100 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1917 



obtaining desirable queen-cells ought to 

 find a ready welcome in the practices of 

 American beekeepers. 



'Later. — In looking over some of the back 

 numbers I find an interesting discussion, 

 Oct. 1, 1916, in which Mr. Kennith Hawkins 

 finds fault with the methods used by some 

 queen-breeders because they use queenless 

 colonies and so have a large number of 

 them on hand during the season that store 

 little or no surplus. Mr. Hawkins also says 

 that such colonies develop laying workers 

 soon and are, therefore, useless. 



To this I should like to say in connection 

 with my plan, that neither is true, but that 

 a colony operated as a cell-starter or cell- 

 builder in the way I have described will 

 yield among the maximum of surplus honey, 

 and not develop a single laying worker all 

 summer. While Mr. Hawkins' method is 

 better than some, yet I cannot quite welcome 

 it, since he does not know that the young 

 bees that he shakes from another colony 

 come from a queen whose progeny are cell- 

 starters or cell-builders. I have proved 

 pretty well that every colony does not have 

 those characteristics, even tho subjected to 

 the most favorable conditions. If the queen- 



breeder finds a colony that is a good cell- 

 starter he should keep that colony intact; 

 for to dequeen it would be a shame when we 

 can use more satisfactory methods. 



As I see it, not considering the essentials 

 of a good breeding queen, the four greatest 

 requirements in starting queen-cells are as 

 follows : 1. Crowded conditions ; 2. Young 

 nurse bees ; 3. High temperature ; 4, Incom- 

 ing nectar or its eauivalent. All these con- 

 ditions are provided by this new plan, and 

 one or two are lacking by any other that I 

 have any knowledge of. I will admit that 

 in the South fewer failures would be had 

 than in the North, on account of conditions 

 here. When I thought out this plan and ex- 

 perimented with it I had Northern condi- 

 tions in mind entirely ; for to have cells torn 

 down during cool nights is very discourag- 

 ing. I speak now from the standpoint of 

 the queen-breeder who wishes to start queen- 

 cells for several months. Where a man 

 wishes to rear only a few dozen queens he 

 would not experience much trouble if he 

 used any standard method; but because of 

 the short honey-flow we enjoy, and the ad- 

 verse weather conditions at times, I worked 

 two years to perfect this plan. 



I 



N Bait i m r e 

 County, Mary- 



A MARYLAND BEE -MAN 



land, 18 miles 

 from Baltimore, is 

 a man who loves 

 bees and believes 

 that beekeeping 

 pays, and no won- 

 der. A poor man, 

 starting with one hive and gradually build- 

 ing up, he has learned to produce and sell 

 comb honey and make much more than a 

 living at it. With his honey money he 

 bought an apparently worthless piece of 

 land, planted a peach-orchard on it, and 

 built a shanty in which he lived alone for 

 years. He then constructed, with his own 

 hands, farm buildings and a modern home to 

 shelter the young woman who, of all others, 

 was waiting for him. Now with a. wife and 

 two small children he is prospering as never 

 before. 



The interior of their home suggests that 

 of the well-to-do town or city man. Here 

 there are nc milk-utensils to wash nor any 

 suggestion of the cow-barn nor the early 

 rising and other disagreeable features that 

 often go with certain work on a farm. 

 Beework and fruit-raising are compara- 

 tively clean woyk. But bajS thgre Ijegn ^g 



A Poor Man Starting with Only 



One Colony of Bees Wins a 



Farm, Home, and Family 



By Samuel Cushman 



hard work done? 

 Oh, yes! and lots 

 of it. Years of 

 lonely persistent 

 work and much 

 self - denial and 

 economy have 

 been practiced to 

 attain these re- 

 sults in this line of rural industry. 



The bees, however, made all this possible. 

 They have been the main dependence, and 

 are today; yet this beekeeper has never 

 had as many as 200 colonies. He does not 

 rear queens to sell. He rarely sells a hive 

 of bees. He has never produced extracted 

 honey. He does not receive retail prices. 

 Comb honey sold thru a commission man 

 has been his revenue producer. The re- 

 turns from fruit never have been more 

 than half of his income. 



How did he do it? What methods have 

 been followed? It is an interesting story. 

 Follow me carefully and you will know. 

 If he has done all this with bees, others, in 

 the right location, can do it also. 



STARTS WITH FRAME HIVES MADE FROM 

 STORE BOXES. 



Mr. N. W. James was living witli liis 

 fg-tber not far from his pie; eal home, 



