1060 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



opening. Through the centei' of the board 

 the cloth covering the l:)ottom side can be, 

 distinctly seen. This double cloth serves 

 several purposes. One is to maintain the 

 colony odor and to keep the reignins queen 

 in the lower hive as far away from the cell- 

 builders aliove as possible. Still another is 

 to afford heat and a certain measure of ven- 

 tilation up through the center, where the 

 cell-builders are located. Through the rear 

 cleat in the board can be seen an opening 

 one inch wide with a small plug to lit it. 

 This plug is to be used once, to close up the 

 opening, when the first lot of young bees 

 are to be trapped to start cells; but in three 

 days after the cells are accepted, the plug 

 must be removed in order to let the young 

 bees liy, thereby establishing a sort of inde- 

 pendent colony in the top hive or story; and 

 unless this senii-independent condition is es- 

 tablished and maintained the best results are 

 impossible. At such times the tin slides may 

 also be pulled out, as the continuous feeding 

 draws the young bees above in sufficient 

 force to complete the cells. After the tii'st 

 batch of cells is completed the bees start a 

 fresh batch with much greater alacrity than 

 at fii'st. 



Last fall, as queen-rearing slacked off I 

 shoved in the tin slides and allowed a number 

 of young queens to mate from the hole in 

 the rear of the board, and successfully win- 

 tered all such colonies with a queen above 

 and below: and from what I have thus learn- 

 ed I have concluded that it is a better way 

 to winter young queens over than in small 

 separate nuclei. 



By reference to the illustration on page 294 

 it will be noted that the tin slides pass through 

 the side cleats, and perhaps it might be well 

 to state that just enough of the wood should 

 be removed to allow the slides to move free- 

 ly back and forth, and should be fastened 

 through the side cleat, with small nails fit- 

 ting into transverse slots in the tin, as shown 

 in the illustration. 



In the cut alluded to, the trap-board is 

 shown laid on top of the bottom hive: but be 

 it rememliered that this was necessary in or- 

 der to show up the different parts and con- 

 struction of the board. However, as I plain- 

 ly said in my article for March 1, I use shal- 

 low hives, and practice nailing the board to 

 the bottom of the upper hive; but it can, of 

 course, be used loose if preferred. When 

 tilting hives on end to get at the brood in 

 the lower hive I find it desirable to have 

 them fastened. This very difference in the 

 description and the illustration has formed 

 the subject of several inquiries, and several 

 parties have asked what a cell-bar is and 

 what is meant by Doolittle cups, and what 

 kind of camel's-hair brush do 1 use. Most 

 of these things have been written about so 

 much that I had no idea any one would be 

 at a loss to understand their meaning, and it 

 seems ridiculous to describe such things. 

 Several have asked what amount of royal 

 jelly I use in priming the cell cups to receive 

 the young larvae. As this is a question about 

 which there is no generally accepted agree- 



ment I will say that, in my opinion, there is 

 no need of more than two or three large 

 drops. However, if the royal jelly is fresh, 

 more can do no harm; but I question if it can 

 1)6 expected to do much good, for under 

 many conditions the bees will remove most 

 if not all of it before they begin feeding in 

 real earnest; so I would say. use according 

 to the amount you have, be it little or much. 

 Such is my rule at least. 



With regard to the kind of brush to use, I 

 will state that I use a fine camers-hair brush, 

 al)out No. 1. These are known as artists' 

 Inrushes, and should be prepared by trim- 

 ming down to a tine point at the ferx'ules, 

 and waxed to within \ inch of the point or 

 tip of the brush, which should be kept soft 

 and clean at all times. 



With such a brush there is no need to trim 

 down the comb in order to get at the little 

 larva. Simply turn the comb to the light. 

 Place the brush down by the side of the small 

 larva. With a very light pressure, just 

 sufficient to cause the tip of the soft hair to 

 spread a little and pass under the larva lying 

 on its bed of food, raise the brush out care- 

 fully, and you have the grub all ready to put 

 where you want it. I have tried all kinds of 

 sticks, but none of them are in it by the side 

 of this little brush; and the beauty of it all 

 is, the expert never kills any of the larva? 

 when transferring with the brush, and that 

 is the reason why I get such a large pi'opor- 

 tion of mj' cups accepted. 



In preparing the colony for cell-starting, 

 proceed exactly as directed in my former ar- 

 ticle; but be sure to find the queen and put her 

 in the lower hive or super, for it will be im- 

 possible to get the bees to starts cells with 

 the queen above; and another thing I wish 

 to emphasize is the necessity of having but 

 one comb of open brood in the vipper story. 

 Less will do. Thei'e should be at least four 

 combs of hatching brood, and care must be 

 exercised in order to get a large number of 

 young bees above, and these must be cut off 

 from their brood and queen in the lower 

 hive for at least 36 hours, though they often 

 start cells within 12 hours: but the idea is, to 

 fix them thoroughlj'^ under the queenless 

 feeling, so that a large number will remain 

 and become permanently attached to the up- 

 per hive and the rear fiight-hole. It will be 

 noticed that, when the plug is removed to 

 give them a first tiight, many take a flight, 

 Init soon return and take up a permanent 

 residence, and begin to bring pollen and 

 carry water. With these bees the condition 

 of queenlessness is always present, and that 

 of itself seems to help much in inciting the 

 young bees to cell-building again, after a 

 batch of cells has been completed, and fresh 

 bees and brood drawn fi"om below with 

 which to start another lot. 



As a matter of fact, after the slides are 

 drawn out many bees will alternate between 

 the upper and lower hives; but this condition 

 is exactly what I alwa^ys desire, for I find 

 that drones are reai'ed freely under such con- 

 ditions, and, so far as I know, are never 

 driven off or starved out. 



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