i6d 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the qneen-flealer a "blowing up." The 

 purchaser is disappointed in several ways: 

 He expected a large, golden-vellow queen, 

 and, above all, had no idea that his 

 queen would nr^t be accepted by the bees, 

 as he had adopted a method for introduc- 

 ing that some prominent bee-keeper had 

 reconmiended, and there could be no 

 doubt about the success of the under- 

 taking! 



But the queen was received; she was 

 small, dark-colored, and the acconipiny- 

 ing bees "were just like hybrids." About 

 the loss in introducing the queen I will 

 sav but little. But does a purchaser ex- 

 pect to get a queen bee whose condition 

 shall be as good when leceived as when 

 the queen was put into the cage? Just 

 consider for a moment >vhat a hard time 

 those bees have had while they were 

 cooped up in the little box, and being 

 rushed about for a week or more in a 

 mail-bag while the temperature is neailv 

 up to lOO degrees in the shade. Is it not 

 a wonder that the bees are alive? Just 

 think of a mail-bag being grabbed from a 

 crane while an express tram is traveling 

 50 miles an hour! Then, again, how 

 does it affect the bees when a mail-pouch 

 IS kicked out the door of a car and the 

 train going at the rale of 40 or more 

 miles an hour? Sometimes the pouch is 

 left at a station in the hot sun while the 

 temperature is nsdes^rees in the clear 

 sunshine; and, sometimes, too, the mnil- 

 pouch is placed upon the top of an old 

 stage-coach, and is carried for miles into 

 some back town, and all the while Old 

 Sol is doing his best to cook the contents 

 of the oouch. 



Well" now, all these things are done all 

 through the warm season. vSome of the 

 people who handle the mail in the cars 

 have lots of fun with the bees they find in 

 the bags, and many queens meet injury 

 and death in that wav. 



But these things are overlooked by the 

 purchasers of queens, and they accuse 

 the dealer of sending them inferior 

 queens. Does anv one for a moment 

 suppose a queen-dealer would put out 

 and knowinglv mail an inferior queen? 

 I do not believe it. The reputation of 

 the dealer is at stake. Every queen- 

 dealer is trving to .send out queens that 

 will be superior to those sent out by his 

 competitor. 



"Handsome is that handsome does." 

 Well, now. f|ueens when in the nuclei of 

 the queen-breeder do look and appear 

 beautiful: in fact, they <?7r beautiful, and 

 give promise — so far as one can judge of 

 appearances and all indications that the 

 queen-breeder must judge quality by— of 



being superior. I always like to have 

 people come to my yard and select their 

 queens. Then the queens cm be seen in 

 all their glory. Of course, all who de- 

 sire to purchase queens cm not avail 

 themselves of this suggestion. 



Bee-keepers must not be too hasty to 

 accuse the queen-breeder of wrong doing. 

 Be a little charitable, and treat them as 

 you would like to be treated under the 

 same circumstances. Every adverti.ser of ■ 

 c^ueens stands ready to mike good his | 

 gairautee, and there is no need of fault- i 

 finding until the dealer refuses to do so. 



Now a word about rearing queens. I 

 have seen go^d advice given in the 

 various bee-papers in regard to the proper 

 methods for rearing queens. Tlie latest 

 advice and suggestions came from a man 

 who has reared but a few queens. All 

 the things this man has advised and sug- 

 gested have been practiced nearly ^7 

 vears. They are known to all breeders 

 of queens. They are "up" on all points. 

 Yet they do send out some queens that 

 prove on test to be inferior. They do 

 not knowingly do this thing. The queens, 

 when taken from nuclei, seem all right 

 in all respects. No one is trying to see 

 how poor (jueens he can rear, but how 

 good. The breeders make every effort to 

 please all. Every precaution is taken 

 to guard again injury or loss of ({ueens in 

 the mails What more can be done? A 

 good many queens are injured in the 

 miil; but more are ruined by the meth- 

 ods u.sed in introducing them to full 

 colonies. 



There is one more point that queen- 

 buyers would do well to heed, and that is ] 

 not to remove the old queen until the ' 

 new one is at hand. In the heighth of 

 the season a great many breeders can 

 and do send queens by return mail, but 

 it is not always possible to do this. Even 

 when a breeder has replied to an inquiry 

 and said that he has lot.c of queens on 

 hand, and can fill orders by return 

 mail, he is not always able to do so when 

 the order is received. A flood of orders 

 received after the inquiry was answered 

 may have taken every laying queen in 

 the yard. I have waited anxiously for 

 orders, receiving only one or two small 

 orders in two v.'eeks, and then hid one 

 m lil bring orders for sixty-seven ({ueens. 

 It is this flucUiation in the receipt of 

 orders that upsets this "by return mail" 

 business. 



