SEPT. M 
174 MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ARTIFICIAL QUEENS.” 
Mv method of rearing queens for the pur¬ 
pose of Italianizing native stock is as follows: 
I commence feeding on Italian stock in 
March, placing two frames of drone comb 
about (In: middle of the cluster, the llrst of 
April, so as to have drones the first of May. 
As soon as drones fly, 1 remove the queen 
from the hive, which I will call “ A,” to 
another hive, *‘B.” Six days after the 
queen is removed I examine each comb con¬ 
taining brood in "A,” and find out the 
number of queen cells I shall be likely to 
get, and stock as many “nucleus hives” as 
1 can get queen cells for. This brings ns to 
the construction of 
“Nucleus Hives.” — As I use them, 
their size depends upon the size of frame in 
large hive. With combs twelve inches long 
by ten deep in large hive, I use combs for 
nuclei, four inches long by live deep, so that 
one large comb makes six small combs for 
nuclei. For frames I use strips one inch 
wide by one-fourth thick, pieces cut as fol¬ 
lows:—Top, 6X; bottom, 4}4s and ends /> 
inches long; nail top to ends, half an inch 
from each end of top piece, and bottom on 
to ends, flush with outside edge of ends. 
This makes a frame four Inches long by five 
deep, inside measure. I use inch stuff for 
boxes, and for above-sized frame pieces 
would be cut. Sides, 7 inches long by 6!.; 
deep; ends, 5 incites wide by 6Kdeep; bot¬ 
tom, 7 by 7 inches: cover same; half inch 
from one end of end pieces saw across and 
half inch deep; olip this out from end, and 
this furnishes rabbet to support the frames. 
From t he center of t he other end of one of 
end pieces, out out piece throe-fourths of 
an inch wide by one-half deep; this gives 
cntninoe for bees to box. About the mid¬ 
dle ol' the other end piece bore an inch hole, 
cover it oil side, rabbet is made (inside) 
with wire clot h, and on the other side (out¬ 
side) with a button; this regulates the ven¬ 
tilation. Nail t he sides on to and flush with 
end pieces; then bottom to sides and ends, 
f now place three frames in each box, hav¬ 
ing filled one frame for each box with 
empty comb. 
Before stocking the nucleus hives, 1 ex¬ 
amine hive “A,” from which the queen 
was removed, and find, say, six queen Cells, 
some sealed, others with larvae. 1 then re¬ 
move two combs that have the most sealed 
brood, with bees just hatching, and in their 
place put empty worker combs, close up the 
hive, shake off the bees on the combs re¬ 
moved in front of hive. Lay the combs 
on a board ami with a sharp, thin-bladed 
knife cut lengthways five inches from top 
or bottom; then crossways from top to 
bottom, four inches from both ends. Tho 
two combs furnish comb for twelve small 
frames; fill two empty frames with pieces 
cut, filling one with a piece cut from the 
top and the other with a piece cut from the 
bottom of comb. Tho top furnishes the 
honej’, and bottom piece tho brood. 1’laoc 
these with frame of empty comb before 
mentioned, into a box, the frame of brood 
between the others, filling all six boxes in 
the same manner. Generally in tilling the 
frames with comb, I lay the frame on the 
comb, and mark tho size from inside of 
frame; cut out; place the frame on the 
comb and press down on the frame until the 
comb fills the frame. 
The boxes are now ready for the bees, 1 
return to “A,” smoke, bees well, giving 
them time to fill with honey; then remove 
the comb with adhering bees, hold it over 
the small hive and brush oft' the bees care¬ 
fully from the comb into the hive until the 
combs are covered; then put on the. cover 
and set aside, the entrance having previ¬ 
ously been covered with wire cloth and 
ventilator left open. Stock all the boxes, 
or nucleus hives, with bees in the same way. 
T keep them closed up at least two days, 
(and if the nights are cold, I cover them 
with woolt-u cloths,) then just before dark 
place the hives on stands and give the bees 
their flight. 
I would also say that if the hives are 
stocked with bees between the hours of ten 
and four, there will be a greater number of 
yoiuuj bees secured than if stocked morn¬ 
ing or evening, consequentlj* the nuclei will 
lose less bees by their return to the large 
hive. 
The next day I remove all sealed cells 
from “ .v ’ to nuclei, and continue doing so 
as the cells are sealed, until all are removed. 
Transferring Queen Cells to Nuclei. 
