110 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



finding a strong colony without a queen to give it young brood 

 and let it rear a queen ; but much observation has shown that a 

 queen reared thus early is only an aggravation nine times out 

 of ten. So when a colony is found that is not queen-right, it is 

 remorselessly broken up, and distributed amongst other colonies, 

 or united with a weak colony having a good queen. The break- 

 ing up of such colonies does not make the number less in the 

 long run, for by fall the number can be made greater than if 

 no breaking up had taken place. 



EECOED ENTRIES. 



While care is taken to omit no entry in the book that will 

 be ot future importance, there is really not such a great deal 

 of writing done, as will be readily understood when it is remem- 

 bered that only one page is allotted to three colonies, allowing 

 only 22 square inches for each. It is seldom that a colony 

 requires more than its allotted space in the season, hardly half 

 the space being used on the average. There is a great deal of 

 monotony about the entries, and there are a few words which 

 are so frequently used that abbreviations aid much in saving 

 room and time for making entries. Some abbreviations that are 

 constantly used are as follows : b for bees, br for brood, c or qc 

 for f|ueen-tell, g for gave, k for killed or destroyed (kc means 

 I destroyed the queen-cells), q for queen, s for saw, but sc 

 means sealed queen-cell, t for took, v for virgin queen, Q 

 for super. 



PLACE FOE PENCIL. 



To make sure of having a pencil always handy to make 

 entries, it is tied to the book, as also is a pair of scissors for 

 clipping queens unless the latter is replaced by a pair of pocket 

 scissors. A strong string is put in the middle of the book, 

 passed around the back and tied, and to this is tied a long string 

 that holds the pencil, and another for the scissors. To prevent 

 the scissors hanging open with its two sharp points, a common 

 rubber band is so fastened on the handles as to hold them to- 

 gether. While the band holds the scissors together when not 

 in use, its elasticity allows their free use when needed. 



