180 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the moss in the same way and, 

 xohile damp one can wind it very 

 hard and tiiin. I make a quantity 

 of these smokers at one time and 

 dry them in the sun several days 

 and lliey burn freely as rags and 

 make a good smoke. 



Such a smoker as 1 have de- 

 scribed is often handy even if you 

 use a hirger one. It can be lighted 

 with a match in half a minute and, 

 as the soap-makers say "■ it just 

 fits the hand." 



West Medimy, Mass. 



Q UE EN-RE A RING. 



By IIenky Alley. 



(Continued from pa^e ICO.) 



OuK friend over the bordei' gives 

 notice that he is experimenting 

 with a view to perfect a method 

 for rearing queens, so that they 

 can be sold for a small sum, f-ay 

 one cent each. I name the price, 

 as when a lai-ge number of queens 

 are reared by one colony of bees 

 the above price is all Ihey are 

 worth. This reminds usithat Pro- 

 fessor Hasbrouck once advertised 

 queens for about twenty-five cents 

 eacli, as he had some way for 

 rearing them, so that he could af- 

 ford to sell at the rate of f6ur for 

 one dollar. However, people did 

 not want such queens, or else, 

 after experimenting for awhile, 

 the Professor found there was no 

 money in rearing queens for 

 twenty-five cents each. Such is 

 the fact, and evei-y queen dealer 

 in the country knows that good 

 queens cannot be reared and sold 

 at a i)rofit for less than one dollar. 



The fact is beekeepers do not 

 want cheap queens, and the man 

 who advei'tises them generally 

 loses his reputation and ruins his 

 business. We advertise queens 

 at$i0.00 per dozen, but our orders 



are largely for queens we sell at 

 ^2.00 and $3.00 each. 



If our friend really desires to 

 know som% method for rearing 

 queens in large numbers and by 

 an}' one colon}' of bees, we suggest 

 that he read the " Beekeepers' 

 Handy Book," as that work teaches 

 tiie most approved methods for 

 rearing queens either a few or 

 many to a colony. It will instruct 

 any one how to compel a colony 

 of bees to build 1,000 cells, and 

 it also tells the reader that queens 

 reared in such large numbers by 

 any one colony are worthless. 



Fig. 1. 



"We hope the person who is 

 making such an effort to rear 

 queens so cheaply and to outdo 

 the " Yankee beekeeper" will be 

 fi-ank enough to tell his readers 

 that not over twelve queens should 

 be reared by any colony of bees. 

 Let the beekeeper direct his efforts 

 so as to rear better queens than 

 arc reared under tlie swarming im- 

 piUse. It can be and is done thougii 

 some unexperienced people laugh 

 at tiie idea. 



One of the experiments we tried 

 for rearing queens was to see if a 

 colony of bees whose hive should 

 be full of comb and brood in all 

 stages could be made to build 

 queen cells just where \ve chose 

 and from the eggs given them. 

 The first trial proved a success. 

 A queen was removed just before 

 sunset, from a very lai-ge colony 



