THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



175 



fine cells for our nuclei and left one in 

 each hive, and those queens Were as fine 

 a lot as ever we had; lived long and were 

 very prolific; ami we could have j^izrii 

 those tested (jueens to our customers and 

 made money, asdequeening right at the 

 beginning of a honey How stoi)ped swarm- 

 ing. 



Mr. Atchley says that the main reason 

 why most (jueens reared under the swarm- 

 ing impulse are good, is because the bees 

 are in good shape and doing well at such 

 limes, or they would not swarm, and 

 queens reared by removing the queens 

 from good colonies while honey is being 

 gathered are just as good and as profitable 

 as those raised by natural swarming. 

 .\t least, that has been his experience. 



I have raised more (jueens by dequeen- 

 ing the colonies I wished to breed queens 

 from than I have under the swarming 

 impulse, aud have found that the existing 

 conditions, of which Mr. .A.tchley speaks, 

 produce as good queens as those raised 

 under the swarming impulse; and I have 

 found that poor queens are frequently 

 raised by either of the methods unless the 

 right kind of queen cells are selected from 

 which the queens are to be raised. 



I have paid big prices for queens from 

 noteil queen breeders, but never bought 

 one that was as good as one of my own 

 rearing by the dequeening method; but. 

 for good queens, easily reared, I much 

 prefer Mr. Doolittle's method of artificial 

 cells furnished with royal jelly having a 

 newly hatclied larva placed in it. It's just 

 fun to raise nice queens in this way, and 

 have just as many as one wants, and know- 

 just when they will hatch and just where 

 to find them. 



PKEVKNTION OF S\V.\RMIN(;. CONTR.\C- 

 TION OK THK BROOD-NEST. 



Mr. R. C. Aikin has been writing a 

 series of articles for The I'rogressive Bee- 

 Keeperon " Experience audits Lessons, " 

 in fact he is still at it, and in his seven- 

 teenth article in the March Progressive 

 he makes this statement. 



I am a firm believer in some practice, 

 whatever the method employed, that will 

 prevent swarming. 



That sentence just" took my eye, " and 

 I thought Mr. Aikin had got the start of 

 those bee-keepers who had been working 

 with that end in view for years; so I read 

 and found him saying: 



If swarming be prevented, then some 

 provision must be made for increase. 



Then he goes on to tell us what his 

 present practice is, taking nearly a column 

 to tell about it, and ends by saying,"! 

 have never tried it. ' ' 



Now, Mr. Editor, don't you laugh, for 

 I thought that was one of the ' ' good 

 things " that ought not be missed. Per- 

 haps you can imagine how good I felt 

 when I read those words," I have never 

 tried it. " Well. I was disappointed, but 

 there are two sides to most things in this 

 world, and my disappointment was some- 

 what relieved by the fact that we "little 

 fry " sometimes know as much as the big 

 fishes, and that's Just nothing. In the 

 same number of the Progressive Bro. 

 Doolittle gives Mr. Aikin some good ad- 

 vice; and tells how best to increase the 

 number of colonies, zvithout swarming; 

 and says, " I much prefer the funnel and 

 nucleus bo.x plan of forming any colony, 

 from the weakest one-frame nucleus up 

 to a full-fledged colony, at once, to any 

 other plan I know of, and I have used 

 scores of plans. " If any reader of this 

 has any occasion to make many nuclei, 

 yes, or a few of them, either, and doesn't 



know what the nucleus bo^ plan is, it will 



I 

 pay him to get Mr. Doolutle's book on 



"Scientific Queen Rearing," that tells 



just how to make and use the nucleus box, 



aud how to make the nucleus with the 



least work and annoyance, and how to do 



many other things. In fact, every one 



keeping bees for either pleasure or profit, 



or for both, will not regret having made 



the investment. 



In reply to Mr. Aikin's question, " Is 

 not the main object with those who prac- 

 tice contraction, to make the hive fit the 

 size of the colony, thereby getting them 

 to work in the super?" Bro. Doolittle 

 replies: 



No sir; not when non-swarming is prac- 

 ticed, and rarely in any event. The ob- 



