AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



571 



enough comb with the cell, so as not to 

 compress the cell in the least. 



Be sure to destroy all other cells 

 started by these black bees. 



I would keep this old colony, rearing 

 these cells, queenless so as to preserve 

 the drones, as the drouth will usually 

 have ended the black drones before this 

 time. We can also keep our bees pretty 

 free from black drones by shaving down 

 the drone brood once every 15 days. 



No man ought to think of having 40 

 colonies of Italian bees without a book 

 treating on bees and queen-rearing. The 

 above is one easy method of Italianizing. 



State Line, Ind. 



Hot to Rear tlie Best Queens, 



C. L. FISHER. 



Why not produce 20 good queen-cells 

 in each batch, as well as 12 or 15, as 

 nearly all queen-breeders claim to do ? 

 They say, because a colony cannot 

 furnish enough royal jelly to properly 

 mature a greater number. Very good ! 

 We know that to rear the best queens 

 the cells must be well supplied with the 

 food, but here I will say that I believe 

 there are more queens put on the market 

 that were reared with too little of the 

 jelly, than there is of those that had 

 plenty. 



A few years ago I reared queens quite 

 extensively, and, not being suited with 

 any of the old or new methods in detail, 

 I aimed to improve on them so as to pro- 

 duce queens superior to those reared 

 under the swarming impulse — if such a 

 thing was possible — and I will try to 

 prove to you that I succeeded, for I 

 never bought queens as prolific and long- 

 lived as those I reared by my improved 

 method, some points of which were 

 taken from both Doolittle's and Alley's 

 methods. 



When I am handling combs, or over- 

 hauling colonies of bees, I save all the 

 little queen-cups that I find. I fasten 

 these to combs, ten or twelve to each 

 comb, in such position that they can be 

 removed without disturbing one another. 



About April 15 1 unite two good colo- 

 nies of bees, and introduce my breeding 

 queen, then feed them a little each night 

 to induce rapid building up, and cause 

 them to have a desire to swarm about 

 the time I want to start my first batch 

 of cells. 



Now, examine the combs carefully, 

 and if you find any queen-cells started, 

 destroy them, for you do not know their 



exact age, and when they would hatch — 

 which you should know. Hang two of 

 the combs which contain the queen-cups 

 in the hive near the center, and look at 

 them night and morning until you find 

 eggs in the cups, then you will know 

 when they will hatch. 



Allow them to remain in the hive 

 three days after the eggs hatch. At 

 evening of the third day, select a strong 

 colony, well supplied with young bees, 

 remove the queen and all the brood and 

 eggs (be sure to get every egg), close the 

 hive with wire netting, and carry them 

 into the cellar. Let them remain there 

 until 8 o'clock next morning, then put 

 them out oh their old stand, take the 

 combs containing the partly fed queen- 

 larvae from the breeding hive, and brush 

 (not shake) off the bees, and quickly put 

 them into the other hive. After ten 

 minutes give the bees their liberty. 



By following out this method your 

 queen-brood will get a double supply of 

 jelly, and what is left after the queens 

 hatch will appear as fresh as when first 

 deposited in the cells, and the queens 

 thus treated will be something extra. 



When you remove the cells from the 

 hive containing the breeding queen, look 

 over the remaining combs, and if you 

 find any cells, remove them, and give 

 the colony another set of combs contain- 

 ing queen-cups, and you will at once get 

 eggs in them. 



Proceed as before, but do not use col- 

 ony No. 2, that has just matured one 

 brood of queens, but give them the brood 

 and queen from another colony, and use 

 that one to finish off brood No. 2. 



By this method, you can produce a 

 large number of extra-fine queens from 

 one breeder with very little trouble. 



South Deerfield, Mass. 



Tlie Bee-Keepers' Dnion, 



E. FRANCE. 



Shall it be united with the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association ? As 

 a member of the Bee-Keepers' Union, I 

 say, no. The two associations do not 

 belong together. The North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Association is composed for 

 the most part of annual members, who 

 join when the association happens to 

 meet in their neighborhood. There are 

 a few who go every year, but the number 

 is very small in comparison to the num- 

 ker that belong to the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union, and the latter has not one-tenth 

 part of the members that it should have. 



