302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1.5. 



Wax scales ai'e found, plenty of them, 

 wasted on the bottom-board, when a swarm is 

 hived in an empty hive without foundation or 

 comb. Few or no wax scales a^re found on the 

 bottom-boai'd of a colony run for extracted 

 honey, if they have abundance of empty combs. 

 The case should be exactly reversed, if bees se- 

 crete wa\ whethei- needed or not. See the 

 bearing on page 213. friend Root? I'm with 

 Prof. Cook, but I can't answer your argument. 



ForL BROOD. S. Cornell, in C. B. J., says 

 foul brood may be carried in foundation. Melt- 

 ing in a sun extractor will not kill it. and heat- 

 ing to 1(50° in making foundation will not kill it. 

 To be entirely safe, it must be heated to 257°, or 

 kept at 200° for some days. D. A. Jones thinks 

 this a case where "science and practice do not 

 agree." He thinks " the heat necessary in mak- 

 ing foundation is great enough to destroy the 

 germs of foul brood." The thing needs careful 

 consideration. See editorial, page 341. 



gENER^Ii C^RRE^P^NDENCE. 



MANTJM'S NEW METHODS OF RUNNING SEV- 

 ERAL APIARIES ALONE. 



SIX OUT-APIARIES AND ONE AT HOME, AND 

 NO HELP TO BE HIRED. 



"Why, how do you do, Henry? Walk in, 

 and have a seat. How do the chickens prosper, 

 and how many have you?" 



" Well. Manum, I am pretty well; and as to 

 the chicks, they are doing well. I have now 

 .500, from two to six weeks old, and 500 eggs in 

 the incubator." 



"W^ell, well, Henry: you are going into the 

 broiler business rather heavy, I should judge. 

 You must think it a profitable business, or you 

 would be more moderate in your new venture." 



" Yes, I think it will pay better than the bees 

 have for a few years past, though I shall not 

 give up the bees, but work the two together; 

 for, you see, the main work and attention with 

 the chicks comes at a time when I can do noth- 

 ing with th(^ bees, as I start my incubators in 

 December, and aim to dispose of my chickens by 

 June 15th, after which my whole time is devoted 

 to the bees." 



"I believe, Henry, you raised a few broilers 

 last year. Did you keep an account of the cost 

 of raising them, so you know for a certainty 

 that there is a proHt in raising them? " 



•' Yes. I kept both debit and credit, and 1 know 

 iust what profit was made. Myself and part- 

 ner cleared just SlOii.OO on 175 chicks, and ex- 

 pect to make a better average per cent this 

 vear with our new brooder-house, and better 

 facilities. But, Manum, I came over to talk 

 bees with you, and to ask yoit how you propose 

 running your bees without help this season, if 

 your method is no secret." 



" No, Henry, I have no secrets pertaining to 

 the bee-business, therefore I will try to explain 

 to you, as best I can, just how I propose to 

 manage. 



" First, I shall do all in my power, through 

 the month of May— by contracting and feeding 

 —to stimulate bi'ood -rearing, in order to get a 

 large force of workers hatched out by the time 

 clover blossoms, which is usually about June 

 lOth; and as then is the time swarming com- 

 mences, I shall remove the queens from such 

 colonies as have started queen-cells, or that 

 show any signs of preparing to swarm: then in 

 eight days I remove all queen-cells found in 

 these hives, except, perhaps, from one or two 

 that I wish to rear queens from. In these I al- 



low the cells to remain until they are old 

 enough to transfer to the queen-nursery to 

 hatch: and perhaps at this second visit I re- 

 move fifteen or twenty more queens, and in six 

 or eight days more I again visit this yard and 

 cut out queen-cells as before, both from the first 

 lot where the queens were taken out — should 

 there be any — and the second lot, and remove 

 queens from as many more as I find preparing 

 to swarm. Now, by the time 1 make the third 

 visit I shall find a lot of young queens hatched 

 in the nursery; and the colonies from which I 

 removed the first queens will be in condition to 

 receive and accept a virgin queen, so that I will 

 run in a virgin queen in each colony. All this 

 time I must manage to have a supply of virgin 

 queens on hand, to introduce at each visit until 

 1 have gone over the whole yard: and. besides, 

 I have all the other work to do in each yard, 

 such as putting on and taking off sections, look- 

 ing after the nuclei in which I have many 

 queens fertilized for tlie market, caging ani 

 mailing queens, etc. In this way I can attend 

 to six out-apiaries by going to each once a week. 

 The seventh, being the home apiary of only (30 

 colonies, I can look after nights and mornings, 

 or as I can best catch the time. By this method 

 I can prevent swarming, and dispense with 

 high-priced help; and, moreover, I am sure 

 that each colony has a young queen in the fall." 



" Well, Manum. do you think you can take 

 care of seven apiaries alone? " 



"Yes, Henry, I think I could; but I expect 

 Fred to help me loolc after the sections and nu- 

 clei, and help other ways." 



•• What do you propose to do with the queens 

 you remove ? " 



"I expect to sell a good many of them. As I 

 offer them at a lovv' price, many bee-keepers 

 will avail themselves of this opportunity to in- 

 troduce my strain into their apiaries. What I 

 do not Sell I shall use in making artificial 

 swarms; for I must increase a little — at least 

 enough to k<'ep my number of colonies good." 



"'Do you think you will secure as much hon- 

 ey by this method as you would by allowing 

 natural swarming?" 



"Well. Henry, that is a question I am not 

 fully prepared to answer. But my opinion is, I 

 shail not. and I shall have to work harder my- 

 self. But I think, after deducting the expense 

 of hired help, the result in dollm-i^ will be about 

 the same with one method as the other, in a 

 good season: while in a poor season I can save 

 money by this plan of removing queens." 



" What if there should come a rainy day or 

 two— wouldn't that disarrange your visits to 

 the out-apiaries?" 



" No, not very much, for I aim to have at 

 least one day's leeway, though I often am 

 obliged to visit my apiaries in the rain: but by 

 having my record-book constantly with me I 

 know every morning just what must be done 

 that day; and as 1 can, itpon a pincli, visit two 

 and even three yards in one day, I can many 

 times manage to avoid being out in rainy 

 weather, because I can work two yards in one 

 day when it is necessary, in order to catch up 

 with my work." 



" How do you introduce viigin queens so suc- 

 cessfully as you do?" 



■'I do that simply by rendering the colony 

 hopelessly queenless, as I have stated above, by 

 removing the old queen and keeping all queen- 

 cells cut out until they have neither eggs nor 

 larvie with which to rear a queen, and then 

 simply run the virgin queen in without cere- 

 mony. I tisually run them in about the 1.5th 

 day after removing the old queen, though the 

 time varies from the 12th to the 30th day after, 

 according as I have the time and the virgins to 

 introduce." 



