PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK 



AT $1.00 PER ANNUM. 



35th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., AUG. 1, 1895. 



No. 31. 



Cot;)tributed /Vrticles^ 



Oji Important Apiarian Subjects. 



How to Improve Your Bees Cheaply. 



BT JAS. F. WOOD. 



This article is intended to help those to requeen their col- 

 onies that have either old or undesirable queens, and I trust 

 that many of my brother bee-keepers who cannot afford to 

 buy queens from good breeders will try to discard the queens 

 from all their cross colonies, as well as those that begin to fail 

 from old age. What is more annoying than to extract honey, 

 or in any way handle, a cross colony ? I believe all queens 

 from such colonies should be superseded for better stock. I 

 will give a method that I used succcessfully in an apiary of 

 over 50 colonies of black bees. 



I selected two of the strongest colonies that I had, and 

 started as many cells as I wished, which I think was about 20 

 in each hive (20 is all any colony should rear at the utmost 

 limit). These cells were reared from the most desirable col- 

 ony I had ; that is, the one that gave the largest yield of 

 honey, and at the same time were gentle. Here is the point 

 for you to look out for : Be sure to select for a breeder a col- 

 ony that is above the average as honey-gatherers. You can 

 easily designate your most industrious colonies, even if there 

 is no great flow of honey. 



I have not space in this article to tell you how to start 

 cells, but I think others have told this ; if not, I think any of 

 the standard books give at least one good method. I will say 

 briefly this : Stimulate your cell-building colonies by feeding 

 sugar syrup every evening until the cells are sealed, and feed 

 liberally. Mark the date that the cells are sealed, and be sure 

 to make no mistake. 



Now suppose the cells are all sealed, say Aug. 1 ; on Aug. 

 6 you should remove all your undesirable queens, and Aug. 7, 

 late in the afternoon, insert a cell in each of the queenless 

 colonies. Now in four or five days examine for cells, and if 

 you find the cell has hatched, and no other cells started, you 

 doubtless have a young queen, when the colony will need no 

 further examination until the young queen is 12 days old. 

 Examine all colonies that you gave cells now, and if you find 

 eggs in abundance in the center of the hive, you may rest as- 

 sured that colony is all right. Such will be the case with 

 nearly every colony. 



Some will doubtless lose their queens when they fly to 

 meet the drones. These queenless colonies should now be 

 supplied with a laying queen. (You can keep the best ones 

 that you remove, caged in full colonies that have queens, and 

 use them to supply what few are missing.) 



I have said nothing about controlling the drones while 



Wood Lily — {Lilium PJUladelphieum). 

 (Copyrighted by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.) 



•' Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; 

 They toil not, neither do they spin ; 

 And yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory 

 Was not arrayed like one of these." 



