fHE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



101 



tANGSTKOTH ON THE HONEY BEE, REVISED BY 

 DADANT. 



Chapter VIII treats of "Queen Rearin<:r-" 

 It is explained why (lueeus reared during? 

 the swarminy fever are such excellent 

 queens. Honey and pollen are abundant, 

 and the bees, especially the nurse bees, are 

 numerous. By placing colonies in the same 

 condition as to food, heat, and nursing, as 

 during the swarming fever, just as good 

 queens will be secured. Half-size frames, 

 two of which will fill a regular frame, are 

 advised for queen i-earing. We have always 

 used the regular-size frames in nuclei, but it 

 has always seemed to us that there were ad- 

 vantages in these small combs. In fact, we 

 have often' contemplated taking section 

 boxes for frames to use in nuclei ; making 

 a super answer for a hive for four nuclei, 

 one nucleus occupying each row of sections. 

 Should we ever again engage extensively in 

 queen rearing we should give section boxes 

 and supers a trial in this manner. Mr. Alley 

 (Joes use small combs for nuclei, the combs 

 being only 4)2 inches s(iuare. Messrs. Da- 

 dant object to such small combs for nuclei 

 when the cells are to be built therein. 

 They say that the stronger the colony in 

 which the queen is reared, the better the 

 queen. We have never employed nuclei for 

 cell building, but we beliime that a moder- 

 ately strong colony will do exactly as good 

 work at cell building, provided the room it 

 occupies is in proportion to the strength of 

 the colony. 



Chapter IX takes up the '* Races of Bees." 

 Messrs. Dadant say : " We have never seen 

 queens as large as some Carniolans which 

 we imported some ten years ago. But, in 

 spite of the prolificness and general good 

 reputation of this race, we did not attempt 

 to propagate it, owing to the difficulty of 

 detecting their mating with the common 

 bees." Our Authors place the Italian at the 

 head, and assert that it is only a matter of 

 time when it will supercede the common bee. 



Chapter X has for its heading, " The 

 Apiary." When it is necessary to move an 

 apiary a short distance, the Dadants suggest 

 that the strongest colonies be moved the 

 first day, others not so strong the next, con- 

 tinuing the process until all are removed. — 

 We were particularly interested in what is 

 said upon out-apairies. When an apiarist 

 wishes to make a specialty of his business, 

 say our authors, he should expect to keep 

 bees in more than one location. If he owns 



more than 120 colonies, they would advise 

 him to start another apiary. While there 

 are many drawbacks in managing bees away 

 from home, there are also many advantages, 

 not the least of which is the fact that when 

 the honey crop fails in one locality it may 

 be very good a short distance away. An out- 

 apiary ought to be at least three miles away. 

 Instead of renting ground, for out-apairies, 

 our Authors give the owner of the ground a 

 share (one-fifth) in the crop ; he furnishing 

 room for hives, combs, fixtures, etc., board- 

 ing the men and teams while present. He 

 also gets seventy-five cents for each swarm 

 he hives. The owner is at once interested in 

 the success of the apiary, cand does all in his 

 power to make things pleasant and agree- 

 able. 



" Shipping and Transporting Bees " is tlie 

 topic of Chapter XL In early, cool spring 

 weather, but little ventilation is needed. 

 The Dadants have shipped hundreds of col- 

 onies with no other ventilation than that 

 afforded by the joints of a rough block 

 nailed over the entrance of the hive. When 

 the weather is warm, plenty of air is needed. 

 The Dadants usually replace the bottom 

 board with wire-cloth, protecting it with 

 slats. When the colony is so populous that 

 a draft through the liive will not injure the 

 brood, the top is also covered with wire- 

 cloth, shaded with a board. The entrance 

 should never be covered with wire-cloth, as 

 the old bees worry themselves trying to get 

 through it. In speaking of the failure of 

 Mr. Perriiie, in attempting to follow 

 the bloom up the Mississippi, Messrs. 

 Dadant say they are inclined to think that 

 the failure was due more to the lack of prac- 

 tical knowledge in bee-keeping, on the part 

 of the managers, than to any other cause, 

 an opinion with which we are inclined to 

 agree. Mr. Perrine also had accidents with 

 which he had to contend. Mention is also 

 made of the successful removal of an apiary 

 to some other location at the proper time to 

 harvest some crop that would not have been 

 secured in the original location. — In shipping 

 queens, only the imrest, saccJutrine matter 

 ought to be used. (Jld bees, or i-ather those 

 that have begun to work in the field, will 

 stand a longer confinement than young bees. 

 — In the South is the place to raise bees and 

 queens for sale : but the superior quality of 

 the Northern honey makes its production 

 fully as profitable as honey production in 

 the South. 



