“ NOVICE V OCEAN INCH IN MEfS CUbTUUR. 
:ir, 
queens that would die naturally, and thus 
frustrate the order of nature by letting or 
rousing some other to survive than the 
strongest? In selecting our queens to 
rear from, do we always think what desi- 
rable qualities we wish to perpetuate? 
W e don’t care for light-colored bees, unless 
we are sure other qualities always follow. 
The queen that raised our lightest and 
most beautiful bees was one of the poor- 
est wo ever had, and her daughter, raised 
irom her in her third season, was almost i 
us bad. The full banded, rather dark bees 
have given us most honey, and during 
poor seasons, like our last, those we felt 
sure were lull-blood Italians were far 
ahead of hybrids. 
Who has not noticed that swarms from 
certain hives are almost sure to go off, 
and others the reverse? 
We think it possible, even in our brief 
day, to rear bees that, are not disposed 
to swarm (like noil-sitters among poultry, 
for instance) ; nor to sting; nor to build 
crooked combs; nor to crawl all over their 
hive or outside of it when handled ; nor 
to get lost or do anything else undesira- 
ble; but, on the contrary, to be neat and 
rapid comb-builders, energetic nurses, ex- 
peditious and indefatigable honey gather- 
erers, but not robbers, and perfectly will- 
ing to give up all their honey in the fall, 
and take enough sugar syrup out of a 
"teakettle feeder’’ iu a couple of hours 
(ur more) to last them all winter, so they 
won't have the dys-en-te-ry. 
MAKING FRAMES 
aS good frames will last a lifetime it 
====> will certainly puy to take some pains 
in making them, and as we handle them 
many times each season, ever ounce of 
useless wood or metals should be dispens- 
ed with. Whether they are put together 
with nails or otherwise, if the top bur ex- 
ceeds one foot in length we should make 
them tapering so as to give the greatest 
strength in the middle where it is needed, 
h'or our frames we get out strips from -j 
lumber 18.1 inches long by 9-16 in width, 
and these when sowed from each end un- 
til the saw cuts met in the middle gave us 
the proper taper, and the pieces that 
came off were right for the ends of the 
frame. We now do it much neater and 
quicker by sawing completely through at 
once; thus: 
A 
l.et A represent a piece of board ISA 
inches long by 3|, broad at each end, and 
of at the middle ; if our strip B is held 
Urmly against this and the straight side of 
A placed agaiust the saw guage so 
so that the path of the saw is along the 
dotted line, we shall have the desired 
shape. To hold B in the curved position 
while being sawed, we nail fast to A near 
each end a piece like C, the broad end of 
course hooking ever B to keep it tight up 
to A. A small block will also be needed 
nailed against the end of A to keep the 
strips from slipping hack and another 
small strip nailed across the middle of A 
with a sharp metal point projecting in to 
B just sufficiently to keep it from crowd- 
ing the saw, completes the arrangement, 
i " e need hardly add that the top of the 
! buzz saw table should be elevated so far 
that, the saw just reaches through our £ 
stuff, to prevent sawing off our clamps C. 
’i he space between A and projections 
' on C should just allow our strips to go iu 
easily. 
EGGS FOR HATCHING. 
AM afraid your "25 ets. queens ' will 
i m ruin the trade. Don’t you think you 
have the thing to too fine a point ? I for 
one am willing to try it, but if I find it 
will not pay, reserve the privilndge of 
stopping at any time. For 50 cents I 
would agree to put the comb in a wooden 
box so there would be but very little dan- 
ger but what it would carry safely; would 
| also be willing to notify customers on 
what clay I would send it. 1 have a queen 
now, received in October last, of the 
"Tapper Dadant” importation. 
'1 . 0. McGaw, Lock Box 6 1 
Monmouth, Warren Co.. 111., May 1, '73. 
We have iu prior years sent eggs by 
mail, and hereby inform you that we 
cheerfully concede to your proposition : 
"To send a piece of comb with pure eggs 
for 25 cents." From experience we have 
found that a paper box, of suitable size, 
the cover held on with n rubber string, so 
the contents may be examined, is by far 
)he best way ; to ship to places where the 
mail is to be carried on horse-back we use 
a / in box. 
As a partial answer to problem 9, 1 
give you the following: "In Juno'72, we 
sent a piece of comb 2x3 inches to Deer 
Lodge, Montana Territory, for J. Me 
Dougall, (who is now breeding queens for 
us), from which he raised 6 queens ; the 
comb was GA days iu transit, and passed 
through territory having a temperature of 
from If) to 90 decrees. 
E. Kretchmek A Co.,” 
Coburg, Montgomery Co., Iowa, Apr. 7, '73 
As for ourselves we have as yet been 
unable to obtain an imported queen, but 
hope to receive one in time for business. 
Another Straw.— For lady bee keep- 
ers ; rubber cords or bands slipped over 
the drawers at the aukles, and sleeves at 
the wrists, are a very good protection 
0, Nowhere. 
