70 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



owe tlieir success rather to favorable cir- 

 cumstances than to a real knowledge of 

 the business, and where one succeeds 

 many fail ; some statisticians put the 

 failures as high as nine out of ten. 



We should not get wrathy and fly in 

 others' faces because they seem to ad- 

 vocate that which is contrary to our ex- 

 perience. The fact that "doctors" do 

 "disagree," and so radically too, is proof 

 that even the best of us are not yet mas- 

 ters. I have been for fifteen years try- 

 ing to keep up with the rapid strides 

 made in the knowledge of our pursuit, 

 and still I run just as hard as I used, to. 

 If we would succeed we must know why 

 it is that many can and do succeed ; 

 and yet they would seem to be practis- 

 ing almost opposites in both system and 

 hives. 



Then we may be able to stumble onto 

 fine success, and yet not know how to 

 reconcile those seeming differences. I 

 dare say that any one of the apicultural 

 lights can tell you why the others suc- 

 ceed. 



If we would succeed we must attain 

 to such knowledge ; then we can work 

 intelligently and not blindly. 

 Loveland, Colo. R. C. Aikin. 



Brother Aikin takes it for granted that 

 Doolittle, Dadant and others have made 

 a success of beekeeping. These well- 

 known beekeepers have as many failures 

 as any beekeepers in America. No matter 

 how much experience a person has had 

 with bees, experience affords no rehef so 

 far as controUing the weather, or causing 

 honey to secrete in the flowers. Should 

 Doolittle drop liis pen and queen rearing 

 he would to-day be as badly oft' as others 

 in the bee business.— Ed.] 



INTRODUCING QUEENS TO HATCH- 

 ING BKOOD.— A WOMAN'S WAY. 



"Oh ! yes, you might know it was a 

 woman ; a man would not bother with 

 any such puttering nonsense," I hear 

 more than one reader say. 



All right, just turn the page and skip 

 this then ; it is not intended for you any 

 way. If a man wishes to improve his 

 bees by introducing new blood, he can 



send the necessary dollar for the queen, " 

 and if he fails and loses her in introduc- 

 ing he can get a dollar's worth of satis- 

 faction by "blessing" the dealer who sold 

 him the queen, and forget all about it. 



With a woman, however, it don't 

 work just that way. She may feel like 

 giving the dealer a piece of her mind, 

 and perhaps may do so ; but no matter 

 what she does the ghost of that lost dol- 

 lar will still continue to haunt her. 



1 do not wish it understood that I al- 

 ways use this method, or consider it best 

 for all beekeepers, but for those who 

 have not money to spend for a dozen 

 queens, more or less, to experiment on, 

 and learn by experience the many ways 

 in which a queen may be safely intro- 

 duced (or lost), I will give the method 

 which for me, at least, has never failed : 



I St. Send to some reliable dealer for 

 your queen. When she arrives look 

 at and admire her all you please, but 

 don't open the cage so she can get out 

 till you are ready to place her in the hive. 



2nd. Prepare your hive. Any hive 

 that can be closed bee-tight will do. If 

 a large hive is used it is well to place a 

 division board just far enough from one 

 side to make room for the three or four 

 frames you will use. If you have a small 

 hive it is more convenient to handle and 

 easier to carry. A box just large 

 enough to hold three or four frames, 

 with a board one foot wide for a cover, 

 is what I use for a small hive. Tack a 

 piece of wire cloth over the entrance, 

 and be sure there is no crack through 

 which a bee can escape, and your hive 

 is ready. 



3rd. Get one frame of honey and 

 two or three frames of hatching brood, 

 selecting frames having as little unsealed 

 brood as possible, as all unsealed brood 

 will be lost. It may be necessary 

 to look over several hives before just 

 the right kind of frames are found, 

 but it will do no harm if each frame 

 comes from a different hive. Brush off 

 all the bees and place the frames in your 

 hive, the brood together, the honey on 

 one side. Now open the cage contain- 

 ing queen so her ladyship and her at- 



