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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



There is so much that is good in the 

 different bee journals that it will be no 

 easy task to select what is best; and it 

 may sometimes be the case that what I 

 think will be of interest and valuable to 

 Review readers will not be so considered 

 by them. I have often thought what a 

 real treat those who love bee-keeping 

 miss by not taking all of the bee-journals; 

 and what an encyclopedia of bee-lore we 

 should have if all the good things said in 

 our seven or eight bee-journals could be 

 put into one; but I realize that for nearly 

 all of us, editors, publishers, and readers, 

 it is best the way it is. 



You must not expect me to confine 

 myself entirely to the f^ood things; for, 

 when I come across such wild statements 

 as Bro. Doolittle gives us about "Trusts," 

 and "Monopolies," I shall feel like do- 

 nating a "piece of my mind" to some- 

 body. When such a combination of cap- 

 ital accomplishes so much good, I'm 

 afraid I'll hardly be able to keep quiet if 

 I see it unjustly criticised in the Review, 

 or any other journal. 



.^DVANO'AGES OF USING THE REGULAR- 

 SIZE COMBS IN OUEEN REARING. 



In the American Bee Journal for Jan. 5, 

 1899, Mr. Doolittle calls attention to the 

 fact that the best sized frame for the bee- 

 keeper to use in queen rearing is the one 

 used by him in rearing brood and pro- 

 ducing honey. For a few .seasons, soon 

 after I began bee-keeping, I tried raising 

 queens in what w'ere then known as nu- 

 cleus hives; those containing small frames. 

 The failures I met with by using these 

 small hives and frames were so numerous 

 that I became disgusted and almost dis- 

 couraged, but, as I was in the business 

 more for pleasure than profit, I kept at it 

 until I learned a better way — using full 

 sizeil frames. Mr. Doolittle says: — 



The bees work more to our profit where 

 the regular size of frame is used. If any 

 comb is built by the nuclei it is in just the 

 frames we want it, and always of the size 

 of cells we wi.sli, as these small colonies 

 build only worker comb where the young 

 qiieen is left long enough for them to 

 build comb. 



In the summer of 1897 I reared a good- 

 ly number of queens in nuclei, for my 

 own use, and I so nuich enjoyed their 

 work in building new combs, and patch- 

 ing up old ones, that I could scarcely go 

 into the apiary without taking a peep in- 

 to some of them that I might enjoy, with 

 the bees, the nice work they were unwit- 

 tingly doing for me. Mr. Doolittle goes 

 on further to say: — 



Where I have had combs in which the 

 mice had gnawed holes, or the bees have 

 mac'e holes in them by cutting out moldy 

 pollen, or in which there happens to be 

 some drone-comb of more or less amount 

 which I have removed, I always give them 

 to these nuclei when forming them, and 

 as soon as the young queen commences 

 to lay, the bees will commence to Imild 

 comb and repair those places, if hone}' is 

 coming in from the fields, or if fed when 

 no honey is to be obtained. 



By leaving the young queen with them 

 the length of time required, we have our 

 combs all made as those built out on 

 foundation, save the cost of foundation 

 and the fuss of putting it in the frames, 

 while such mutilated combs are just as 

 good to form nuclei with as whole combs. 



It would be a surprise to any who have 

 not tried this plan, to see how very nice- 

 ly the bees will fix up mutilated combs. 

 [ raise queens only for my own use, and 

 don't always have nuclei to repair such 

 combs, so I give them to a swarm, or to 

 a colony with a young queen, and gener- 

 ally get them repaired in good shape. 

 prevextinm; nuclei fr():m being rob- 

 bed. 



Mr. Doolittle's article is uU so good 

 that it might all be put in the Review 

 with profit to many of its readers; and, 

 as some may want to know the best way 

 to form a nucleus 1 will quote a little more 

 from his article: — 



. By using the regular-size hive, and 

 placing the nucleus on one side of 

 it, while the entrance is at the other side 

 no nucleus large enough to hold a queen 

 to advantage will ever t)e robbed out. To 

 help the reader to understand l)etter we 

 will suppose that '■'' '■' the entrance used is 

 cut from the front board at the bottom, 

 the whole letigth of it, and that the hive 

 fronts south. Form your nucleus on the 

 east side of the hive, using two combs, 