—If the cell is built on the face of the comb, 
I cut through the comb, about an inch from 
the cell, on all sides. Take t he middle comb 
from the nuclei containing brood, lay a piece 
of comb containing cell on tho face of the 
comb, about the middle; mark the size; cut 
out, and insert the cell. When the cell is 
built on the edge of the comb, and projects 
lower than the comb, a piece must be cut 
out to match on the comb (lower side) in 
which it is to be placed, so as not. to bruise 
the end of the cell, care being taken to 
always place the cell on the comb in the 
same position in which it was built by the 
bees; as soon as oell is in place, return the 
comb to nuclei. 
When the queen hatches (which will be 
in seven days from the time the cell was 
sealed), I remove the frame with the empty 
comb, take out the comb from the frame, 
and fill it with comb containing brood, in¬ 
serting empty comb from where I cut it out, 
and return the small frame to nuclei. 
When this is done, the queen and workers 
will not desert the hive. 
[ lost a very handsome queen this season 
by neglect ing to do this, and some years 
ago, when I first commenced raising queens, 
1 lost a good many in this way. When the 
queen is left, in nucleus lin e some time, t he 
bees may make preparations, and swarm t he 
same as in larger hive; but where there Is 
honey and brood they will not desert tho 
hive. In from five to ten day’s after hatch¬ 
ing (according t.0 weather) there will be a 
laying queen in nuclei, provided she has not 
been lost in flight, and is then ready to be 
placed in full or large hive. 
Introducing Queens.—I take a piece of 
wire cloth four undone-half by four inches; 
roll together long way; pound one end to¬ 
gether about half an inch; then flatten it 
whole length, so that it will bn three-eighths 
of an inch through. Remove the queen 
from the hive into which the young queen 
is to be introduced. .Six hours after, put 
the young queen in the cage, and close it up 
with a paper wad, and suspend it; in the 
hive, between the combs, with a slmrt piece 
of wire, for forty-eight hours. I then re¬ 
move tho oage, examine the combs, and de¬ 
stroy all the queeil cells; remove tin- paper 
wad from tlio end of the cage, and cu.ver it 
with one thickness of newspaper, I vmg it 
on. Wet the paper, and then smear it with 
honey, and return it to tho hive, smoking 
the bees well, and close up hive. 
In taking up the honey, tho bees will 
breakthrough the paper and liberate the 
queen. As this is done when the bob*.are 
quiet , the queen will lie very likely to be 
well received. When the queen cage is first 
removed from the hive, should the bees 
seem bent on getting into the cage, it is not 
safe to liberate the queen. When this is 
the case, all queen cells should be destroyed, 
aud the cage returned to the hive and left 
twenty-four hours louger. 
T can generally tell by the action of the 
bees on tho cage when removed whether it 
is safe to give the queen her liberty. 
We will now go back to hive A, from 
which the cells were taken. If more cells 
are wanted, bring back the queen from 1$ 
to A, and when the cells are sealed over in 
B, proceed as before. If no more cells are 
wanted, one should have been left in A to 
supply the queen, Vs llie season advances 
and the nucleus hives become well stocked 
with bees, pollen and honey, cells cun bo 
started in them and as good queens raised 
as though they had been started in a large 
hive. This is done by simply taking u piece 
of comb three inches long by half an inch 
wide from a large hive containing eggs and 
inserting it in tho comb of nuclei. A 
piece two incites long and three-fourths 
wide, should be cut out immediately under 
comb inserted, so as to give room for the 
queen cells, as they will project, below the 
comb on which they are built. When queen 
raising is to be continued for some time, it 
is also best to supply several of the nucleus 
hives with drone brood so as to have drones; 
should they be destroyed iu the large hive. 
The way of introducing queens which I 
have described is Mr. LaNG ST ROTH’S ; and, 
although there are other ways, yet for 
safety from loss, I prefer his method. 
During the season of 18711 introduced be¬ 
tween thirty and forty queens in our api¬ 
ary, losing only one. There has been a 
great deal written of late favoring the 
raising of queens in full colonies. My ex¬ 
perience is that where the nucleus hives are 
well stocked with bees, brood, pollen and 
honey, as long-lived and handsome queens 
will be secured as those raised in full colo¬ 
nies. and at a great deal loss expense. 
The whole apiary can bo stocked with 
young queens iu this way the first season, 
and should any of the stocks prove hybrids, 
tho queens can be changed next season. 
