532 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



August 25, 



about religion — only makes him the more firm in his own be- 

 lief, or unbelief. 



When you start in on a town malce a thorough canvass, 

 for you may make sales when you least expect. By leaving 

 your circulars with every one, you will make friends and ac- 

 quaintances who will buy at your second or third trip. 



On covering the same ground awhile after my first trip, I 

 called where I had sold a lady some honey, expecting another 

 order. She brought out my honey, nearly unused, and candled 

 solid, and said, "Sugar! You cheated me; no honey." Of 

 course I delivered a lecture on the nature and properties of 

 candied honey, but I fear she thought I was lying, for she 

 never made her second purchase. By all means, put in some 

 explanations in your circulars about the nature of honey, 

 temperature to keep It, etc. 



Now here is something for you to try ; After canvassing 

 a town carefully, calling at every house, turn right around 

 and go over the same ground the second time. My brother 

 went over my ground after me In this way, and he said, " I 

 can sell more honey than you can on the same ground." My 

 answer was, "That Is nothing ; I got the people in the notion, 

 and you happened along and got the order." I have repeat- 

 edly gotten orders where I supposed I had fooled my time 

 away, when I happened to call back for some reason or 

 another. 



Right there in Tiffin, at the very start, the pretty girl 

 told me I was " sweet enough without honey;" and another 

 said, "It takes money to buy honey; isn't that funny?" and 

 the same jokes have followed along all these years, even down 

 to the present day. 



To me, the work of selling honey Is most fascinating. 

 Meeting so many people, hearing their crude remarks on bees, 

 honey, etc., giving them tastes of honey, and hearing their ex- 

 clamations of delight — "Isn't that fine? That is honey. 

 That is bee honey. My, but don't that take me back to the 

 old farm in Pennsylvania? My uncle kept a bee out In Illinois 

 when I was a child," etc. I often say, "Iget my money's 

 worth in the fun I have, and what I make is clear gain." 



The only drawback of consequence In the honey-trade Is, 

 the people who eat honey are too small a percent of the whole 

 number, and those who eat honey don't eat enouQh. This 

 necessitates covering a wide range of territory so as not to 

 call on the same family oftener than once in three or four 

 months. 



Those who like your honey and want more can call at 

 your house or drop you a postal card. Perhaps It would be 

 wise to say In your circular, " Mail orders promptly attended 

 to." 



LContlnued next week.l 



Queen-Rearing — Some of the Ingenious Plans 



and Devices Now Employed in the 



Business. 



BY W. H. PBIDGEN. 



This article will not treat of all the ways by which queens 

 can be reared ; nor of such as work well under the most favor- 

 able circumstances, with the least labor, but, at other times, 

 are attended with a partial or total failure. Instead, it will 

 give a sure way of securing good ones and having cell-cups In- 

 variably accepted, whether the honey-flow is continuous, or 

 feeding has to be resorted to, and It is suited to the rearing of 

 a few or to queen-rearing on an extensive scale. 



The preparation of the cell-builders Is an important fac- 

 tor. To begin with, we will fill a hive with combs of brood, 

 without bees, taking from the colonies that can best spare 

 them, substituting empty combs or frames filled with founda- 

 tion. Place this brood over a populous colony with a queen- 

 excluder between. Ten days later remove all queen-cells, If 

 any; give the hive-body a top and bottom, set the lower hive 

 containing the queen off a few feet, and the other in its place. 

 If the bees are flying freely, the queenless half will be ready 

 to accept a batch of cells in four or five hours. 



This plan has the advantage of having young bees added 

 to the cell-builders, for a day or two, from the part containing 

 the queen and brood, and adds much to the quality of the 

 young queens. 



