264 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aim:. L 



frames at a time— that is, I mean in the produc- 

 tion of honey. I have no doubt that friend 

 Dayton can get along in a similar way witli his 

 restrictor. 



If my memory serves me right, it was decided 

 in the Question-Box tliat reversing does not in- 

 variably destroy queen-cells. How is this. 

 friends?] " E. K. 



KEEPING A RECORD OF QUEENS. 



FRIEXD M IXTYRE TELI.S US HOW HK DOES IT. 



Californians have been feeling a little blue for 

 a few months on account of the absence of rain, 

 hence a scarcity of articles from this quarter. 

 The rule is, no rain, not any thing— not even 

 words: but we have just had 8 indues of rain in 

 36 hours: and although bridges and roads are 

 washed out, and trains stopped, tlie faces of the 

 people wear a smile. We can go to work now 

 with s6me heart, to prepare tiie bees for the 

 coming season. Clean up your apiary and make 

 it look nice before commencing to overliaul the 

 bees. You will feel happier at your work if the 

 surroundings are pleasant. I find every queen 

 in my apiary in the si)ring, Ijefoi'c the bees get 

 very strong, and clip every on(> not clipped. I 

 know positively, that every queen found with- 

 out her wing clipped was I'cared last season, 

 and mark her in my record -book as oneyeaioid, 

 although her birth-day luis not arrived yet. 

 The age of every queen found witii her ^\ ing 

 clipped is advanced one year: and those marked 

 two years old are usually superseded near the 

 close of the season. 



above the nuniln'i-s. The page almost explains 

 itself. The ditl'eicnt strains are marked with 

 letters— S for vSyiJau, H for Root's honey strain, 

 etc. The next cohunn gives the age. 1 or :.' 

 years. I often keep breeding-queens three 

 years. The nexi column gives the grade or qual- 

 ity. I mak(> 4 grades — X for extra, 1 good, 2 me- 

 dium..') ])ooi'. Remarks exi)lain themselves. The 

 brood and Iioik'v columns only serve to equalize 

 in the si)riug, and are not kept up through the 

 season. I should take 20 lbs. of honey from No. 

 I), and give it to No. ".'1. and a comb of hatching 

 biood from No. 20. and give it to No. 18, and 

 that row would be all right. 



I have a system of book memoi'anda for 

 queen-rearing, which suits me much better than 

 slates, cards, stones, or bricks, on the hives. 

 My apiary is 150 feet wide and 300 feet long, 

 over an acre, and it takes too much time to find 

 the colony that needs attention by any system 

 of mai'king on the hives. But I can write about 

 anything better when I am working with it: 

 and as this article is already long enough I will 

 leave it for another timt,. J. F. McTntyre. 



Fillmore. Cal.. Feb. 24. 



This is a page from my record-book, and con- 

 tains all the record of queens I care to keep. It 

 is small enough to carry in my pocket. When I 

 had few colonies I kept a larger book and gave 

 more space to each colony — often a whole page. 

 As my apiary increased, my record decreased 

 Tintil I got a whole row of 23 hives on one page. 

 My apiary contains 22 rows, and each row is let- 

 tered. When I wish to find tiie recoi'd of a cei-- 

 tain queen. I place my thumb on the, letter on 

 the margin of the book corresponding to the 

 letter on the row, and open the book instantly 

 at the right place. Every hive is numbered. 

 The numbers run from 1 to 23 in each row. and 

 are kept on a piece of board 4x10, driven into 

 the ground by every fourth hive. The letters 

 representing the row ai'e also on the stakes just 



A DAIRY WELL. 



HOW TO MAKE OXE. 



I have never been north, and I don't know 

 what the needs of the people are on the farm: 

 but I do know that every Southern farmer needs- 



A SVBSTrrUTE FOR ICE HOUSES A>D REFRIG- 

 ERATORS FOR WARM CLIMATES. 



wiiat I have termed a dairy well. The origina- 

 tor of the idea is Mr. Wm. Bibb, of Westmin- 

 ster. S. C.. formerly of Bartow Co.. Ga. I am 

 awai-e that this is a little out of the line of a 

 bee-journal: but milk is closely associated with 

 honey, in the Bible, and. in fact. I like them 



