AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



561 



was 6, and the one from Grimm until 

 she was 5 years old. I reared my queens 

 from one, and the drones from the 

 other, one season, then changed about 

 the next season, then kept selecting 

 from my most prolific and best colonies 

 until I had as profitable a lot of bees as 

 could be produced anywhere. 



I occasionally purchased an imported 

 queen, but kept on in the above line. I 

 started in on that line in California, con- 

 sequently I had a stock of bees that I 

 was not afraid to recommend for profit. 

 As Dr. Tinker says, they were not quite 

 as gentle to handle as some, under all 

 circumstances, but not extra vicious, by 

 any means. 



My method of rearing queens was 

 this : Take a frame of hatching brood 

 from any populous colony, and the ad- 

 hering bees ; I also was careful to get 

 quite a quantity of unsealed larvae, until 

 I filled a standard hive with comb and 

 brood, and the adhering bees. Put 

 them on a new stand. The following 

 day take young nursing-bees frem strong 

 colonies ; this can be done by shaking 

 bees from combs, in the middle of the 

 day (when the old bees are out to work) 

 in front of the new colony until the hive 

 is overflowing with nursing-bees. All 

 the old bees go back to their own stand. 

 I always was careful not to get the old 

 queen from any hive. This can be done 

 by taking out the comb containing the 

 queen, and setting it by the side of the 

 hive. 



I always selected one or more combs 

 containing pollen, as the young bees 

 will not gather much for the first three 

 days. I gave water and stimulated with 

 diluted honey at evening, and if the 

 weather was unfavorable, kept up the 

 stimulation. On the fifth day take out 

 all unsealed larvse and queen-cells, then 

 insert two or more combs from my best 

 colony containing eggs and larvse just 

 hatched, cut out a strip just below the 

 young larvae for queen-cells. I would 

 succeed in rearing a splendid lot of 

 queens, large and prolific. The hive 

 was full of nursing-bees, and all pre- 

 pared to fill the queen-cells with abun- 

 dance of prepared food. 



1 was just foolish enough to think the 

 above a better plan than to take a pint 

 of old bees, or just as it happened, and 

 put them into a 6-inch square box, and 

 compel them to build or rear one or two 

 starved queens where the necessary 

 warmth and nourishment were lacking, 

 Of course, with Doolittle's book on prac- 

 tical queen-rearing, we have all that is 

 necessary now-a-days. 



Understand that I was not rearing 



queens for sale, but only for my own 

 use. Bees can certainly be improved, 

 as I have abundantly demonstrated to 

 my own satisfaction, and we can improve 

 the imported Italian instead of retro- 

 grading, as many have claimed hereto- 

 fore. 



Do not understand me as meaning 

 that my queens were as large as hens or 

 turkeys, but extra-large for queens. In 

 this climate I reared queens that would 

 almost occupy every available cell in a 

 10-frame Langstroth hive, by moving 

 the combs to the side of the hive filled 

 with sealed brood, occasionally. On such 

 a colony I placed two supers at extract- 

 ing time, and the two would be filled 

 ready for extracting as often as an ordi- 

 nary colony would fill one. 



Santa Ana, Calif. 



Some Ideas About Cross Bees 

 and Honey-Oatlierin;:^. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY T. I. DUGDALE. 



On page 398, I notice a few state- 

 ments made by one of the noted queen- 

 breeders in regard to cross bees, which 

 I think should be modified, to some ex- 

 tent at least. If past experience counts 

 for anything, I should say that the 

 burden of evidence is decidedly against 

 the theory advanced by that writer, and 

 if the reader will turn to the second 

 chapter of the Gospel by Luke, and the 

 14th verse, these words will be found : 

 " Glory to God in the highest, and on 

 earth peace, good-will to men." 



There are many sore and grevious 

 trials in this world to bear, and among 

 them may be classed a lot of detestably 

 cross bees following one from place to 

 place persistently, thus causing a person 

 to commit sin (in thought, at least) if 

 not openly. Taking it for granted that 

 the words mentioned is the foundation 

 of the Christian's hope, let us see how it 

 applies to the ordinary affairs of daily 

 life. 



Take, for example, an individual, a 

 family, a neighborhood, or a Nation, 

 and history tells us that the more peace- 

 able and enlightened, the more prosper- 

 ous they become, and on the other hand 

 a continual state of warfare and plunder 

 tends to lower and degrade. This same 

 state of affairs I contend exists with 

 animals, and amongst bees those colonies 

 which show the worst fighting traits, 

 are also apt to be the most given to rob- 

 bing, and, as the saying goes, are never 



