1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



127 



^Xl/^ inches, nailed on the under side. It 

 is then covered with cotton cloth secured 

 with tacks around the edge, and painted 

 three coats of oil and lead. This makes a 

 cover that will keep out the wet and weather. 

 I have had very good luck winterinji: lor 

 years. T. C. Ckagon. 



Smithfield, Utah. 



•' IMPROVED QUEEN-REARING.' 



A Reply to M^ Q. W. Phil ips' Article, Nov. 15. 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



Lest the reader may think I am putting- 

 my fingers in another man's pie, I will 

 commence by saying that this article is 

 written at the request of the editor and also 

 of Mr. Alley. 



A concise statement of Mr. Alley's sys- 

 tem, just as I have many limes seen the 

 veteran himself use it, will assist in making- 

 plain further discussion. 



1. Selection of exceptionally strong- colo- 

 nies. 



2. Deprived of brood, queen, and combs, 

 and kept confined for six hours. The dep- 

 rivation is so made that the bees fill their 

 sacs to the limit of their capacity; termed, 

 for convenience, "cell-starting- colonies" 



3. Strips of comb containing an egg in 

 each alternate cell are stuck to sticks in a 

 frame or frames. These in turn are alter- 

 nated in a hive with combs of pollen and 



honey, tind the confined bees released on 

 them. 



4. Twenty four hours after the "start- 

 ing-" colony bei^an work on the cells the 

 frames bearing the cells are taken away 

 and given to colonies dequeened twelve 

 hours previously, but not deprived of their 

 brood. 



5. Five days later the now completed cells 

 are taken from these colonies, and gathered 

 in one strong- queenles-s colony. 



6. Two days before queens are due to 

 emerge, the cells are put into the cages and 

 returned to the same queenless colony. 



Alley's system differs from the so called 

 "cell-cup" plan, as at present used and 

 taught, in just two particulars; i. e., meth- 

 od of supplying eggs or larva;, and of se- 

 curing full feeding of the larvae. In other 

 features it is but the same as now advocat- 

 ed by all good authorities, only carried on 

 with the utmost pains. 



The great fault of Mr. Alley's book, and 

 it is almost a vital one, is the mixing of a 

 description of the construction of his appli- 

 ances with a detailed statement of their 

 use. Also, he wanders from one part of his 

 subject to another in a most confusing way. 



Mr. Phillips justly criticises the " Meth- 

 od No 1 " as given in the book. As de- 

 scribed, it certainly appears most labori- 

 ous. Let me explain why Mr. Alley does 

 some things, and their true relation to his 

 system will be more evident. 



He uses large numbers of colonies of 

 black and hybrid bees for cell-building. 



A MODEL APIARY IN UTAH. 



