606 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug 15. 



colonies having a queen not less than one year 

 old. 



Fig. 2 represents another standard frame. 

 One half of this frame is filled with wood, but, 

 unlike the one described in Fig. 1, the wood 

 is nailed in the upper half of the frame, and 

 not at the ends, as in No. 1, as will be seen. 

 One side of the open space is covered with 



wire cloth, and two smaller frames are used in 

 this frame, having one of their sides covered 

 with perforated metal firmly nailed to the 

 wood. These frames are just 1 1 / 2 inches be- 

 tween the vertical pieces, and are notched at 

 the top so the strips of wood to which the cell- 

 cups are made are held in place. The cell- 

 cups are removed from frame No. 1, and then 

 placed in the smaller frames, which are then 

 inserted in frame No. 2, with the open side 

 toward the wire cloth ; then the frame is 

 placed in the center of a powerful colony of 

 bees, and a/ways between two frames of brood. 

 The result is, in three days more there is as 

 fine a lot of queen-cells as one ever saw. 



Twelve days after the eggs are given the 

 bees, the cells should be transferred to nuclei, 

 or, what I consider much better, to a queen- 

 nursery. As this part of my story is given in 

 a small book which I give away to all who ap- 

 ply, I will not take the space here to describe 

 it. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I feel bound to say that, 

 by this process, I have produced queens much 

 superior to those reared under the swarming 

 impulse. . 



To the inexperienced this method may seem 

 fussy. All I can say is that no one can rear 

 queens without doing much hard, pretty fine, 

 anH fussy work. There are many fine points 

 connected with the above that one must get 

 acquainted with by actual experience. These 

 particular points can not be explained in one 

 short article. Catch on to them by experi- 

 ence. That is the proper way to do. The 

 cells illustrated were begun and finished by 

 bees. There is nothing artificial about them. 



Later on I will describe the queen-nursery 

 and its uses ; also many other things connect- 

 ed with the queen-rearing business. 



Wenham, Mass. 



[The method Mr. Alley gives is essentially 

 the one he has used for years, I take it, with 

 the exception that he has incorporated into 

 the plan some changes, so that we have be- 

 fore us the latest revised method. ^ i"*"^ 

 Fig. 3 shows another view of what is shown 

 in Fig. 2 The next shows how the prepared 

 drone comb-cells in No. 1 are finally drawn 

 out and completed into 

 queen-cells. This cut 

 shows the Alley queen- 

 nursery, to which Mr. 

 A. briefly refers. 



This nursery consists 

 of an ordinary Lang- 

 stroth frame having fit- 

 ted into it square blocks 

 of wood % in. thick 

 bored out in the center, 

 and covered on both 

 sides with wire cloth. 

 Through one side or 

 edge is bored a ^-in. 

 hole, or large enough 

 to receive a queen-cell. 

 The point of the cell, 

 when inserted, projects 

 down into the large 

 opening ; and when a 

 young queen hatches she is confined until 

 such a time as the apiarist can use her to the 

 best advantage in some nucleus or queenless 

 colony. To supply the young queen with 

 food there is a plug of Good candy inserted in 

 a hole just opposite the queen-cell, so the 

 young virgin can be confined a day or so if 



necessary. 



This queen- 

 nursery, contain- 

 35 little cages, 

 each supplied 

 with a queen- 

 cell, is inserted 

 in any strong 

 colony. When- 

 ever a virgin is 

 i desired, all one 

 has to do is to 

 go to this 

 nursery, take 

 out the oldest virgin, and introduce her ac- 

 cording to the methods that are recommended 

 in the text-books. 



This queen-nursery is the same thing as is 

 used by Doolittle and ourselves, and is doubt- 

 less the best of any thing heretofore devised 

 for the purpose. 



The method of rearing queen-cells from 

 drone cells, as recommended by J. D. Fooshe 

 and H. L. Jones, is the same as the Alley 

 method above described, with this difference, 

 that any larvie in the drone-cells must be re- 

 moved, and each alternate cell be supplied 

 with a worker larva from a select queen. 

 Aside from this, the two methods are practi- 

 cally the some. 



We have tried the two plans, the Alley and 

 the Doolittle ; but, taking every thing into 

 consideration, we prefer the latter method 

 with artificial cell-cups. The only possible ob- 

 jection to it would seem to be the making of 



