1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



145 



is as I represent it to be. Now, I know it 

 is, and I wish to convince you of the fact." 



She replied, by sa3'ing, "Well, I gave 

 over the household duties several years ago, 

 for my time is nearly run, so it is now out 

 of my jurisdiction, and I guess I won't 

 have it." 



If I had stopped then I should have left 

 with the bottle of honey and not the wished- 

 for 17 cents. I was holding on by my teeth 

 and nails, and I continued to do so, the 

 more she persisted in not wanting it. I told 

 her that I felt sure that, if she thought the 

 article was good, and would recominend it 

 to the one who did the buying, she would 

 quickly buy it. 



She consented to do this, and went, and 

 came back saying that they would not want 

 it. 



I was about to give up, but I still had 

 one more chance. My locker still held one 

 shot which I kept as a last reserve, and I 

 now hred it in this manner: 



' ' Now, as I know my goods I am not 

 afraid of a proof or any test." 



I took out mj' penknife, cut the string, 

 took off mj'^ trademark, removed the paraf- 

 fine, and requested the lady to get me a 

 teaspoon, which she did. I told her to taste 

 it; and if it was not as represented I would 

 not say another word. 



She did as I asked, and said, "That 

 does taste good." After taking another sip, 

 "Well, I will take it." 



Now, this goes to show what perseverance 

 will do, and by what a small margin suc- 

 cess is separated from failure. It may also 

 show some beginner not to give up as long 

 as he can hold the attention of his possible 

 buj'er. 



Morton, Pa. 



SWARMINQ'CELLS VERSUS THOSE REARED IN 

 QUEENLESS COLONIES. 



Strong or Weak Colonies for Cell=building. 



BY H. G. OUIRIN. 



We have read with interest the various 

 articles published in the bee journals, un- 

 der the above caption. There appears to 

 exist quite a difference in opinion, especial- 

 ly betwixt Allej' and Dr. Gallup, the for- 

 mer claiming that as good queens can be 

 reared by a quart or so of bees (and even 

 less, we believe) as by a full colony under 

 the swarming impulse. From our own ex- 

 perience we came to the conclusion that it 

 is entirely immaterial whether the cells 

 are built bj* bees preparing to swarm or 

 by bees which have been made queenless; 

 the method used in rearing the cells has 

 nothing whatever to do with the quality of 

 the (jueens, as it is not the method, after 

 all, which produces the cells, but it is the 

 conditions brought about by the method. 



There are certain conditions absolutely 

 necessary for the rearing of cells, which 

 will produce good queens, and regardless of 

 what method is used; and should any one 



of these conditions fail to be present, poor 

 queens will be the result. 



In the first place, the larva from which 

 the queen or cell is started must not be too 

 old; in the second place, the embryo must 

 be given a sufficient amount of food, or 

 royal jelly, and the cells built and hatched 

 in the proper temperature. Moisture, also, 

 has an important bearing on the matter. 

 If there is any missing link in queen-rear- 

 ing, then we would say that that missing 

 link is the knack of being able to be sure 

 of having all the above con ditio ns p resent. 



In reading Dr. Gallup's articles one 

 might be tempted to think that he would 

 ha/e us believe that cells built under the 

 swarming impulse have some imponderable 

 influence entering into their composition, 

 which we are unable to make harmonize 

 with our past experience. 



The method used, and which is made a 

 success with one man, may prove an utter 

 failure in the hands of another, for the 

 simple reason that the one (perhaps through 

 long experience) is capable of having and 

 arranging all the details necessary for the 

 rearing of good cells, or, in other words, he 

 has learned by practice how to have all the 

 conditions necessarj' present. 



It is possible for a quart of bees to raise 

 one and perhaps two cells, which will pro- 

 duce good queens; but a strong colony pre- 

 paring to swarm will raise a larger number 

 of good queens. 



Parkertown, O. 



[If we could have all the conditions nam- 

 ed present, I have no doubt that cells from 

 a queenless colony would be as good as 

 those built under the swarming impulse. 

 The trouble is. it is difficult to get all the 

 conditions just the same; and the average 

 bee-keeper will come a long way short of 

 it. I think we ma}' generally say that the 

 queens from swarming-cells are, as a rule, 

 better than those from a colon}' made queen- 

 less; or, in other words, natural cells are 

 better than forced cells. We believe we 

 can rear just as good queens in queenless 

 colonies at Medina; but to bring about the 

 conditions that exist during swarming time, 

 the colony must be fed a little every day, 

 otherwise the young larva will not be lav- 

 laii.y icJ — one of the necessary conditions 

 which you name. But there are times when 

 robbers are very bad, and when it is quite 

 difficult to give the small daily feeds with- 

 out getting bees stirred up. At such times 

 it is not an easy matter to get first-class 

 cells. 



While I believe we can raise just as good 

 cells under one condition as the other, yet I 

 can not help feeling that Dr. Gallup's con- 

 tention is, in the main, correct when ap- 

 plied to the average bee-keeper; and there- 

 fore I urge the inexperienced, as a rule, 

 who desire to rear only a few queens, to 

 raise them during the swarming time, when 

 there will be an abundance of swarming- 

 cells from choice queens. This requires no 

 knack, and little or no experience, because 



