88 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 1 



COMMERCIAL QUEEN-REARING. 



Are Not Some of the Modern Methods to 



Blame for so Many Poor Queens Sent 



out by Queen-breeders? 



BY J. L. BYER. 



As I have never reared a single queen by 

 the artificial methods now in vogue it may 

 look like sheer presumption to make any com- 

 ments on the subject of commercial queen- 

 rearing. However, though I have not rear- 

 ed any queens I have nevertheless bought a 

 good many; so, by way of apology for my 

 statements, I will talk from the standpoint of 

 the consumer rather than from that of the 

 producer, in so far as the trade in queen bees 

 is concerned. At the Ontario convention, 

 held in Toronto last November, much time 

 was taken up in discussing this very impor- 

 tant phase of the industry, and the members 

 had tne pleasure of having two of our com- 

 mercial queen-rearers present, and of listen- 

 ing to each of them as he gave a practical 

 and lucid address. 



In the discussion that followed these ad- 

 dresses, many of the members commented 

 on the great difference in the queens receiv- 

 ed at different times, even from the same 

 breeders. While it was generally admitted 

 that there is always considerable variation in 

 queens reared by the ordinary methods, yet 

 tne idea seemed prevalent that the variation 

 is much more pronounced in queens reared 

 under the new commercial methods. 



J. W. George, page 763, tells of the double- 

 grafting method used by some apiarsts in 

 California to ensure the generous feeding 

 of the queen larvae; and the question arises 

 as to whether queens reared by modern 

 methods are not apt to be neglected in this 

 line. If that is the case, it seems reasonable 

 to believe that poorly fed larvae might ac- 

 count for a lot of the poor queens that are 

 undoubtedly sent out by queen-bretders. 

 This point was brought out in the conven- 

 tion, and I mentioned the fact that, in my ex- 

 perience, the great majority of queens rear- 

 ed under the swarming impulse certainly do 

 not suffer in this respect, as nearly all cells 

 have a surplus of royal jelly left in the base 

 after the queen has emerged. Whether this 

 is the case with pure Italians or not I can 

 not say, as I do not remember having had 

 more than two swarms from this race of 

 bees. The reasons for this are that I use 

 large hives, and nearly all our bees have 

 Carniolan blood. 



From a recent experience I have had, I 

 feel convinced that sometimes something out 

 of the ordinary occurs at times, even with 

 the best queen- breeders, with the result that 

 a whole batch of poor queens is sent out at 

 the same time. For a number of years I 

 have bought queens from a man who has an 

 international reputation, and nearly always 

 these queens have turned out well — so well, 

 in fact, that I have repeatedly recommended 

 these queens when out on inspection work. 

 To make a long story short, in July, 1908, I 



received quite a large bunch of queens from 

 this breeder, for my own yards and for a 

 yard belonging to a bee-keeping friend. All 

 wintered well, and this spring appeared to 

 be in ordinary condition as compared with 

 the rest of the bees in the same apiaries. As 

 to actual results, strange to relate, there was 

 not a single queen in all the number receiv- 

 ed by either of us that was worth much more 

 than the cage she came in. This is, of course, 

 comparatively speaking, as some of the colo- 

 nies with these queens did store as much as 

 50 lbs. of honey in apiaries where the gen- 

 eral average was around 150 lbs. 



Now, while I am not going to say that this 

 batch of queens had oeen partly starved 

 while in the larval stage, yet conditions at 

 the time of their rearing were wrong in some 

 way, else why should the whole lot have 

 turned out so worthless when, as a rule, 

 queens received previously had given a good 

 account of themselves. 



I leave the problem to be solved by those 

 who are in the business — particularly to the 

 one most interested. In tnis case I deemed 

 it my duty to tell the queen-breeder how his 

 last lot of queens had turned out, and his let- 

 ter in reply says that he can not understand 

 it unless it was caused by the drouth. Pre- 

 sumably he refers to the drouth of this past 

 season ; but as to why it so affected his queens, 

 and not others in the same yard, is not ex- 

 plained. 1 frankly confess that the answer 

 received from him did not tickle my vanity 

 any, as I decided that he must have a very 

 poor opinion of our judgment in the matter 

 to advance such a reason. 



DOES EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD VARY IN VIRU- 

 LENCE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES? GOLD- 

 EN BEES MORE IMMUNE. 



Dr. Miller's account of his dealings with 

 black brood will be read with interest by 

 many here in Ontario at the present time, as 

 we have in our province an outbreak of this 

 disease. From my experience with this 

 plague I can not but believe that the disease 

 varies greatly in its virulence, and what we 

 have here in Ontario is much worse than the 

 brand at present around Marengo, 111. 



Certain it is that the Alexander system of 

 treating the disease is worse than useless 

 here, as it simply takes up valuable time and 

 gives no good results. Even after the most 

 thorough purging, it will reoccur in a great 

 many colonies; and at present Mr. Warring- 

 ton Scott, the inspector in the infected dis- 

 trict, believes that only by thoroughly Italian- 

 izing all stocks is there any chance of getting 

 rid of the pest. More than that, he will not 

 stop with the ordinary Italians, but insists 

 now on the goldens as being the only ones 

 likely to keep immune from the disease. 

 Mr. Scott is one of our most thorough apia- 

 rists, and has lost thousands of dollars from 

 black brood, so his opinions are worth taking 

 into consideration. Personally we have been 

 rather prejudiced against the very yellow 

 bees on account of their poor wintering qual- 

 ities, especially when left outdoors; but if 

 they are immune to black brood, that cer- 



