806 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



many instances reduce the local price 

 of the honey which is put up in good 

 style. 

 Theilmanton, Minn., Dec. 8, 1882. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Dry Clover Chaff for Packing Bees. 



G. L. PRAY. 



Having but a few colonies and lots 

 of dry goods boxes, I take a box large 

 enough to put the hive in, with a 4 or 

 5 inch space all around the hive, and 

 saw the box so that the top will be 

 slanting enough to run the water off, 

 and make a tight roof over the box. 

 I then tack two 2-inch strips across the 

 bottom of the box, on the inside, and 

 fill it up even with the top of the 2-ineh 

 strips with dry clover chaff, and lay 

 an inch board on that, and cut a hole 

 througli the box of the same size as 

 the entrance of the hive, covering it 

 on a level with the top of the inch 

 board, and then take the board out 

 and put tlie hive in the box, bottom 

 board and all, the entrance facing the 

 hole through the box and make a 

 bridge from tlie entrance of the hive to 

 the hole in tlie box, so the bees can go 

 out and in when they please, and pack 

 with dry clover chaff all around the 

 hive. 1 take the cloth over the frames 

 off, if it is thickly covered with wax 

 on the under side, and put on a thick 

 piece of factory cloth or canvas over 

 the frames, and then I cover the whole 

 hive with clover cliaff, about 6 or 7 

 inches thick, and put on the roof, and 

 keep the entrance all open in cold 

 weather, and keep the snow away from 

 the front of the box. The same can 

 be done with rough, cheap lumber. If 

 put away for winter in the above plan, 

 I think it is as safe to winter bees as 

 it is to winter sheep or calves, if they 

 have plenty of good honey, and lots of 

 bees, and a good queen. I have win- 

 tered my bees on this plan, with clover- 

 chaff packing, for the last 3 winters, 

 and have yet to lose the first colony 

 in wintering. 



Petoskey, Mich. 



1^ The Southeastern Michigan 

 Bee- Keepers' Association will hold 

 their annual meeting in the court- 

 house at Ann Arbor, Jan. 20, 1883. All 

 are invited. 



H. D. Cutting, Pres. 



G. J. Pease, Sec, Ann Arbor. 



(^ The Ohio State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will meet in Columbus, in 

 the rooms of the Ohio State Journal, on 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 9 and 

 10, 1883. A full attendance of mem- 

 bers, and all interested in bee-culture, 

 is requested, as matters of interest; 

 and importance will be discussed. 



Dr. H. Besse, Delaware, O., Pres. 



Daniel Speak, Cardington,0., ^ec. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1883. 



Time and Place of Meeting, 



Jan. 9.— Cortland Union, at Cortland. N. Y. 



M. C. Bean. Sec, McGrawville, N. Y. 



9.— Oliio State, at Columburt, Ohio. 



D. Spear. Sec, Cardington, Oliio. 



9-11, Nortbeastern. at Syracuse, N. Y. 



G. W. House. Fayetteyille. N. Y. 



11, Nebraslia Stale, at Wahoo, Neb. 



Geo. M. Hawlcy, Sec. 



16.— Eastern N. Y., at Albany. N. Y. 



E. Quakenbush. Sec. Barnerville, N. Y. 



18, ChamDlain Valley, at Middleburc, Vt. 



T. Brouktns, Spc 



19, 20.— Mahoning Valley, at Berlin Centre, O. 



Ij. Carson, Pres. 

 20.— S. W. Mich., at Ann Arbor. 



G. J. Pease, Sec, Ann Arbor. 

 Feb. 3.— Northern Ohio, at Norwallt, O, 



8.— Maine State, at Dexter. 



Wm. Uoyt. Sec 



April 5.— Utah, at Salt Laite City. 



E. Stevenson, Sec, 



May 11.— Iowa Central, at Winterset. 



J. E. Pryor.Sec. 

 — , —Texas State Convention, at McKinnev. 

 Dr. W. R. Howard. Sec. 

 Oct. 17, 18.— Northwestern, at Cbicaco, III. 



Thomas G. Newman, Sec 

 Dec. 5-6, Michigan State, at Flint. 



H. D. Cutting. Sec, Union. Mich. 



tST" la order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetinKs.- Ed. 



Read before the N. B. K. S. at Cincinnati. 



The Rearing of Good Queens. 



DB. J. P. H. BROWN. 



