AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



429 



that read, " Everything needed in an 

 apiary." I at once sent a postal card 

 asking for a catalogue of supplies. 



As soon as the catalogue came, I 

 chose and ordered a Simplicity hive for 

 a pattern to make my hives by ; but by 

 the time my pattern came, and I had 

 made my hives and transferred the bees, 

 the season had advanced so far that I 

 got only a few pounds of surplus that 

 season ; but, by the way, I thought of 

 something else when I sent for the hive, 

 and that was, I didn't know anything 

 about bees. So I ordered " A B C of 

 Bee-Culture," and also an Italian queen 

 and a nucleus. 



Now, when I had reached this point, 

 I found I had not yet started, so at it I 

 went, the biggest lesson I ever had. 



I have since then studied, manipu- 

 lated and experimented, have read the 

 American Bee Journal for more than 

 a year, and, to sum it all up, I think I 

 have a pretty general idea of the busi- 

 ness. Mr. Root will please accept my 

 thanks for the easy way and great pains 

 he has taken to make known the mys- 

 teries connected with the business, in 

 his " A B C of Bee-Culture." 



To make a long story short, I can say 

 that in 1890 I had 5 colonies in box- 

 hives ; transferred and got them well 

 started, and in good condition for win- 

 ter. In 1891 I learned to handle and 

 Italianize bees, and secured an average 

 of 40 pounds of honey per colony, and 

 a fair increase of bees. 



The spring of 1892 found me with 14 

 colonies, and up to the present, after a 

 very severe early season, I have secured 

 a reasonable crop of honey, some colo- 

 nies having gathered something over 80 

 pounds of surplus each. 



I may perhaps tell in the future some- 

 thing I have learned ; and, if you don't 

 watch me, I may tell something I havn't 

 learned. W. H. White. 



Deport, Tex., Sept. 12, 1892. 



Experiments in Queen-Rearing. 



I have been experimenting for five 

 years in queen-rearing, and with as 

 many methods as you could guess in five 

 minutes, and with good results. I first 

 reared queens by the "slam-bang" 

 method. What I call "slam-bang" is to 

 remove a queen and let the bees have 

 their own way in rearing or building 

 cells. 



My second method was to remove all 

 brood from a colony, and give them eggs 

 from my choice stock, and have cells 



built on the comb at any place, cut them 

 out, and insert them in other combs in 

 nucleus hives. I found that was a smash- 

 up and destruction to young bees, so I 

 abandoned that method, and then went 

 to work to see what could be done 

 in the way of getting cells built on strips 

 of combs ; one row of cells cut from the 

 combs containing eggs, and then getting 

 a comb around under the bottom and_ 

 fastening one end to the left corner, and 

 bringing it to the right and fastening 

 the other end with the cell-cups down. 

 Before I fasten this strip on I kill every 

 other egg, and then I place the comb in 

 a hive that I had prepared the day pre- 

 vious. 



The way in which I prepare my hive 

 is to take queen and all brood except one 

 comb, to another point in the yard, and 

 set up a nucleus hive. I shake all the 

 bees from seven combs, and only leave 

 the bees on three combs to start the new 

 colony. Now I have a hive booming 

 with bees to build cells. 



I now take the comb I left with the 

 brood in, move to the new hive, and 

 leave the comb with the cell strip un- 

 der the bottom with eggs, for queen- 

 cells are all the eggs that are in the 

 hive. I then go to other hives and get 

 comb that has no eggs nor brood in 

 them, and put into hive No. 1, and close 

 it. On the fourth day afterwards I open 

 hive No. 1, and examine the comb con- 

 taining cells, when I generally have an 

 average of about 12 cells. I then leave 

 them until they are 12 days old, and 

 then I cut them out and place them in 

 a nucleus hives to hatch and be mated. 



This method gives the finest cells that 

 I ever saw, and also fine, large queens, 

 which are very prolific. I also find that 

 they are superior to any queens reared 

 in any other way. 



I forgot to say that when I got a row 

 of cells sealed, I removed them to a 

 nucleus where I had previously removed 

 the queen for this purpose, and I insert 

 the second comb with another row of 

 cells, and when they are nearly com- 

 pleted I carry them to another hive, in- 

 sert a cell of the former rearing, and 

 have a queen hatched in the hive, and 

 have another, or others, building cells 

 under the same management. 



I find that queens are uniform in size 

 and color, that the bees are better work- 

 ers, on an average, as well as larger and 

 gentler. J. W. Taylor. 



Ozan, Ark. 



Friend T., your plan as given above, 

 is similar to the Alley method, and is a 

 good way. 