When the batch cf queen-cells are removed, select the 

 next colony for cell-bullding; find the queen and hang the comb 

 she Is on In an empty hive near by. Set her hive off its stand, 

 and the former cell-builders on it with an empty body over the 

 latter. Now shake the bees from nearly all the combs In 

 among the queenless bees ; return the comb and queen, and 

 place her hive where the queenless one stood. In a few hours, 

 or as soon as the bees become restless, or show the queenless 



sign, they will be ready for cell-building. As they have no 

 brood, we must not forget to place a comb on each side of the 

 cells as soon as they are sealed ; as it has a good effect gen- 

 erally and prevents the bees from gnawing off the points of 

 the cells too soon. Besides, If this is not done, this operation 

 cannot be repeated more than twice before laying workers 

 will appear, and then we will have to start with a new set of 

 combs. In fact, when the second batch is removed, the queen 

 from the next colony to be prepared should be given to them, 

 the bees to build the next cells shaken off on combs free from 

 unsealed brood, and the brood placed over an excluder, as in 

 the first case, to be used ten days later for cell-building. If 

 one is in so much of a hurry that ten days is too long to wait, 

 the first batch can be built by bees prepared as in the last 

 case by forming a nucleus with the queen, or otherwise dis- 

 posing of her. 



Whenever the combs are to be used the second time, by 

 exchanging places and shaking bees into the hive so as to get 

 young ones, the brood given about the time the cells are 

 sealed should be from over an excluder or from bees long 

 enough queenless so that all the brood will be sealed by the 

 time the first batch of cells mature, then it will not have to be 

 removed. The main Idea Is to have bees just deprived of their 

 queen and of unsealed brood. The cups can be given in an 

 hour or so when they have some sealed brood. 



Those who do not desire increase, but wish to rear a few 

 queens, cau hive the swarm on empty combs on the old stand, 

 cage the queen and place her on the frames and return her to 

 the parent colony at night. 



The cells should be given as soon as they can be prepared 

 after the swarm is hived ; and when they are mature the par- 

 ent colony returned to Its former position, having been set 

 back a few feet, at the time of swarming, and the swarm 

 shaken from the combs. 



No one can tell. In one article, of all of the little things 

 connected with the manipulation of the bees or anything else 

 about queen-rearing, but It Is hoped that some Ideas will be 

 advanced that will aid others in properly varying matters ac- 

 cording to circumstances, for no one can make a success of It 

 unless he can do some planning and thinking for himself. 



The dipping-stick should be made as shown in the illus- 

 tration, and not larger than 5/16 of an inch In diameter. 

 The tapering part should be 5/16 of an inch long ; reduced 

 rapidly for the first ^' of an inch and then gradually reduced 

 to the end. It should slip Into a worker-cell ^g of an inch be- 

 fore filling the mouth of the cell, form a sink in the wax-cup 

 that will bear sufficient pressure to make the cocoon fit snugly 

 without touchiug the bottom. 



The stick should be dipt rather less than H' of an inch 

 deep into the wax, and four dips complete a cup and attach It 

 to the bar. For the first three times hold the stick so that 

 the drops wlil form and set on first one side and then the 

 other, and thus form a foot to fit in the notches, as shown in 

 bar with cells attacht. [See the cut on page 535.] Then 

 loosen it up on the stick, dip again, place in the notch, and it 

 will adhere, and not snap off when when the transferor cocoon 

 is made. The notches are exactly '» of an Inch apart from 

 center to center, and the tin divisions In the nursery the same, 

 so that a whole batch can be placed Into it without detaching 

 the cells. 



Some may imagine that the notches in the bar interfere 

 with the cutting off the cells when It is desirable to do so, but 

 such is not the case, as a table-knife inserted at one side of a 

 cell will easily pry it out. After a bar Is notcht it should be 

 mopt with melted wax, especially in the notches, before the 

 cups are attacht. During a honey-flow the cells are joined 

 together by the bees building wax between, but they ran be 

 easily separated with a hot knife. Any number of cups de- 

 sired can be used. I usually have IS, and out of five batches 

 built within the last few days there were only three cups re- 

 jected. 



Cut out the lower half of a comb and notch the end-bars 

 of the brood-frame even with the part left, and by having the 

 slat or bar (I use bars Kx?< of an Inch) just the right length 

 they can be sllptin and out very handily. 



Instead of alternating the cells, I now have them built In 

 one straight row, so as to be convenient to Insert in the nur- 

 sery. If it is not desirable to remove and Introduce the young 

 queens as fast as they hatch, which I prefer doing, so as to 

 discard such as I do not like, it will be found that the cells 

 win be be more readily accepted if protected by the nursery 

 until the first queen emerges. 



I have not yet determined how many days in advance of 

 hatching It will do to protect the cells with the nursery, and 

 thus reduce the number of days of queenlessness by the cell- 

 builders. 



The comb should be quite old, such as has been used for 



