1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



561 



cell-furnishing. That method should be pop- 

 ular with modern bee-keeping M. D.'s. 



We may confine the queen on one or more 

 frames of brood at one side of the hive, the 

 cells being completed on the other side. To 

 do this we must use a tight-fitting queen- 

 excluding division-board, making s^ure that' 

 the queen can not pass around it at any 

 point, or our cells may be destroyed. Or, 

 we may saw grooves in the ends of the hive- 

 body, cutting the division-board of perfoi'- 

 ated zinc of such size that the ends will fit 

 in these grooves; but even then the bottom 

 is to be provided for. 



With all these points in view I constructed 

 my cell-trough several years ago, and after 

 extensive trial I can say that it is very effect- 

 ual and exceedingly handy. Refei'ence to 



atwater's cell-trough for getting 

 queen-cells started. 



the cut will explain the construction. It is 

 18 1\ inches long, 91 deep, wide enough to 

 hold three frames easily. The ends are of 

 tin, soldered to the sides of queen-excluding 

 zinc, while the bottom is a thin board to 

 which sides and ends are nailed. The top- 

 bars, on which it hangs, are ix^xl9, nailed 

 to the upper edges of the queen-excluding 

 zinc. 



To use, go to a strong colony, take out 

 four frames, two of them hatching brood; 

 hang the cell-trough in the middle of the 

 hive. Inside the cell-trough put a frame of 

 emerging brood, if possible at each side, be- 

 ing sure that the queen is not in the cell- 

 trough. Close the hive; and as soon as the 

 bees are clustered in the vacant space in the 

 middle of the cell-trough, put in a frame of 

 started cell-cups from your cell-starters. 

 Here they may remain for ten or eleven days, 

 when they should be distributed to nuclei or 

 be caged. 



This device will fit in any standard hive, 

 and is always available. Of course, use a 

 small quilt over the cell-trough, to prevent 

 the queen fi'om entering it at the top. 



To secure fine queens from early cells 



there are some essentials not generally em- 

 phasized as they should be. Select several 

 colonies, some time before they will have to 

 work on the cells. Feed, if the fields are not 

 furnishing an ample supply. Every few days 

 exchange their unsealed brood for frames of 

 emerging brood from other colonies. As soon 

 as your selected colonies are running over 

 with nurse-bees, put in the cell-trough and 

 give them a supply of cells to finish. Watch 

 that they do not swarm. The queens so 

 reared will be equal to the best. 

 Meridian, Idaho. 



[The Atwater cell-trough is in principle 

 very much like a plan that we describe in 

 our little book, "Modern Queen-rearing," 

 with the exception that we used two tight- 

 fitting perforated-zinc division-boards that 

 reach from bottom to cover. The principle 

 is the same, and is all right. Mr. Atwater 

 shows he is familiar with the general subject 

 of queen-rearing by the references he makes 

 to the various methods, all of which have some 

 good features to recommend them. — Ed.] 



EXPERIMENTS AVITH BABY NUCLEI. 



Shall this Method of Fertilizing Queens be 

 Perpetuated ? 



BY ROBERT B. M CAIN. 



[The following' article, as will be seen by the dates 

 which follow, was written over a year ag'o; but it was 

 mislaid, and not discovered until lately. "What the 

 writer has to say, therefore, relates to the small 

 Pratt baby nuclei, then in use, and not to the larger 

 twin matiny-boxes that are used at the present time. 

 Mr. McCain's experience with these small mating- 

 boxes was about the same as that of most of the others 

 who tested them. But there were a few who made 

 quite a success of them, and possibly are using them to- 

 day in preference to any thing else. Under some con- 

 ditions they will mate queens very satisfactorily; but, 

 of course, they should never be used to rear cells. 



The larger twin mating-boxes have a capacity of 

 three frames, each frame being a third the size of the 

 Langstroth in brood capacity. The aggregate comb 

 surface of the two bunches of bees that are practically 

 one is very nearly three Langstroth frames. — Ed.] 



The season of 1905 marks the time of the 

 introduction, in a general way, of the baby- 

 nucleus plan of queen-fertilization. A most 

 important question to be decided before a 

 new season of queen- breeding begins is, 

 "Shall this method be perpetuated?" Obvi- 

 ously the question must be decided on the 

 merits of the system under severe practical 

 tests. Many bee-keepers have been preju- 

 diced against the use of the system; more 

 have seemed to misunderstand it. But nei- 

 ther prejudice nor ignorance should have 

 weight in determining the value of new dis- 

 coveries or improvements in methods of pro- 

 cedui'e in any department of human activity. 



After a careful trial of the system, extend- 

 ing through the entire season of 1905, the 

 writer has been driven, against his will, to 

 feel that the system ought to be condemned. 



One reason for making this statement is 

 that the system is not only out of harmony 

 with but is, to some extent, contrary to the 

 natural economy of the bee-hive. Bee-mas- 

 ters must work with and not against the in- 



