Iw 



^IIK PEK-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



As to Uio iiuittcn- of ('('ilili/.iitioii, I oucloHe 

 II iimnifold tiopy of wluit I liiive Hoiit to 

 t'ri(!M(l N(^wmiiii to iasort in my hook ut tlu) 

 {•ud of cliiiiitci' Mil, tli(^ suiiie us " lOrriitu " is 

 put ill iit tlui \mr.k mul, till tliis luiitioii is tix- 

 liuustdd, wlu^ii I sliiill r(i-wrilt! this cliuiitcM-. 

 'I'liis will ((xpliiiu to you exiu-.tly liow tlio 

 iii(itt(U' is. 



Your lottisr came lute Saturday iiiK'it, and 

 tliiit I niitxht writti intelligibly I have jvist 

 put lip tweiity-lour (|iU'(iiis which I had to 

 send oil' to day, a part of which were tak<ai 

 from iippiw stories, the same as t,MV(Mi in my 

 liook. Ill some of these from wtun-e I took 

 ipieeiis I haii a niirs(u-y containing foiirt(^en, 

 two-days-old ([iieeiis, (!ells hem;,' fuinishtHl 

 with royal Jelly, ollurs nearly ri^ady to cap, 

 vii't^iii i|iieens two and six ilays okl, and a 

 laying,' (|iie(^ii in the hive helow at tlu^ same 

 tiling Now this 1 know to he s(j for I saw it 

 with my own eyes ; hut why it would not 

 work a month a;ro, as far as viryin (iti((en 

 were (Mnicerneil, is what pu/zles me. 



The honey crop will lie very li^dd. here. 

 So wet a season has not h(^(Mi known for 

 many years, ami crops of all kinds havti suf- 

 fered from it. 



(i. M. l)ooi,i'i"ri,K. 



J lere is till* matter that Hro. Doolittle has 

 lulded to Ohaptiu' XIII of his hook: — 



"Owint^toiny selling,' all of my stronyiM- 

 colonies of hees, so that 1 had none of siiit- 

 ahle strtiiif^'th to tier up earlier, tlu( ahove ex- 

 periments, in having,' queens fertilized above 

 a (|iie(^n-excliidin^;- hoiu'y-hoard, were con- 

 diicteil diirin;f llie hei;4lit of the basswood 

 honey harvest, and latiCr. This season, liav- 

 iiif,' more strong,' colonii'S, owin^ to the bees 

 winttniut,' well and to few(w sales, I tiered up 

 several hiv(>s ami tried the jilan early in the 

 s((ason, when they were livint,' only from 

 ' hand to mouth,' or t,'ettin<,' honey slowly 

 from clov(n-, and met with failure: the hees 

 worrying,' and killing; the yoini},' (|iieens after 

 /hey had Ix'eii liati-heil from two to four 

 days. Now that basswood is at its hei^xht 

 a^,faiii, I am havintx tlie same success as for- 

 merly. 1 have, therefore, re(iiu<st(Hl the pub- 

 lisluus of my book to insert this by way of 

 caution, and advise all to try only one or two 

 colonic^s at tirst, to see if the plan will work 

 in their locality, for I would not knowin^dy 

 tlet^eive anyone. Tiiis is evidently one of 

 the few thiiitcs about bee-keopiiiK, in which 

 locality makes all the difference in the 

 workl." 



It app((ars that the plan of havinj^ nueens 

 fertili/.eil ov((r a (lueen-excluder, below 

 which is a layiny; (|neen, is not tihnii/s suc- 

 cessful (and Hro. Doolittle is to be com- 

 mended lor the i)roin|)tuess with which he 

 has reported failure), but that it works 

 sometimes, is a stei) towards a less expensive 

 method of (lueen-reariny;. 



Mr. Alley secures the buildintj of queen 

 cells at any time in full colonies liavint,' ohi 

 laying: (lueeiis, by feediuK, when necessary, 

 until the cell-building: disposition is aroused. 



Dr. Tinker has patented and brought be- 

 fore the public a queen-rearinf^ chamber 

 which will allow the hatching,' and fertiliza- 

 tion of a larjre number of (jueens in one col- 

 ony. 'I'he chambers may be tiered-up and 

 the colony divided into many nuclei. We 

 say divided ; in one sense it is divided, in 

 another it is not. The bees live and work 

 all in a mass, passing readily from one nu- 

 cleus to another, thus enjoying the combined 

 heat of all, allowing (pmen rearing to be 

 commenced earlier in the season and contin- 

 ued later. There is no trouble from rob- 

 bers, nor from fertile workers, and no unit- 

 ing of nuclei in the fall, as they will be 

 already united. The Dr. feels sure that, 

 with this arrangement, good untested ijueens 

 can he reared for fifty cents, and testetl ones 

 for one dollar. 



And now IJro. Hill, of the d'nidr, comes 

 forward with a st^heme for securing the fer- 

 tilization of queens, dombs of l)rood are 

 placed above a (lueeii-HXcluder until all brood 

 is sealed. The bees are then brushed ofif, a 

 <|ueen-coll just ready to hatch attached to 

 each comb, and then each comb placed in a 

 cage by itself. He has an incubator oven 

 tiiat will hold eiglity of these. caged combs. 

 The be{»s that hatch will not not need to fly 

 until the queens are old enough to mate, 

 which they are allowed to do by Hying 

 through openings in the walls of the house. 



The indi(vitions are that the next great 

 step in bee-culture will be in the direction of 

 (|iieen-rearing. From tlie novel ft^atures 

 lately brought out, we would not be surprised 

 if there were yet developed a system of (jueen 

 rearing by means of which good (]ueens 

 conUI be furnished for a "(luarter." Were 

 it not so late in the season, we should bti 

 tempted to make (lueen-rearing the sjiecial 

 topic of the next issue of the Ukview ; as it 

 is, we will allow tliis season to pass in ex- 

 perimenting, and devote one of the early 

 numbers of ISJK) to n discussion of the sub- 

 ject. 



OUT-DOOU WINTKUINO Ol'' IlKKS. 



If bees can enjoy frequent tiights, out of 

 doors is the pla<^e to winter them. If depriv- 

 ed of these llights, a temperature of about 

 1,'") enables them to bear a much longer con- 

 finement than does a temper.ature below 

 freezing. In the South, frequent tiights in 

 winter are assured ; in the North, no deiiend- 

 luice can be placed upon the matter. Some 



