Scientific Queen-Rearing, Practically Applied, Being a Method by Which the Best of Queen-Bees Are Reared in Perfect Accord With Nature's Ways; For the Amateur and Veteran in Bee-Keeping

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1909. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... is superior to the one given above, while in some few points I consider it inferior. However, good queens can be reared by the Alley process --very much better ones than those reared by any of the old plans that were used by most of the queen-breeders before he gave his to the world. For this reason, Mr. Alley should have a prominent place assigned him, among the ranks of those who have done much to advance the cause of apiculture during the Nineteenth Century. CHAPTER VII. THE NEW WAT OF BEABING QUEENS. While rearing queens, as given in the last chapter, I became anxious for some plan by which I could get queens reared by natural swarming, so that the cells would be all on one comb, and in shape to care for as easily as were those which were built from the queen-cups that I gave to queenless colonies. For years I had practiced taking the larvae out of queen-cells, which the bees had under way, and substituting larvae from my best queen, by the transposition process; but in all of these cases I had to take up with the cells where the bees had built them, besides, in many instances, after going over all of the combs in a hive I would And only three or four cells, so I had to do a great deal of work without receiving much benefit from it; while in cutting off the cells, I was obliged to mutilate many of my very best combs. This did not please me, so I set about seeing what could be done by way of having cells built where I desired them. To this end, I prepared cells the same as I had done in giving them to queenless colonies, after which I placed the frame in a hive where the colony was preparing to swarm. I then waited two days, when I opened the hive, hoping that the bees had taken the larvae which I had given; but in this I was disappointed, for every one of th...