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Vol. XII. 



APRIL 15, 1884. 



No. 8. 



PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY 



Club rates. Above are all to be sent » t r>/-Ar»'T' T\TT?"nTXr A r\TTTr"k peryearex 

 ONE POSTOFFICK. J A. 1. K(J(J 1 , JMliiJJlJN A, UHiU. [theXj.P.U 



U. S. and Canadas. To all other toun- 

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 extra. To all countries NOT of 

 42c per year extra. 



GOOD QUEENS. 



FKIEND C. C. MILLER TELLS US HOW HE WORKS TO 

 GET THEM. 



S COULD well afford to buy queens at $3.00, per- 

 haps .?5.00 each, to requeen each one of my col- 

 — ' onies annually, if thereby each one could be 

 made to yield as well as the best ; therefore it pays 

 to take much pains in rearing queens; and hereto- 

 fore I have not hesitated to break up my strongest 

 colonies for that purpose, making it more expen- 

 sive than to buy them; but I thought I might get 

 better queens. As I never raise queens, except for 

 my own use, and as I do not care to requeen old col- 

 onies, or start new ones till the swarming season ar- 

 rives, I. have now adopted a plan by which I think 

 the best queens can be raised, yet without interfer- 

 ing with the storing labors of any colony, unless it 

 be the one which supplies the eggs for queen-rear- 

 ing; and even that, by taking pains enough, might 

 bo kept steadily at work on the harvest. For the 

 sake of convenience, however, my best queen is 

 kept in a colony which is kept rather weak, having 

 only about four brood-frames. The hive is placed on 

 top of some other hive, of course above the supers; 

 and when it gets too strong it is moved to a new lo- 

 cation on the top of another hive. Its flying force 

 will then join the colony over which it had been 

 placed; but enough bees will bo left, and of the best 

 kind, to keep the queen lajicg, with no thought of 

 swarming. Eggs for queen-rearing may be taken 

 from any part of the brood combs where they may 

 be found. But I find it more convenient to prepare 

 a special place for them, especially as I can then tell 



the date when the egg3 were laid. To this end I save 

 up some sections which have been filled, or partly 

 tilled, and then emptied again, preferring those that 

 are of about the right depth for brood-comb. The 

 comb of one of these is carefully cut out of the sec- 

 tion frame— mine are pound sections; if larger, I 

 think I should use only part — then I take from the 

 hive with the best queen one of the center frames, 

 and cut a piece of comb out of the centi^-r of it, where 

 the queen is most likely to lay, of just such size that 

 the piece of section comb will fit snugly into the 

 hole that is left. It will need no other fastening 

 than simply crowding in. Returning the frame to 

 the hive, I make a note in my record-book, of the 

 date. Next day I look to see if eggs are in it. If 

 not, I am pretty sure to find them a day or two la- 

 ter, and I keep track of the date on which the first 

 eggs are laid. Usually I cut out this piece of sec- 

 tion comb containing eggs, in about three days from 

 the time the eggs are laid, and use it for queen-rear- 

 ing, replacing it with a fresh piece, thus continuing 

 until I want to raise no more queens. The same 

 thing may be done with another frame, or two pieces 

 of section comb may be used at the same time on 

 each of the two center frames. This furnishes us 

 eggs for queen-rearing. Now for the place to put 

 them. 



If the reader will recall or refer to the plan I gave 

 last number, page ;J31, for the treatment of colonies 

 that have swarmed, he will see that in one to five 

 days after the issuing of a swarm, there is left on 

 the old stand a hive with no queen and no unsealed 

 brood, and only two or three brood-combs. 1 know 

 I of no better place to raise queen-cells, as we have a 



