474 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



ri£t!,M> JEFFREY'S IDEAS ABOUT 

 QUEEN REARING, ETC. 



A "TALK" FROM A HEAL, LIVE BEE-MAN. 



HAVE just been looking over Gleanings, and I 

 see, on p. 333 of this month, that A. W. K. 

 sppaks of two queens of retarded development, 

 and those insignificant, flat, and ill-shapen cells, and 

 dark, small queens. Yes, I guess so too, or know so 

 for certain from the last 4 years' experience in 

 Italian queen rearing. 



JUDGING OF QUEENS AND QUEEN CELLS BY THEIR 

 LOOKS. 



In 1S7T, a number of my friends (bee-keepers) 

 wanted queens from a very nice queen that I owned, 

 and I saved every cell. When I found a little, dark, 

 waspy-looking thing, she generally stayed in a nu- 

 cleus till I had a cell to take her place, and every 

 time they left a good supply of eggs, and not often 

 some of the combs were put into other hives to help 

 keep up their strength. No one liked them; but, 

 being of the thick-headed class myself, 1 noted 

 these instances to be used at some time, if I wanted 

 them, and concluded they were evidences that the 

 Italians were like fowls of two colors, which are 

 just as likely to throw one away as "tother," but 

 " 'taint allurs" one way. These variations, in most 

 cases, are possessed of some very desirable qualities, 

 and those qualities seem to be very apt to be perpet- 

 uated if carefully handled. In 1878, I had one of 

 these sports that was of a jet and shiny black. I had 

 raised fully 100 quaens from her mother, all of them 

 satisfactorily uniform except her. She mated and 

 laid like an extra good one, and lived a week or two in 

 laying order till I had a spare cell, when I went to 

 kill her; but she got away and stayed awhile longer 

 in existence. I finally caught her to show to a 

 friend, and intended to make sure of her extermina- 

 tion, but she flew away again and went back into 

 the hive, and by the time I next looked, her brood 

 was hatching, and they were the lightest, brightest, 

 and gentlest bees I ever saw; but, just as I began 

 to like her. she got up and went off, I "do no whar." 

 Now I have another, the daughter of an imported 

 queen, and I don't believe one person in 100 would 

 tike her as a gift. She is, in fact, too homely to 

 live; but she is as prolific as she is homely, and her 

 bees are just as handsome as any need be. This is 

 the fifth case I have had a chance to notice in two 

 years. 



QUEENS THAT KEEP LAYING DAUGHTERS IN THE 

 HIVE WITH THEM. 



By the way, how about that $10.00 for the daughter 

 of an imported queen raised in the hive with her 

 mother? We can just fill that order "just you bet." 

 I'll tell you how. About two weeks ago, I opened a 

 hive containing an imported queen (it belonged to a 

 neighbor of mine), to get some brood; and, on the 

 second comb looked over, I saw a laving queen. I 

 caught her, and clipped her wings short off to keep 

 her at home. We then looked over the 3d and 4th 

 combs to find some brood just to suit, but without 

 success. The 5th comb was fdn. that had been in 

 about a week, and there was another fertile queen, 

 caught in the act of laying; and, on close examina- 

 tion, I found the cell she came from. "How is that 

 for high?" Also I know of 4 different queens, more 

 than 3 days old, found in the hives, with tbeir moth- 

 ers, which were all good, strong, prolific queens. 

 What do you say to that? There were others that 



saw every case, so "In the mouths of two or three 

 witnesses," etc. 



.Now about those flat and ill-shapen queen-cells: I 

 have flattened some on purpose to sec what the ef- 

 fect would be, but it did not have much effect, un- 

 less smashed flat enough to kill. 



HOW FAR DO QUEENS GO FOR FERTILIZATION? 



On p. 336, this month's Gleanings, I notice from 

 what you say to G. H. McGee, that you, like many 

 others, believe that the mating is done less than 4(1 

 miles off, and I say a great deal less; in the majority 

 of cases, less than 40 rods from the hive. There are 

 at least G witnesses besides myself who can testify 

 to one case less than 40 ft. from the hive. We also 

 know of some more that must have been close home. 

 For three years queens have been raised within half 

 a mile of from 6 to 13 very strong, black stocks, that 

 raised thousands of drones, and out of about 150 

 queens only 3 have been known to miss-mate. Of 

 over 75 queens raised within } 4 mile of from 11 to 

 15 strong, black stocks in box hives, only one was 

 known to miss-mate. Have plenty of drones in 

 every nucleus, and I'll warrant you the young 

 queens don't go far from home for fertilization. 



QUEENS LOST IN THE MAILS. 



I see in your note on page 346, in answer to K. L. 

 M., that you infer that the queen might have mis- 

 carried or lost in the mails. I could give you facts 

 concerning an employee of Uncle Sam's, who is of 

 the lordly opinion that people that don't think as he 

 does are of no account, and have no right to live. I 

 have seen him take pains to throw the mail bag, 

 when it had queens in it, with more than necessary 

 force, and through his care (?) one cage was split, 

 and the queen and be°s lost; but he don't do so 

 "some more now," though there are too many that 

 like to do such things, just for fun, to plague some- 

 body. 



MUST THE BEES OF A PURE QUEEN NECESSARILY BE 

 ALL ALIKE? 



If A breeds a light strain, and it is strong blooded, 

 and B has a dark strain producing dark drones, and 

 it is equally strong blooded, a cross of the two, in a 

 great many cases, will cause a variable worker pro- 

 geny, that will show from the very light, clear yel- 

 low to the dark, copper brown, and will make 99 in 

 100 declare they are hybrids; yet they are Simon- 

 pure. This is the law with everything else, and 

 when I say it's the same with bees, 1 state simple 

 facts, and I know whereof I speak. Try it faithful- 

 ly, and facts will prove the truth. I have seen these 

 apparently black workers put on the window, and 

 ihey would show good, full-width, copper-colored 

 bands, and more than one disputant has owned up 

 after a good thorough examination. Variableness 

 is to be expected in everything that is parti-colored, 

 and strong blood will tell both ways indisputably 

 sure. H. L. Jeefrfy. 



Woodbury, Conn., July 10, 188;). 



The idea friend J. advances in regard to 

 pure bees being differently colored is one 

 that is .occupying considerable attention of 

 late. As it is quite certain that the queens 

 in Italy do not produce bees all just alike, 

 why should we be so desirous to have them 

 do so here? Without doubt, by selection in 

 breeding, we can come pretty near to it, but 

 what would be the object, when we might 

 just as well breed from those that would 

 gather most honey instead? 



