270 



Gleanings in bee culture 



ing', one colony does not alone and unaided 

 do all the work. But a comb of brood now 

 and then, taken from a nucleus, matured 

 over an excluder and jiut into the cell-build- 

 ing colony, is really turning waste material 

 to profit, and it does not take many such 

 during the season. 



Sometimes a colony refuses to " play the 

 game," and has to be discarded for another. 

 Why they behave so we do not know. 



If honey is coming freely the cell-build- 

 ing colony will put up a suri^lus, and a 

 heavy flow is really a nuisance, as it clogs 

 the combs of the queen's part as Avell as the 

 other. If the flow is very light or inter- 

 mittent, feeding is necessary. Mr. Fuller 



ke'iis a candy- feeder on top of the cjueen's 

 compartment, all tlie time, as a safeguard. 



In such hives he has raised line cells in 

 April and as late as mid Octobei-. lie has 

 had as high as eighty cells in such a colony 

 at one time. 



The cell compartment is the very finesl 

 place to keep drones. He had several 

 hundred in one hive on the 21st of last De- 

 cember. I'm of the opinion that the pres- 

 ence of drones, and their liberty to fly, is 

 a great help in his system, and I know that 

 1 like to have a dozen or more in each of 

 my baby nuclei. Drones are more of a 

 hel}) to us than we have supposed. 



Providence, R. I. 



THE CHIEF POINTS TO CONSIDER IN THE SELECTION OF A BREEDER 



BY J. F. AECHDEKIN 



I have made no new discoveries in the art 

 of queen-rearing, having confined my efforts 

 to orthodox methods. Of course, I have had 

 my share of novel occurrences which call 

 for special treatment; but I will pass to 

 more important things. 



The first thing to consider is the breeder. 

 Briefly, a first-class breeder is a heavy layer. 

 Her colony winters well, the bees are gentle 

 to handle, and are hustlers. These are the 

 principal points to keep in mind. If these 

 can be combined with some others, so much 

 the better. The offspring of some queens 

 cap whiter tlian otheis; these are to be 

 favored. Some colonies propolize more than 

 others. This trait is not to be favored. 



As to her personal appearance, the queen 

 should be fairly large, and should have a 

 thrifty look. While she should be active she 

 should not display this agility by running 

 over on the other side of the comb while you 

 are looking at her. Unless unduly disturbed 

 she should continue laying while you watch 

 her. She should be well marked, and the 

 abdomen an even color throughout its length. 

 If one has a queen which conforms to the 

 above qualifications he may be sure he has 

 something very desirable. I have reference 

 to the Italian bees, although the above is 

 probably true of most of the other races. 



METHOD USED IN REARING. 



After trying various methods for building 

 cells I have adopted the upper-story system. 

 As it is necessary to have a strong colony to 

 get large well-fed cells and vigorous queens, 

 the above answers the requirements perfect- 

 ly. A double-story colony is bound to be 

 strong. I use a queenless colony for accept- 

 ing the freshly grafted cells. The grafting 

 is done in early morning or late afternoon. 



The morning grafts are transferred to the 

 cell-building colony in late afternoon, and 

 the afternoon grafts changed the first thing 

 in the morning. By this means I have been 

 enabled to get a larger number of cells 

 accepted than by any other method except 

 in colonies which are preparing to swarm. 

 These latter are not available all the season. 

 Should a cool spell of weather come early 

 in the season the cells in the upper story 

 will be safe, whereas they might be -lost in 

 the ordinary one-story hive. It is impor- 

 tant (at least comfortable to the operator) 

 to use gentle colonies for cell-builders. I 

 think this has some influence on the temper 

 of the offspring of the embryo queens. 



QUEEN INJURED LESS IN THE MAILS IF NOT 

 LAYING HEAVILY WHEN SOLD. 



For mating I use twin mating-boxes. The 

 frames measure 5% x 7 inches, and each 

 side takes three of them. This allows one 

 to keep a fairly large number of bees in 

 each nucleus; and if there is a good flow 

 these little colonies will often become honey- 

 bound. On the other hand, if many of the 

 bees are lost through following the queen on 

 her mating-trip the loss is not serious and 

 is more readily replaced than with full- 

 sized nuclei. I have found these latter very 

 bothersome about swarming out. Of course, 

 the plan has its drawbacks, but so have the 

 others. To me it is a method of turning 

 out a first-class product at a minimum cost. 



Queens mated in small nuclei will always 

 ship well because they have never had an 

 opportunity to become fully distended by 

 heavy laying. Queens that are laying hea- 

 vily are in grave danger of being injured 

 in shipping if they are not slowed down by 



