DEVOTED TO ISEEH AJSD HONEY, ATVT> HOME TNTEREHTH. 



Vol. VIII. 



DECEMBER 1, 1880. 



No. 12. 



A. I. ROOT, 



Published Monthly. 



Publisher and Proprietor, \ 



j Established in 1873. 



Medina, O. 



TERMS: $1.00 Per Annum, in 

 Advance; 2 Copies for *l.yO; 3 



for $2 75; 5 for $4.00; 10 or 



more, 75e each. Simile Number, 10c. 

 Additions to clubs may be made at 

 club rates. 



NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



No. 13. 



LATE QUREN-REARING. 



£^J:1NCE friend G. M. Doolittle's article, "A Proper 

 |^vj) Time for Queen-Rearing." appeared in the 

 ' Oct. No. of the A. B J, several correspondents 



asked for my views upon the suhject: and, as I con- 

 sider the subject one of importance as well as of 

 general interest, I take this method of replying. 



In the first place, let me say, that friend D.'s ideaR 

 are good, and that to some bee-keepers and queen- 

 breeders it is quite probable that the "coat will fit;" 

 but, althongh I agree with friend D. in many of the 

 ideas that he advances, I do think it is possible to 

 rear just as good queens in September and October 

 as in June and July. Of course, if weak colonies or 

 old bees are set to building queen-cells, or if the bees 

 are not fed when no honey is coming in, we might 

 reasonably expect that the queens hatched would be 

 "poor sticks;" but if full, strong colonies, containing 

 plenty of young bees, have all their brood and their 

 queens removed, and are then given a comb of lar- 

 vae, just hatched, and if they are fed plentifully when 

 no honey is coming in, my experience has pr >ved, 

 that just as good queens can be reared in autumn as 

 in summer. And I will tell you how my experience 

 has proved it: During 1 the last three years I have 

 made a specialty of queen-rearing, — devoting almost 

 my whole time to the business; and, during June 

 and July, tested queens were frequently removed 

 from full colonies, and their places filled by young 

 queens that were reared during the height of the 

 honey season, while swarms made up by uniting 

 nuclei the last of Octohcr were supplied with queens 

 that had just commenced to lay, that were probably 

 hatched Oct. 15th. Now, in the proliflcness or longev- 

 ity of these queens, taking them upon an average, 

 I have never been albe to detect any difference. 



Friend D. raise* fine comb honey, and he will, of 

 course, admit, that he has opporniniiies to learn the 

 details of his business that he would not have if he 

 made a specialty of raising bees or queens; and I 

 think he will also admit that we qu< en-breeders 

 have greater facilities for learning- facts in regard to 

 our specialty than has the bee-keeper who raises 

 honey. Fir instance, friend D. any a. by ihe loss of 

 old queens he has had queens reared out of season, 



none of which proved to be efficient lavers for any 

 length of time. Friend D , were thesequeensalieaj/s 

 reared in full, s'rong colonies? You know, before a 

 queen is superseded, she quite frequently shows her 

 lack of proliflcness to such an extent that her col- 

 ony is somewhat reduced in numbers. And were 

 these colonies always fed plentifully when they were 

 rearing queens? If some of these colonies were 

 weak, or if they were not fed when no honey was 

 coming in, how do you know that good queens can 

 not be reared out of season? 



A great deal has been said about "following na- 

 ture." When, by having cells built in good, strong 

 colonies, and by feeding the bees liberally, we suc- 

 ceed in rearing good queens out of season, we, of 

 course, do not follow nature. But when the farmer 

 controls the breeding of his domestic animals, does 

 he follow nature? When the fruit-grower prunes 

 his vines and trees, does he follow nature? When 

 the p mltryman keeps only young hens, gives them 

 warm quarters, feeds them plenty of food, and gives 

 them a few stimulants, and thereby causes them to 

 "shell out" the eggs in mid-winter, does he follow 

 nature? When the bee-keeper prevents the over- 

 production of drones, does he follow nature? And 

 when he furnishes his bees with comb fdn., does he 

 — but, hold on! I b'lieve friend D has expressed his 

 doubts as to whether fdn. pays or not. But never 

 mind: if h does doubt its profitableness, there are 

 hundreds— yes, thousands, of bee-keepers who know 

 that it pays, and pays big too. 



If you wish to rear queens late in the season, you 

 must begin to unite your weaker nuclei as soon as 

 Sept. 1st, and by Oct. 1st each nuclei must c< nt lin at 

 least three frames, and sh>uld bo just crowded with 

 bees. The bees must also be fed in some manner. If 

 que< ns in some of the nuclei become old enough to 

 lay, and look as though they would lay some time, 

 and still they don't lay, then remove the queens from 

 some full C' lonies, and introduce these queens in 

 their places, and they will usually commence laying 

 in two or ihrep days. 



And now, just a word or two about 



THAT PICTURE. 



Of course, wife and f were very much pleased to 



8"e the Banner Apiary so nicely pctured out in 



! Glraninds: and—but, now, friend R . hold your ear 



| close, while I whisper It to you confidentially: we 