It will pay t he bee keepers to keep a , 
record of the date when a young queen is 
introduced or succeeds an old queen bj’ 
swarming; and when three years old re¬ 
place with young queen. For after that 
age they are less fertile, and may die when 
it is impossible for them to be succeeded 
bj T a fertile queen. I think many stocks 
aro lost every year that would be saved if 
attention was given to removing queens 
after their third year. J., E. Moore. 
ltochester. Pa. 
c<fj;u[nt (tTonomi). 
THE OLD FARM, OR A NEW ONE. 
Too many cultivators abuse their farms, 
because it is easy, in this country, to get a 
new one. Laud, they say, is cheap, and if 
one farm wears out we can buy another; 
or, if not, the government will give us a 
new one. If they do not say this in so 
many words, they act as if they believe if. 
But they are wrong at both ends of the 
story; for they imply that the running- 
down management is more profitable, for 
the time being, than the running-up man¬ 
agement, which every thorough, calculat¬ 
ing, wide-awake farmer knows to be false. 
Their words, or if not, their actions, imply 
also, that it is not, much of a job to get rid 
of the worn-out farm and remove, with a 
family, to another, perhaps a long way off. 
This, too, iR false, and every man who lias 
tried if will tell you so. Ft is no easy mat¬ 
ter to dispose of the old farm, t he old im¬ 
plements, the duds and other household 
matters, too heavy for transportation. It 
is costly to journey a considerable distance 
with a whole family. If costs to buy the 
food, farm implements, household furni¬ 
ture, etc., for the new home. Hardship has 
to be mot; much time is lost; aud often 
sicknesc, anxious night-watchings, doctor’s 
bills, and undertaker’s charges come, in 
consequence of hardships, privations and 
change of climate. 
If you leave a healthy place for one they 
tell you is the healthiest in the world, it 
may not prove so to you. The risk to health 
and life, by a removal with a family to a 
climate you know not of, is no small mat¬ 
ter. But the main argument to be urged, 
for the permanent occupation of the same 
farm, is that it costs the farmer less to in¬ 
crease the productive capability of bis soil 
a little over}’ year, till it becomes decidedly 
good, than it does to manage so as to leave 
its productiveness a little less by every crop 
taken off. The best fanners will sustain this 
assertion. They know, by fair trial, that it 
is so. But wo wish you to know it; and wo 
will explain: 
Suppose farmer A. goes on to a farm, on¬ 
ly moderately fertile at present. If he had 
abundant means, ho would hurry up the 
land to a higher productiveness, in order 
tho sooner to enjoy itb income. But he has 
not. and therefore prudence requires that 
he should make haste more slowly than 
he could wish. He cannot buy labor aud 
manure as he desires. But he has industry, 
and he can employ that; ho has good judg¬ 
ment, aud can use it; he has strength of 
body and limbs, aud his sound judgment 
will enable bitn to use it so as to accom¬ 
plish a great deal, and yet not injure him¬ 
self. If a slack, easy, slovenly man held 
that farm before him, you will see a won¬ 
derful picking up and putting things in 
place. Doors and gates oil' their hinges will 
soon l>e put on; useless lumber will be out 
and split into tire wood; if there is a leak 
in the barnyard, through which the fertil¬ 
izers are running away, lie will stop it as 
quick as he would a thief caught stealing 
his sheep. Some farmers let the very es¬ 
sence of tin- yard run down the road or 
into some brook, to twice the value of a 
sheep, every week from February to May. 
But he is not the man to do it. Ilia manure 
is his bank. Like money at 7 per cent., it 
begets money and be will save all aud stop 
ail other leaks. If lie came there the first 
of February, you will very soon see quite 
a change about the house, barn, garden and 
orchard, and on seme portions of the farm; 
and before April goes out evidence will 
appear that the laud is going to produce 
somewhat more the coming season than tho 
last, provided the Summer is equally favor¬ 
able. 
We cannot follow him through the whole 
season, nor tell .you of all he does in the 
way of savings, repairs aud preparations, 
before the Summer’s work fairly begins. 
But he has done enough in February to 
show what stuff he is made of. When the 
time for running the plow comes, he will 
not have to stop the team to get his wife 
oven wood. One important step towards a 
good Summer’s work is, to he ready lor it. 
