270 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



wax were refined by sulphuric acid (which 

 will never be the case by a long way) it 

 would not be objectionable to bee keepers. 



I have been making some further experi- 

 ments in regard to acid testing in wax, and 

 have finally succeeded in detecting a very, 

 very slight trace of acid in wax rendered 

 with sulphuric acid : but the amount is so 

 infinitismally small I feel sure it can do no 

 harm; and although I do not know positively, 

 yet 1 do not think it would be objectionable 

 to bees,] E. 'K.'^—Gleanincjs. 



Record Books Versus Queen Registering 

 Cards. 



In Gleanings for October 1st, Mr. J. F. 

 Mclutyre argues for record books in place 

 of slates or cards attached to the hives. 

 For a (lueen registering system he gives the 

 only plan that I have ever heard or read of 

 that seemed worthy of consideration, aside 

 from the queen registering cards with pins 

 for dials. He says: — 



"I have dispensed with queen registers on 

 each nucleus, because I could not see the 

 whole at once, as it were, and know just 

 where to go for what I wanted, and adopted 

 a system of memorandum which I carry in 

 a light paper clip with a pasteboard back. 

 I give below a memorandum of twenty nu- 

 clei for one month, so you will see how it is 

 done: 



* Torn down, t Lost. 

 You will see that the plan is to write the 

 number of nucleus down the side, and the 

 condition along the top of the page, and the 

 day of the month where the two lines come 

 together. It requires three sets of names to 

 run a whole month; and one sheet of letter 

 paper is plenty large enough to keep the 

 record of twenty nuclei for thirty-one days. 

 Now, suppose I want some laying queens. 

 Instead of running all over the apiary and 

 reading all the slates and cards. I run my 

 eye down the two last laying columns and 



find that numbers 1, 4, !». 14, 1.5 and 18 con- 

 tain laying queens, and I go straight to the 

 hive for them. You will understand that all 

 the figures except the first column, which is 

 the number of the hive, are the days of the 

 month on which the hive was examined; and 

 I claim that it is easier and quicker to put 

 down one or two figures, in the column 

 which represents the condition of the hive, 

 than to manipulate the pins of a queen 

 register on the hive. Now, suppose I go 

 over 100 nuclei with queen registers, and 

 mark the condition of each nuclei on the 

 registermg card: when I get through I have 

 forgotten which hives have laying queens 

 and which are queenless, and must run over 

 the apiary again to find them. With this 

 system you have the condition of every hive 

 in your hand in the most condensed form, 

 and can go straight to a hive having a laying 

 queen, if you want one, or to a queenless 

 hive, if you have a cell to put in, and no 

 false moves are made, and no unnecessary 

 steps taken. I rear all my queens now by 

 Dlacing the Doolittle prepared cells in the 

 brood chamber of colonies that are super- 

 seding their queens; and the young queens 

 bred from the best in the apiary are so large 

 and fine it makes me feel happy. 



J. F. MoIntyre. 

 Fillmore, Cal., Sept. 1. 



[You have scored some good points for 

 the record book. The system as you use it 

 may be much better than ordinary records 

 made on the hive where tho position of the 

 slate does not indicate anything; but where 

 the position of the slate, tablet, or card on 

 the hive cover indicates whether the colony 

 is queenless, or possessed of a .ell, virgin 

 queen, laying or tested, I think I should pre- 

 fer the slates. The system which we use is a 

 written record on slates, and the same indi- 

 cated by the position of the slate on the hive 

 cover. From any part of the apiary I can 

 tell at a glance which colonies are queenless, 

 which ones have cells, which ones have vir- 

 gin, laying, or tested queens. Ther? are ad- 

 vantages in both systems. With the record 

 book it is possible to say which colonies 

 iieed attention, even though they may be 

 miles away.] E. R." 



My greatest objection to the use of a 

 record book is the book itself and its ac- 

 companying pencil. They must be carried 

 about and kept track of. That their use 

 would sometimes save a few steps I will 

 admit, but, with my plan of queen rearing, 

 not many would be saved. I visit about one- 

 third of my nuclei each day, carrying with 

 me a box with pieces of comb containing 

 unsealed brood, queen cells ready to hatch, 

 or hatched virgin queens and shipping cages. 

 I take a regular route, examining each 

 nucleus that shows, by the registering card, 

 that it stands in need of attention. It will 

 be seen that I pass by each nucleus as often 

 as once in three days, and, as a rule, this is 

 as often as attention is needed. When hand- 



