THE AMERICAJS BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



"controversy" and "discussion." I 

 know tliat controversy is often very 

 hot, especially between rival schools 

 of theology and medicine. I also 

 know thai Irishmen sometimes have 

 what they call " a discooshun wid 

 sticks." 

 Guelph, Ont. 



For tbe American Bee JuurnaU 



Lami! Nursery ts. tlie Queen-Nursery, 



HENRY ALLEY. 



On page 120, Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson 

 gave some of the reasons why he used 

 the lamp nursery. Some of the rea- 

 sons he gave why he uses the " lamp 

 nursery " are just the reasons why I 

 cannot use such a contrivance for 

 hatching queen-cells. Any arrange- 

 ment that requires attention as often 

 as once in " two hours," will not do 

 for me. How does Mr. II. manage 

 such an apparatus during the night V 

 If the proper temperature is kept up, 

 queens will hatch as readily in the 

 night as in the daytime. 



In the early days of my queen-rear- 

 ing business, I was obliged to watch 

 a '• hatching-machine " that required 

 as much attention as the " lamp 

 nursery," and during the season that 

 I was obliged to work the hardest I 

 was deprived of sleep and rest at night 

 in order to save all of the young 

 queens that were about to emerge. 

 Well, I do no watching now-a-days. 

 One day I decided to devise a " queen 

 nursery," and now I can go to bed 

 and get up when I please, as far as 

 hatching queens is concerned. 



By the use of the queen-nursery I 

 manage to get along with half the 

 number of nuclei that my queen- 

 rearing business would otherwise 

 require. Each " nursery " of 18 cages 

 is equal to the same number of nuclei 

 hives; if no nursery cages were used, 

 so many more hives would be needed. 



I remove a fertile queen from a 

 nucleus, and in 3 days I introduce an 

 infertile one of the proper age to 

 make the mating flight the same day. 

 Sometimes when the weather is un- 

 favorable, I am obliged to introduce 

 virgin queens that are 2 weeks old ; 

 but I can do it as well as I can in- 

 troduce those that have just emerged 

 from the cell. All of my queens are 

 introduced at night, that is, about 

 sunset, by methods that I have given. 

 If the weather is favorable, they are 

 pretty sure to be fertilized the next 

 day. I place the cells in the nursery 

 cages on the day after they are sealed, 

 and before night many of the queens 

 will emerge. After the cells are 

 placed in the nursery, I give no more 

 attention to them until the queens 

 are old enough to make the " mar- 

 riage " flight. 



1 never saw one word in print that 

 would indicate that Mr. Hutchinson 

 ever used a " queen-nursery." I rather 

 suspect that he is as much of an old 

 fogy concerning the queen " nursery" 

 as I was regarding the bellows-smoker. 

 After using a tin pipe for 20 years, in 

 which I could burn only tobacco, it 

 was pretty hard to convince me that 

 the " new-fangled " smoker was as 



good as my old pipe ; but when a 

 friend sent me an improved I5ingham 

 bellows-smoker, and I had tested it, 

 I found that it was superior to any 

 thing I had used for smoking bees. I 

 would suggest to Mr. Hutchinson 

 that he would have less watching to 

 do and less trouble if he should use 

 some good "queen-nursery" in con- 

 nection with his "lamp nursery;" 

 have his queen-cells built so that they 

 can be easily and quickly separated, 

 and place them in cages. No queen 

 would then be lost even it a dozen 

 should emerge at one time. Now, 

 Mr. II,. try one of the new " queen- 

 nurseries," and you will not say 

 another word in favor of the " lamp 

 nursery " for rearing queens. 

 "\Vennam,(^ Mass. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Nortlieasterii l\\Mm Coiiventiou, 



The annual address of President R. 

 L. Taylor was as follows :— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson, Sec. 



I congratulate you to-day upon the 

 the strides forward that the vocation 

 to which we are so devoted has made 

 during the year that has lately closed. 

 But few continue to engage in api- 

 culture and attend conventions of 

 bee-keepers who are not deeply inter- 

 ested in all that pertains to tbe busi- 

 ness, so I congratulate you, too, that 

 our vocation is one which our hearts 

 and hands work together with alacrity. 

