190^ 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1141 



public, and require no further introduction 

 by me. There has been a great deal of ac- 

 tive work done by the inspectoi's, and much 

 more foul- brood found than was expected 

 by any one. However, Ontario bee-keepers 

 expect to have a very much improved con- 

 dition by autumn. Ontario is the only 

 province in the Dominion having a foul- 

 brood act. It is time for a change in this 

 respect. 



QUEEN-CELLS IN UPPER STORIES 

 OVER EXCLUDERS. 



WILLIAM MCEVOY, 

 WOODLAWN. 



J. ALPAUGH, DOB- 



BINTON. 



H. G. SIBBALLS, 

 CLAUDE. 



JAMES ARMSTKONG, 

 CHEAPSIDE. 



M. B. HOLMES, 

 ATHENS. 



J. L. BYER, 

 MOUNT JOY. 



This is all free government inspection; and 

 as the field to be covered is large, the bee- 

 keeper desiring inspection of his own or his 

 neighbor's apiary must send the request to 

 the inspector in charge, or to P. W. Hodg- 

 etts, of the Department of Agriculture, Par- 

 liament Buildings, Toronto. 



Brantford, Ont. 



Hundreds of Large Cells Produced, and 

 None Torn Down by the Bees ; Un- 

 der-sized Cells Likely to 

 be Destroyed. 



BY BENJ. A. FORD. 



When I read that Jay's article in the April 

 15th issue I was very much puzzled to learn 

 how his bees destroy queen-cells. I must 

 say I do not understand why the bees should 

 tear them down. I have been rearing queens 

 for nearly 20 years, and always put cells 

 anywhere I choose so long as the queen can 

 not get at them, and I very seldom have any 

 torn down by the bees. Last August I had 

 about 100 cells on several different frames in 

 an upper story above the excluder, with the 

 laying queen below. I kept this colony for 

 that purpose; and as fast as a batch of cells 

 were hnished they were removed from the 

 colony that had built them and placed in the 

 upper story of this hive, to be cared for un- 

 til the day before time for them to hatch, or 

 when they had been capped for seven days; 

 then they are cut out or separated, and given 

 to nuclei. Many are given as soon as the 

 laying queen is removed, and I seldom 

 have any torn down or the queen killed. In 

 nearly all cases the young queen will be 

 found laying ten days after the old queen 

 was removed if the nuclei have been proper- 

 ly stimulated by feeding, and the weather 

 suitable for the young queens to take llight. 



My experience has been that every inferi- 

 or or poorly fed cell will be destroyed unless 

 the bees have been queenless for a day or 

 two; but a large well-developed cell that will 

 produce a queen equal to the best nauiral- 

 reared queens will always be accepted ])y the 

 bees in any colony if it is nearly reatly to 

 hatch. 



INTRODUCING NEWLY HATCHED QUEENS 

 WITHOUT RE5IOVING THE OLD ONES. 



Some time last year I read something in 

 some paper about superseding old queens by 

 letting a newly hatched queen run down be- 

 tween the frames without removing the old 

 • [ueen. I have tried that with good success, 

 and think that, where the old queen is near- 

 ly worthless, it will work all right, and the 

 same thing can be done with a cell that is 

 nearly ready to hatch or where the young 

 queen is just beginning to gnaw out; Imt I 

 would advise putting the cell l^etween the 

 side of the hive and the first frame. 



QUEENS FROM UPPER STORIES FERTILIZED 



I have had many queens fertilized from 

 upper stories above the excluder, and it works 

 to perfection. All that is necessary is to have 

 an entrance for each story. I have a neigh- 

 bor bee-keeper who had four queens in four 

 bodies, with excludei's between, last summer; 

 and as fast as his colony became strong 

 enough he would add another story and give 

 them a cell, and in due time the queen would 

 be found laying. 



Whitman, Mass. 



