1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



:«i 



nearly twenty years ago. A new swarm, witli 

 a full set of empty eomhs. does, however, se- 

 crete quite a little wax. They i)ut it on lop of 

 the toii-l)ars, extend out tlie length of the cells 

 wherever the space will admit of it. and often 

 put little tins around the end-hais. The point 

 of great value to liee-lvcepei's is this: A new 

 swann. hived on empty frames, will at once — 

 at least the greater part of them — hang idly 

 until tiie wax scales are secreted: whereas, with 

 full sets of combs, nearly all these bees could 

 go at once to the tiekls for stores.] 



WEST'S CELL-PROTECTOR. 



A NEW AND VAr,UABI,E DEVICE. 



The cell-protector was woi'th over $1(X) to me 

 two years ago in swarming-time, as I requeened 

 over 100 swarms with cells from my choicest 

 stocks, and at the same time stopped swarming 

 where the cells were introduced. My bees win- 

 tered well and came out strong the following 

 spring, while others lost very heavily all around 

 me. 



I dare not say that it is a positive fact that 

 the method I practiced two years ago will al- 

 ways prevent swarming, but it did with me in 

 four different yards, and it was a swarming 

 year too. The hives that I did not treat that 

 way nearly all swarmed, and in many of them 

 we killed the queen while the swarm was on the 

 wing, and destroyed the cells in the hive and 

 gave them a choice queen-cell in the protector, 

 from a hive that had cast a swarm five or six 

 days before. This is easily done while the bees 

 are on the wing. 



This way of requeening a yard of bees costs 

 nothing, and gives you a chance of doing it 

 when swarming-celis are plentiful, and this is 

 the time to do it. because we can get better 

 queens: and by going to a hive that has not 

 swarmed, and especially if for any cause the 

 queen is condemned, kill her anddestroy the 

 cells if any are started, and give them a choice 

 cell in the i)rotector at once. 



Fig. 1. 

 D. west's spiral 



PIUXO CEI>I,-l'K()TECTOi; 



If you want to I'aise any vii'gin queens, go to 

 a hive that has cast a swarm live or six days 

 previously, cut out carefully all the cells ycm 

 wish to save; place the min the protectors: lay 

 them in a box of cotton, or have a block with a 

 number of holes to set them in until you are 

 ready to use them. Now. when all cells are cut 

 out, j'ust place the cell, as it is already in the 

 protector, on the side of a comb in the same 

 hive. By pushing the spur of the protector 



(see Fig. 1) into the comb it will stay thei'e: and 

 with the long queen-cage placed below (see Fig. 

 2). it, with its spur push(>d into the ccmib. will 

 also stay, and there is queen food in the bottom 

 of this cage, so that, when the queen hatches, 

 she will run down into this cage. In this way 

 you can have a queen-nursery in any hive, and 

 hatch out as many queens as you wish. Now. 

 after the cells are hatched you can make as 

 many nuclei as you have queens, by just taking 

 one frame with adhering bees, and place in an 

 empty hive: place another comb by the side of 

 this: give them one of these virgin queens; close 

 the hive, and so on until the cells are used up, 

 and wait until they lay: then do with them 

 what you please. 



HOW TO USE THE CELI.-PKOTECTOR. 



Hold the small end of the pi'otector between 

 the thumb and first and second fingers of the 

 left hand. Hold the queen-cell by the big end 

 in the right hand in the same way. Now you 

 are ready to put the cell in: and as soon as the 

 fingers of the I'ight hand touch the cage, it will 

 shorten up by pushing slightly, so as to fix the 

 point of the cell just through the small end of 

 the protector. Let loose with the rigiit hand, 

 and the coil will spring back and cover the butt 

 end of the cell: then slip the tin cover in be- 

 tween the wire coil, just above the butt end of 

 the cell: then you are ready to put the cell in a 

 hive. Then just spread the combs apart far 

 enough to put your hand in; now push the spur 

 of the protector in the comb where you want it 

 (see Fig. I). I leave them just below the top- 

 bar. Now place your frames, and you are done. 

 The top of the protector is in plain sight when 

 the hive is open. Care should be used to handle 

 the cells right side up, without a jar. It is a 

 satisfaction to look in a few days and find your 

 cells all whole except where the queen has 

 helped herself out. The bees can not destroy 

 the cell before she hatches, if properly put in: 

 neitherwill it be destroyed by spreading the 

 frames if you wish to do so. N. D. West. 



Middleburg. N. Y., Feb. 3. 



[Mr. N. D. West is one of those bee-keepers 

 at whose place I stopped in my bicycling tour. 

 He owns some -too colonies distributed in three 

 yards. Although I made at his place a very 

 brief call of only some fifteen or twenty minutes. 

 I became convinced of the fact, by looking 

 around with his son (the father was absent), 

 that he is one of the b(>e-keepers who ought to 

 let their light shine a little more. I met him for 

 the first time at the Albany convention, and 

 tliere he showed me a spiral-spring cell-protect- 

 or. Several bee-keepers who have tried them 

 said that they \\ere a good thing. I have since 

 been informed that Capt. Heiherington con- 

 siders them so good that he has ordered 500, and 

 that P. H. Elwood also wants a lot of them, and 

 that both say they are ahead of any thing else 

 they evei- saw for a piotector. ^Ir. W. L. Ten- 

 nant said he would rather do without comb 

 foundation than to do without these protectors. 

 This I'stinuite is perhaps a little strong. 



I am well aware that this looks like free ad- 

 vertising: but when so many good bee-keepers 

 assure me it is a good thing. Ii; am ' glad to give 

 it this notice, particularly as Mr. West charges 

 a very reasonable jnice for them. As he pays 

 for advertising space t'iscwhere. he can not be 

 accused of taking advantage of this notice free. 

 We are well aware that the principle of the 

 protectors is old. and that Doolittle has used a 

 wire-cloth cone for years, but 1 believe the idea 

 of using a spiral spring is new. The point of 

 superiority over wire-cloth cone-protectors is. 

 that^the spirals adjust themselves to the size of 

 the cell, causing the tin slide shown in the en- 



