428 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Floyd, Hunt Co., Tex. 



A Queen-Rearing Dialogue. 



(Continued from page 397). 



" Why not keep your breeder in a 

 small nucleus, and be done with it ?" 



I tried that, and the bees did not seem 

 to take hold and draw out the founda- 

 tion fast enough to suit me, and I just 

 keep my breeders in full colonies, and 

 then everything works like a charm. 

 Where we must have lots of queens, we 

 cannot depend upon any slow, uncertain 

 process. But, as A. I. Root says about 

 his force gardening, we have to force 

 things, and we must have full colonies 

 to do it, that's all. 



" How do you know when these cells 

 will hatch that you are grafting there ?" 



Why, you see, they were eggs three 

 days and larvae one day, making four 

 days, and as the queen hatches in 16 

 days, you see they will hatch in 12 

 days more. So, to be sure of things, I 

 work them to hatch 11 days hence, and 

 on the tenth day I remove them to 

 nuclei prepared to receive them. Am I 

 making all this plain enough for you ? 



" Yes, yes, I understand it all now. 

 But let me ask what you are going to 

 do with all these cells in this thing?" 



You see now my cells are nearly all 

 reared here at home, and these are 

 placed in this little rack with their 

 points all down. Well, the boys have 

 fixed them that way to carry to an out 

 yard, several miles away, and you see 

 these cells hang in this rack just like 

 they did in the hive, and by being care- 

 ful we can carry them without injury A 

 or 5 miles, and put them into nuclei 

 prepared for them. 

 *■ " How do you insert thb^n ?" 



Oh, I just go along the rows about as 

 fast as I can walk, and by the records 

 on top of the hives I know when I come 

 to one that needs a cell ; I just open it, 

 and place the cell down on the comb 

 near the brood, and gently bring the 

 next comb up just so that it will touch 

 the cell enough to hold it. I do it so 

 quickly that neither a smoker nor veil is 

 needed. I do not stay long enough at a 

 hive to sit dawn at all. 



Well, Charles, I am now ready to go 

 over to the Robinson yard, do you want 

 to go ? 



"Oh, yes, certainly. I'm here to-day 

 to learn, and I am ' getting there,' too, 

 and ' don't you forget it.' " 



Well, here we are. Now, if you will 

 hitch the pony I will get things ready. 



Now, here you see the record on this 

 hive — queen sent out to Geo. Smith, Aug. 

 26th? 



"Yes." 



Well, this is Aug. 29th, so you see the 

 queen has been out three days, and I 

 know that the colony needs a cell. 



"Why do you say "out to Geo. 

 Smith ?" 



You see by that I know exactly who 

 gets the queens from each nucleus, and 

 I can tell long before Mr. Smith can, 

 what kind of a queen he has, whether 

 she was pure, and all about her brood, 

 etc. 



" Oh, yes, I see. What have you got 

 a big shade over that one hive for, and 

 none over the rest ?" 



That is a powerful colony where I 

 keep my drones. Don't you see them 

 flying thick ? I usually keep this drone- 

 hive queenless, too, for it might swarm 

 away out here on this prairie, and carry 

 off all my fine drones. 



" Why don't you keep the drones in 

 nuclei, too, and then they would not 

 swarm ?" 



Oh, drones do not seem to fly nearly 

 so active and constant from nuclei as 

 they do from a strong colony. 



" Oh, yes ; I now see you believe in 

 'powerful colonies,' as you call them." 



That's what I do. I can do more with 

 one good, strong colony than with a 

 half-dozen weak ones. 



[To be continued.] 



My Experience in Bee-Keeping. 



I commenced bee-keeping three years 

 ago, and have grown very enthusiastic. 

 A friend gave me 5 colonies in box- 

 hives. He said the bees troubled his 

 stock so much at the well, and did him 

 no good, that he wanted to get rid of 

 them. I told him all right, and much 

 obliged. 



The next morning was a very frosty 

 morning in April, and sunrise found me 

 on my way home. When I got the bees 

 I knew there was work for me, for I had 

 never studied the culture of bees. I im- 

 mediately searched the advertising col- 

 umns of the papers, and in the course of 

 a few days I found an advertisement 



