OiaVOTEO TO BEEH A1SI> H:0]VI:Y, AlVD IIO]VrE lIVTIJniDWTfe*. 



Vol. V. 



MAY 1, 1877. 



No. 5 



A. I. ROOT, -) Publisbed Moutbly. 



Publisher and Proprietor, > 



imcdina, O. ) £:stal>lisliecl in 1 873 



terms: $1.00 Per Annum in A4- 



(-TI 

 .llO 



ance; 3 Copies for 112. 50; .5 /or * 3.7. 'i; 

 ~ or more, 60c. each. Single dumber 1 Or. 



HOW 1 INCREASED 2 COLONIES TO 34 IN 

 ONE SEASON. 



f' USE the Standard hive, tight bottom. The en- 

 tfiince I keep small to keep them warm and on 

 ~" top I use a cotton padded quilt. Above this is a 

 box 2]i Inches deep that fits closely inside the hive 

 with a cloth on the bottom about one inch larger than 

 the box, to tuck down to stop cracks if need bo. Said 

 b<<x is filled with fint^ sawdust such as comes from 

 my saw-mill for making' hives, and to this sawdust 

 box I attribute most of my success. It keeps them 

 warm and nice, so that a few h» es <'an nurse a great 

 many larvai. Thus I raise mv bees. 



The next point is to have all the bees employed 

 raising brood. (It don't take so many bees to raise 

 brood as it does to raise brood and store houey too.) 

 To secure that point, just as soon as the liive has 

 bees enougii to nurse all the eggs the queen can lay, 

 draw off a i'ty.vf for a nucleus, which of course is tucked 

 up warm and contains a piece of comb having eggs or 

 larv;« for queen raising, that they may 8t>end all their 

 FORCK on the queen cells. 15ut now mark, after the 

 queen cells are capped over, lliey have nothing more 

 to do till the quern Is hatched and h.is commenced to 

 lay. IT '.TILL NOT DO TO HAVii LAZY BEES. 

 So as soon as the queen ci-'is are capj)pd over, give 

 them a card of hatching brood containing as many 

 eggs and larvje as you think they can care foi'. Now 

 as tbe hatching brood will want something to do, in 

 4 or 5 days put in more cards of hatching brood and 

 lai-v.-c. And so by tbe time your queen is fertilized 

 you have a stock strong enough to care for all her 

 eggs. Thus my stocks were made. 



Of course I cut out queen cells to build or start oth- 

 er nuclei. This was done as near the time of hatch- 

 ing as possible, as thev are not as tender then. The 

 third point is to save all the queens in their first flight. 

 Year before last I lost hearily. Last yesr I saved 

 them all. HOW? I tacked bright colors on the 

 front of the hive in this way : I cut two strips of 

 ■green pasteboard and tacked »hem on to one hive in 

 the Shane of the letter T. I covered the whole front 

 of another with a piece of flowered r°d shawl. To the 

 third I tacked a piece o( bright red paper such as i^ 

 wrapi)ed round bars of soup; having all bright Imt 

 very diflerent. Thus I saved my queens. And it paid, 

 even if tliey did cost only the labor o: a few bees five 

 days at the beginning of nucleus life. 



I managfjd to just ilonlilo my stands each time. 

 Thus I started with two. I then raised two (|ueens, 

 3tarte<l two nuclei iimi by the time th(M were ready to . 

 lay, they were in strong stocks, so that now I had It) 

 draw frames of brood from to build up the next 1. ! 



By doubling only 4 times I reached 32, but as I hafl 

 combs for 34 and the millers were beginning to troub- 

 le I crowded to that number. 



Let me say that one of the queens I started with, 

 filled a 20 frame New Idea hive full, notwithstanding' 

 the maiifj, rany dralts 1 made on her for brood. She 

 seemed to realize my necessity and spread herself f ti- 

 the work. She was worth to me ?100 last year. To 

 repeat : 



First. The SAWDUST BOX, long may it wave. 



Secondly. No lazy bees In nuclei. 



Thir<lly. Save your queens even if they cost a few 

 bees only five day's work. 



The bees I started with were hybrids. Went in 

 Nov. Ist, and all came out April 4th bright a« a dollar, 

 every one. After a flv I put the lightest back 



Can you box hive men beat that? If you can. say 

 so, if not, forever hold your peace. 



Dr. C. M Joslin. 



St. Charles, Mich., April 9th, '77. 



The idea of keeping the bees all busy durinsf 

 the working season is an excellent one, .*in<1 a 

 good queen will furnish eggs for a large num- 

 ber of nuclei, if It is rightly managed Do not 

 take combs from her hive containina: the 

 brood, or you will weaken her colonv. Hut 

 spread the combs and put an empty comb in 

 the centre just long enough to set ax many 

 eggs as you think your nucleus can car>- 'or. 

 Every nucleus should ha^ve eggs at all tjmts, 

 even before their queen cells are capnc'. for 

 after the queen cells are once started, thi'v will 

 be sure to hatch before those that mav be 

 started from the eegs. In using cells, be carf;- 

 ful not to get the latter, if the eggs were not 

 from your best stock. The advaii!ase« to »he 

 nuclei by so doing, will be that they I'-e al- 

 ways kept in thriving condition, a'ld ar<- co i- 

 stantly being built up, besides avoiuin*.' all 

 trouble with swarming out when the qiutn 

 takes her flight. If this were made a nib' in 

 the apiary, fertile workers and quecnles sto -ks 

 would he almost nnknown. The idea '«<. that 

 by taking just eggs from a colony, vve deprive 

 them of but little compared to rerno>ing 

 frames of both eggs and brood. The ch iff or 

 sawdust packing, is certainly a very important 

 matter. Our own aniary is far in advance of 

 what it has ever been before, throuah their 

 agency, and we have wintered 'ess than a 

 quart of bees in the house apiary •^n^^ had 

 them increase almost a'l winter lonjr, bv the 

 help of the chaff cushions. Oar friend proba- 

 bly succeeded so well, by taking careful pre- 

 cautions ;i2ain<5t fiilnres and mistakes of 

 every kind. This is the great secret of suc- 

 cessful bee culture. 



