 on when it comes to maturity. 



Lebare Treatment of Foul Brood 



Mr. Jas. Lebare submits the following 

 treatment, which has been successful in his 

 bands : 



1st. Remove queen. 



2d. Allow the colony to rear a queen. 



3d. Three days old. Kill virgin queen. 



4th. Take a small piece of brood from a 

 choice colony containing only larvjp one or 

 two days old, and insert same about the cen- 

 ter of one of the worst affected combs. Now 

 from the time of taking out the old queen till 

 the first virgin is 3 days old, will be IS days. 



5th. Now you have queen-cells started. 

 When the cells are capped over on the 8th 

 day, take every comb from the hive, and 

 every cell of that which contains life will be 

 hatched, and if any cells are found still sealed 

 up, uncap them, as 1 find the bees are too 

 slow to uncap affected cells. Then I find that 

 the bees will clean all germs from the comb, 

 I have had the bees to out the comb down to 

 the bottom of the cell, and when their choice 

 cell is hatched, undoubtedly the colony will 

 be clean, for I have never failed by this treat- 

 ment. Jas. Lbbare. 



If this treatment should prove successful on 

 further trial, it would have the advantage of 



saving the combs. It will be objected that the 

 colony will be reduced, because it will be 5 

 weeks or more from the time the queen is re- 

 moved until the new queen begins to lay ; 

 also there will be danger that in the final ex- 

 amination some sealed cells may be missed, to 

 say nothing of the trouble of examination. 

 Of course, it remains to be seen whether 

 others will succeed with the treatment. 



How to start a Nucleus 



Whatever may be best for the man who 

 rears queens to sell, whether baby nuclei or 

 what else, for the average bee-keeper who 

 merely rears queens for his own use— and it 

 may be said in passing that even the man 

 with only a few colonies should have nuclei 

 for rearing queens— for the average bee- 

 keeper it will generally be found best to use 

 for nuclei the same frames and the same hives 

 that he uses for full colonies. It avoids the 

 necessity of any separate fixtures, it is more 

 convenient, and with hives and frames of 

 regular size it is easy to build up into full 

 colonies, or unite in the fall. 



Starting a nucleus is not a very complicated 

 matter. Take from any full colony 2 or 3 

 frames of brood with adhering bees and put 

 in an empty hive on a new stand, and there's 

 your nucleus. Only without any precaution 

 it may not stay a nucleus, tor when you look 

 next day you may find nearly all the bees 

 gone, the brood chilling, and the whole an 

 easy prey to robbers. 



So it is necessary to take steps to see that 

 the bees stay where they are put. Fasten 

 them in for 3 days or so, and by that time 

 they are so accustomed to their new place and 

 conditions that they will remain when the 

 entrance is opened. Some close the entrance 



with green leaves, grass, moss, or something 

 of the kind. The bees will dig open the en- 

 trance in good time, with the advantage that 

 at first only a single bee can pass at a time. 

 If the bees are taken from a queenless colony 

 they are more inclined to stay put. 



A single frame of brood with adhering 

 bees may answer, but it is very much better 

 to have 2 or 3. It is well that a large propor- 

 tion of the brood be sealed. The hive may be 

 filled out with empty combs, or there may be 

 only a single comb each side of the brood, 

 the whole at one side of the hive, a dummy 

 next, and the rest of the hive left vacant. 

 Unless plenty of honey is to be found in the 

 frames of brood, there should be some honey 

 in one or both of the frames next to them. 



It is not wise to start a nucleus generally 

 before the time when bees begin to make 

 preparations for swarming. The entrance 

 should be closed down very small, allowing 

 only a bee or two to pass at a time until they 

 appear lo be crowded. 



If a sealed queen-cell be given to a colony, it 

 may be 2 weeks before the young queen gets 

 fairly to laying (double that time if the first 

 virgin is lost on her wedding-flight), and it is 

 economy to have this time spent in a nucleus 

 rather than a full colony. Besides, it is a 

 great convenience to have a laying queen in 

 a nucleus, ready to be used whenever and 

 wherever needed. 



Stock-Car for Shipping Bees 



Never make the mistake of using a box-car 

 in shipping bees on a railroad. It is too close. 

 Use a stock-car. So advises E. D. Townsend 

 in the Bee-Keepers' Review. 



Getting New Subscribers for the 



Bee Journal is something that almost any 

 reader can do if he makes a sincere attempt. 

 No one knows better than does he its value 

 to every would-be successful bee-keeper. And 

 we offer valuable premiums, to those of our 

 present readers whose subscriptions are paid 

 in advance, for the work of going out and 

 getting new subscriptions. Your neighbor 

 bee-keepers perhaps have never heard of the 

 American Bee Journal, although it is now in 

 its 47th year. Why not try to get them to 

 subscribe? You may be surprised how readily 

 they will do so upon your invitation. 