He will be ready as soon a* the soil is dry 
enough to be worked. If be goes on as he 
has begun, saving and applying till t he maur 
are he can gather up. planting, cultivating, 
sowing aud reaping, all iu the most ap¬ 
proved ways, stocking pastures with ani¬ 
mals that he thinks will pay well in growth 
or fattening, and in work or dairy products, 
he certainly will expend more thought, 
more labor, and perhaps a little more 
money, than his slack, unthinking prede¬ 
cessor, who ran that farm down. But the 
crops will be larger, and the profits will 
have increased more than the cost of their 
production. With careless, shabby cultiva¬ 
tion and little of industry and rightful 
management, tho crops cost all they will 
sell for, utul there will be no profit. But it 
is all otherwise, under a wise, prudent and 
industrious manager of a larm. There, tho 
fertility increases, the profits increase in a 
still greater ratio, the family wants are 
supplied, comforts are provided, tho chil¬ 
dren are educated, the just, claims of so¬ 
ciety, education and good government are 
cheerfully met; and under such manage¬ 
ment as we have hinted, there will be, after 
all favorable seasons, something to lay by 
for future use. 
Now, suppose that Farmer B., who does 
not love his employment, but follows it as 
a hated necessity, comes at some time to a 
farm naturally a little better than A.’s and 
in a little better condition, as regai’ds the 
buildings, fences, garden, orchard, fields, 
and everything else, but not so perfect but 
that there are things enough to be done be¬ 
tween Feb. 1st and plowing time, if Farmer 
B. only loved to do them. But you'll not 
see him stoppiug leaks, repairing gates and 
doors, setting trees, laying in fire wood, 
and scores of other things that should be 
done and out of his way before the solid 
farm work for tho season begins. Likely as 
not hp'U bo loafing half bis time, aud tho 
other half sitting by tho kitchen fire and 
seeing how the women work, if not sleeping 
oft' the stupidity which non-employment 
induces; or if Sotmtus lias not got hold of 
him, probably he is half thinking and half 
dreaming what a detestably hard-working 
life farming is. Such men as he are always 
complaining— are idle so long as they can. 
be, and when i Oorlt presses they are not 
ready for it, aud won’t but half do it when 
it can and must be done. They degrade 
farming so far as a noble employment can 
lie degraded. From them goes out the false 
impression that farming is a hard, low, vul¬ 
gar occupation, and it is this that leads so 
many of our young men to prefer t he sell¬ 
ing of dry goods behind tho counter or ped¬ 
dling trinkets over the country, to the own¬ 
ership aud cultivation of land. While such 
tnen as farmer A. support their families in 
comfort, and even in luxury, discharge all 
parental, social. State and church obliga¬ 
tions faithfully, increase the value of their 
land every year, and lay up something year¬ 
ly for old age, those like Farmer B. become 
poor iu the occupation ; their laud becomes 
poorer; aud it is an incontrovertible fact 
that nearly all tho spoiled farms in our 
country have been spoiled by such men. 
True, the earnest, faithful farmer, who 
honors and loves his calling, expends more 
money, more thought aud more industry in 
his business, but lie gets something for it. 
He wins respectability, esteem, conscious¬ 
ness of living a useful life, love of friends, 
respect from all, competency, if not riches, 
and, above all, the approbation of a good 
conscience. Such a man as farmer B. ex¬ 
pends less money and less industry. But 
what does he get for what he does expend? 
Less than will maintain his family comfort¬ 
ably. Not hing to enable him to obtain an 
houorablo position iu society, can hardly 
pay his small town, school and highway 
taxes, and as for liberality, when the sick 
and suffering appeal to the neighbors for 
aid, it is out of the question. 
Aud now% if you would estimate the value 
of an enterprising, iudustrious farmer, to 
himself, to his family, nad to the public, 
and compare the footing with that of a 
farmer of opposite qualities, what a differ¬ 
ence! the former runs up the land, and the 
land runs him up: the latter runs down 
the land, and the laud runs him down. 
Which is best ? Of the two, which will you 
choose? Think of neighbor A. and bis 
family; thou of neighbor B. and his family. 
Look at their prospects as well as at their 
present condition, and tell nte if you think 
l have exaggerated. Isn't it more profitable 
to be a good farmer, loving and honoring 
his profession, than tube a bad ope, tinting 
and disgracing it ? Isn’t it more profitable, 
every way aud everywhere, to improve 
land than to spoil it? to make the farm bet¬ 
ter than to make it worse? j. a. n. 
- ■*--*-* - 
Utilizing: Straw Piles.—We have adopt¬ 
ed a now plan for using up straw piles: 
Take what salt is necessary for the stock 
for the week, and throw it into the base of 
the stacks, aud the cattle will make a clean 
job of it, and not be so much inclined to 
climb.—C. D. Fox, Beloit, lVis. 