 Thrice unhappy is he whose heart re- 

 bels at the work his hands must do ; 

 thrice fortunate is he whose steps, 

 though quick, lag behind the inter- 

 ested rapidity of his soul. Interested 

 as you are in the honey-bee, and 

 coming here as you do to hear, speak 

 and learn about it, I should but weary 

 you were I to devote the time allotted 

 me to any other subject, or to mere 

 generalities upon this subject, so I 

 shall speak specifically of various 

 matters connected with bee-keeping. 



The Pollen Theory.— Many, no 

 doubt, are still interested in this 

 theory. Some have decided for or 

 against it ; others are still inquiring. 

 My experience in wintering bees dur- 

 ing the last winter — the most disas- 

 trous of all vsinters to bee-keepers— is 

 to my mind a striking corroboration 

 of the truth of the pollen theory. I 

 put into the cellar 19.5 colonies, all 

 deprived of bee-bread by exchanging 

 their combs for empty ones entirely 

 or almost entirely free from that 

 nitrogenous food. So far as I was 

 able to judge after repeated and thor- 

 ough examination, I had no normal 

 colony but what wintered perfectly ; 

 while during the two preceding win- 

 ters, imder apparently more favorable 

 circumstances respecting tempera- 

 ture, my bees that were provided 

 with the ordinary amount of bee-bread 

 and occupying the same cellar, suf- 

 fered very severely. This is not a 

 demonstration of the truth of the 

 pollen theory, for in apiculture un- 

 discovered circumstances often strik- 

 ingly alter cases; but has it not a 

 tendency in that direction y It is 



amusing to witness the asurnption 

 and to examine thereasoningof many 

 of the opponents of this theory. They 

 are heard on every hand, declaring 

 with Mr. J. E. Pond, Jr., viz : "As 

 yet, however, this theory has no proof 

 ill its favor ;" and that " the fact that 

 bees do survive the severest winters 

 with large quantities of pollen left in 

 their hives, and do not survive at 

 times when ihey have no pollen at all, 

 is positive proof that the theory is not 

 correct." 



What is the pollen theory ? Do its 

 enemies claim that it teaches that the 

 " leaving of bee-bread in the hive " by 

 a colony of bees is a cause of imper- 

 fect wintering V or that it teaches 

 that bees always survive the winter 

 if bee-bread is absent ? I had sup- 

 posed tliat it was the consumption of 

 bee-bread and not the " leaving of it 

 in the hive " that the believers in the 

 theory think to be injurious, and I do 

 not understand that they deny that 

 colonies perish sometimes by reason 

 of other causes than that of bee-bread 

 eating. 



Foundation in Wired Frames.— 

 There are many experienced apiarists 

 who are still of the opinion that it is 

 not desirable to use foundation in 

 wired frames. I think that such are 

 in a serious error. If it were a mere 

 matter of convenience— of ease in 

 fixing foundation in frames, and of 

 certainty in knowing that it will stay 

 in place invariably when given to 

 strong colonies, I could understand it; 

 for some men like their own way even 

 with uncertainty. But from my ex- 

 perience during the last season with 

 1S5 colonies in which I had in use 

 several hundred combs made from 

 foundation used without wires, along 

 side of those made from foundation 

 on wires, I declare that there is a far 

 more important point involved than 

 mere convenience. It is a question 

 of strength of colonies, and so of suc- 

 cess or failure. I believe that the 

 time is near when every intelligent 

 apiarist who uses foundation for 

 brood-combs will use it in wired 

 frames. There is not one comb in a 

 hundred drawn out in strong colonies 

 from foundation fastened into un- 

 wired frames in which the cells are 

 not more or less enlarged by the 

 stretching of the foundation ; and this 

 will be found true without reference 

 to the quality of the wax used, or to 

 the manner in which the foundation 

 is made, or to the machine used in 

 making it. "Wax will stretch under 

 the heat and weight of a strong 

 colony unless it is strengthened in 

 some way or made heavier than it 

 ought to be. I found in examining 

 hive after hive repeatedly, that the 

 queen occupied such combs with ex- 

 treme reluctance even when placed in 

 the middle of the brood-nest, and un- 

 der compulsion she would fill only 

 about one- half of the comb with eggs; 

 while wired frames, standing next to 

 them, had brood up to the top-bar. 



House Apiaries.- During the past 

 fall I built a honey-house and a bee- 

 cellar which, so far, have proved very 

 satisfactory. Some may be sufficiently 

 interested to know how they are 

 made. The house is 30 feet square, 



