690 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



FiG. 1.— Twin mating nuclei as used by C. W. Phelps, Binghamton, N. ^' 



native working of the flight muscles will 

 attend to the exi)iration and inspiration of 

 the necesary air. Probably there is no ab- 

 dominal respiration when a bee is flying; 

 but the bee with re])osing wings respires 

 only with the abdomen. Before the bee 

 takes flight it Alls its abdomen with fresh air 

 to diminish the specific weight of the body. 

 Zurich, Switzerland. 



duce queens absolutely without loss. Suf- 

 fice it to say, at this time the principle is 

 simply to make the bees want the queen 

 and the queen want the bees. 



The boys shown in the photo are a great 

 help to us. 



Our honey is all sold here in local mar- 

 ket, usually about as fast as it comes from 

 the hives, and is out of the way by the time 

 outside parties commence to ship here. 



Binghamton, N. Y. 



THE USE OF COMB-CARRYING CASES IN THE 

 APIARY. 



AN IDEAL EXTRACTING-OUTFIT. 



BY C. W. PHELPS. 



BY F. J. SEVBRIN. 



When I commenced bee-keeping in 1879 

 I had never seen an Italian queen. I re- 

 ceived my first one in 1880. Shortly after 

 that I commenced rearing my own queens, 

 making cell-cups by the rake-tooth meth- 

 od, and transferring larvse a la Doolittle. 

 I still have one of these old top-bar sections 

 with cells. 



We use the twin mating-boxes. Fig. 1, to 

 a certain extent, and like them; but it took 

 us some time to learn how to use them prop- 

 erly. AVe used to have trouble with the 

 bees swarming out, etc. The swarming- 

 cases, as shown in Fig. 2, are used for so 

 many purposes that 1 have not space to tell 

 of them at length. We could not "keep 

 house " without them. We use them for 

 forming nuclei, introducing valuable queens, 

 etc. We can take them on street-ears, with 

 a few bees, and set them in a new locality 

 where the bees will stay. It is only in the 

 last year or two that we have learned by a 

 combination of methods which we use in 

 connection with this box that we can intro- 



During the last few years I have had an 

 extensive experience in extracted -honey 

 production in the yards of such men as Mr. 

 John Nippert, of Phaniix, Ariz.; .1. W. 

 George, of Imperial, C"al.; E. F. Atwater, 

 Meridian, Idaho, etc. I have traveled over 

 the State of Washington from west to east 

 through the famous Yakima Valley, stop- 

 ping at various places, and investigating 

 bee pastures. I was also in Central Oregon, 

 then later in Eastern Oregon, all the while 

 getting acquainted with the northwestern 

 bee-keepers and studying their methods. 



Mr. .7. W. George, whom I was with last, 

 manages his bees ditTerently than any other 

 man I ever worked for. He has eight out- 

 yards, with a man at each yard, and he cer- 

 tainly has an opportunity, in this way, to 

 judge his men thoroughly. 



Fig. 1 shows the apiary of 175 colonies 

 that I managed. The shed is 240 feet long 

 and 14 feet wide. The brush roof provides 

 the shade so necessary in this country. 

 There are two rows of hives, one facing north 



