ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



53 



she will be fertilized before the brood of 

 her predecessor is sealed. If one little 

 piece of advice is heeded by the queen 

 brjeder, it will save him a world of 

 trouble and annoyance, and that is, never 

 leave a nucleus without unsealed brood. 

 If all goes well, it is seldom necessary to 

 give unsealed brood to a nucleus, but if a 

 young queen is killed or is lost when she 

 leaves the hive to mate, then it will be 

 necessary to introduce brood before the 

 next queen will be furnishing eggs. 

 When visiting nuclei, I always carry a 

 box containing eggs or young brood in 

 comb cut up in small pieces, about an 

 inch square. Whenever a nucleus is 

 found without brood, a hole is cut in one 

 of the combs and one of the pieces of 

 comb containing brood is given. In 

 making examinations, all. that it is nec- 

 essary to look at, is this piece of brood. 

 If queep cells a'-e started, it means that 

 the bees are queenless; if there are no 

 cells, it means that a queen is present. 

 If this course is faithfully followed, there 

 will be no trouble from those pests of 

 careless queen breeders, fertile workers. 



Nearly all queens that are lost when 

 out to mate, meet their fate by entering 

 the wrong hive. I don't remember hav- 

 ing lost a queen when a nucleus stood in 

 some out of the way place. I,et queen 

 breeders scatter their nuclei in all out of 

 the way places imaginable; have no nuclei 

 in rows or in any regular order. If there 

 are no trees or other land marks in the 

 apiary, make some. Set out some trees 

 or bring in some large boxes or barrels 

 and scatter them about — anything to 

 give each nucleus a distinctive location. 



In the shipping of queens, success turns 

 largely on the food used. I have used 

 no food that is superior to the "Good 

 candy,'' which is made by mixing honey 

 and pulverized sugar until it is the con- 

 sistency of a stiff dough. The novice will 

 be likely to make it too thin. It is well 

 nigh impossible to mix in too much sugar. 

 The maker may think it quite hard and 

 dry, but he will be surprised the next 

 day to find it quite soft aud pliable. 



As a shipping cage, I think the Benton 

 stands at the head. It has three com- 

 partments all in a row and connected by 

 openings. In one of the end compart- 

 ments is placed the food; the other two 

 are occupied by the bees, but the one 

 next to the food is not ventilated, while 

 the one in the end opposite from the food 



THE PRATT-BBNTON CAGE. 



is freely ventilated. Very properly this 

 cage has been called the "climatic cage," 

 as it enables the bees to accomodate 

 themselves to changes of weather. If it 

 is cool they can occupy the central apart- 

 ment; if warm, they can remain in the 

 ventilated part of the cage. Some minor 

 improvements have been made in this 

 cage by Mr. Pratt, and as it is now made 

 by Mr. Costellow I think it is what is 

 claimed for it — "Perfection." 



As to the number of bees to send in a 

 cage with a queen, that depends upon the 

 time of the year. In the spring and fall 

 more are needed; but I doubt if more than 

 thirty bees are ever needed; in warm wea- 

 ther one-third that number is sufficient. 



With a large number of nuclei, it is im- 

 possible to remember the condition in 

 which each was left at the last visit. A 

 record of some kind must be kept, and I 

 know of nothing better than the "Queen 

 Registering Cards" sold by A. I. Root. 

 They are made of paper similar to postal 

 cards, and will stand the weather. A 

 card is tacked upon the side of each 

 nucleus. Upon each card are three dials. 

 One contains the months, one the days 

 of the month, and one the following 

 words: "Eggs," "Brood," "Cells," 

 "Hatched," "Laying" and "Missing." 

 Common pins are used as pointers. 

 About yg of the point is bent at right an- 

 gle J and then driven into the center of 

 the dial. When a cell is given, one point- 