The matter of rearing queens with 

 a view to the improvement of our bees, 

 is certainly of no mean consideration 

 to the bee-keeper. It involves priuci- 

 pleSj collateral intluences and manip- 

 ulations, that, to discuss fully, would 

 require a volume instead of a short 

 paper. Hence I can do no more than 

 simply touch upon a few of the most 

 important points bearing upon the 

 subject. 



Before proceeding further it may be 

 well to refer to queens reared under 

 what is called the " swarminy impulse.'''' 

 This swarming fever, if it may be so 

 called, usually takes place under the 

 most favorable circumstances. The 

 colony is in the most prosperous con- 

 dition. It is crowded with worker 

 bees of every age. Drones make tlie 

 air resonant with their powerful wings. 

 Both honey and pollen are coming in 

 abundantly, and the atmosphere with- 

 in the hive is maintained at an even 

 temperature. The queen-cells that 

 are built are usually well developed, 

 particularly if in localities on the 

 comb favorable for their construction. 

 The food is bountifully supplied, and 

 the queens that come forth are mostly 

 good specimens of this class. 



These natural conditions of a colony 

 of bees when building queen-cells 

 must never be lost sight of by the 

 breeder of queens. They are all-im- 

 portant, for no good queens can be 

 reared without their observance. 



With these conditions kept con- 

 stantly in mind, the principles of rear- 

 ing queens may be formulated into the 

 following propositions : 



1. The hive must be well filled with 

 bees and the bulk of them must be 

 young ones. 



2. There must be a most abundant 

 supply of both pollen and honey. 



3. The amount of brood supplied 

 should be limited in quantity, in order 

 to concentrate the working force of 

 the colony, and it should em brace eggs 

 just hatching or larvae not over one 

 day old. 



■1. The temperature should be warm 

 enough not to chill the brood ; and the 

 weather mild, pleasant and settled. 



5. Drones must be flying. 



Now 1 believe it possible that collat- 

 eral intluences can be brought to bear 

 upon these natural conditions so that 

 they can be aided and directed toward 

 bee-improvement. These influences 

 may be summed up to be : 



1. Careful selection of breeding 

 stock witli special reference to those 

 qualities that it is desirable to perpet- 

 uate and add to. 



2. Selection of drones from the most 

 vigorousqueens whose worker progeny 

 are noted for size, strength, ana hoiiey- 

 gatliering capacitiy. 



3. Endeavoring to breed out bad 

 qualities and to breed in. good. 



i. A rigid system of pruning cells 

 and killing defective queens. 



That there is a capacity for improve- 

 ment in the honey bee, I think can 

 hardly be questioned. We know that 

 both plants and animals are endowed 

 with such a capacity, and why slioiild 

 the bee be an exception to this natural 

 law? 



Our very delicious and wholesome 

 aviple of the present day, was, origi- 

 nally, the sour, miserable Siberian 

 crab; our sweet and juicy peach was 

 from a bitter fruit of Asia ; our im- 

 proved Irish pottito sprang from an 

 insignificant tuber of South America. 

 Our short-horns and improved breeds 

 of cattle, our Essex and Berkshire 

 hogs, our fancy breeds of poultry, 

 pigeons, etc., have been brought to 

 their present state of high perfection 

 by intelligently and carefully breeding 

 up the wild originals. 



It may be asked by what modus op- 

 erandi can these improvements best 

 be effected ? Te the practical and 

 trained mind each of these collateral 

 propositions naturally suggests the 

 best method of applying the means to 

 secure the ends. 



Queen-rearing establishments should 

 be, if possible, located in isolated lo- 

 calities where there are no other apia- 

 ries to interfere. For this reason, 

 towns and \illages, where usually 

 abound many bees, are no fit places to 

 rear pure queens. All apiaries should 

 be supplied with pure stock. Objec- 

 tionable drones must be excluded. 

 Fertilization in coulinement would 

 smooth this task, but as this seems to 

 be, for practical results, off in the dis- 

 tant future, we must resort to some 

 other measures. By the use of the 

 knife, comb-foundation, and drone 

 traps, it becomes rather easy to regu- 

 late the drones in our own apiary ; 

 while the most available means must 

 be resorted to for their extermination 

 in contiguous apiaries. 



How far this improvement can be 

 carried with the bee is diflicult to de- 

 termine; as the organs of reproduction 

 in the queen, as well as her fertiliza- 

 tion, are anomalous— marvels I — a vol- 

 ume !l — so unlike the breeding of our 

 domestic animals, that the queen 



