S88 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



words, imitation embryo queen-cells are 

 made out of beeswax, into which royal jelly 

 is placed, when a larva from our best breed- 

 ing queen is transferred to the royal jelly, 

 and ten or twelve of these prepared cell- 

 cups are given to this colony that is about 

 to supersede its queen, when the bees will 

 perfect them just as they would one of the 

 grafted cells we have been talking about; 

 and by giving a batch of these prepared 

 cell-cups twice a week we can often secure 

 several hundred fine queens from this su- 

 perseding colony before the queen fails en- 

 tirely." 



" I see. But suppose I did not have this 

 superseding colony, what then could I do?" 



" It has been known for some years that, 

 where a part of the brood in any colony has 

 the queen shut from it by using the queen- 

 excluding metal to partition off" a part of 

 the hive, or by putting it over a strong 

 colony, between the hives, where a two- 

 story hive is used, the bees with this shut- 

 •off brood will work on the same plan they 

 •do when superseding a queen; and conse- 

 quently hundreds and probably thousands 

 of bee-keepers raise their queens by the 

 cell-cup plan in this way, without being 

 obliged to wait for supersedure of queens, 

 swarming of colonies, or anj' other thing, 

 only that there are plenty of nurse-bees, 

 and brood for them to nurse, in the part 

 not having the queen." 



" Ah! that makes the whole thing plain." 



"What plain?" 



"An article written by Mr. A. C. Miller, 

 and published in Gleanings for April 15th. 

 I noticed he claimed that queens reared by 

 this cell-cup plan were not proving as good 

 as were those reared by the Alley plan, 

 and he cited as proof that we had increas- 

 ing reports of inferior queens, given in our 

 bee-papers, during the past few years, or 

 since the cell-cup plan had been exploited. 

 Did you read that article? " 



" Yes. I noticed what Mr. Miller had to 

 say in this matter; and my mind went back 

 to the early eighties, when Mr. Alley's 

 book on queen-rearing came out. I have 

 been a careful reader of our bee-papers, 

 and have noted many things; and one of 

 the things which I have noted is that, in 

 proportion to those buying queens, there are 

 not nearl)'^ so many reports of poor queens 

 to-day as there were during the eighties. 

 In other words, the reports of poor queens 

 are little if any greater now than were such 

 reports during the eighties, while the queen- 

 traffic of to-day has reached gigantic pro- 

 portions beside what it was then. This 

 shows that the cell-cup plan has been a 

 success beyond any thing previously known, 

 does it not ? ' ' 



" It would look that way, surely. But 

 what do you think of the claim, that the av- 

 erage manipulators use too old larvae? " 



"I consider this an assertion without 

 foundation; but were it so, that more are 

 apt to use larvae over two days old than un- 

 der, his quotation from Mr. Cowan shows 

 that there is no practical difference in the 



food given any larva till it reaches an age 

 exceeding three days. Then I never heard 

 of any one using the cell-cup plan but who 

 first took pains to know the age of the lar- 

 vae they were using by observing their size 

 four days after the eggs were laid; and, 

 after having thus learned, it is no trick at 

 all to tell a larva that is between the ages 

 of 24 and 36 hours." 



"What do you think of Mr. Alley's quot- 

 ed saying, that queens reared in upper sto- 

 ries, except in the flush of the honey-flow," 

 are as worthless as flies? " 



" This I look upon as another assertion, 

 without the slightest reason in fact to sup- 

 port it. This assertion seems to almost 

 stagger even Mr. Miller; for he says the 

 'why' of it is ' difficult to say.' So far as 

 I know, no one has ever advocated the cell- 

 cup plan in upper stories at a time when 

 nectar is not coming in from the field unless 

 the bees are liberally fed; and by thus 

 feeding, I know from an experience covering 

 fifteen years, that just as good queens can 

 be reared in this way during June, July, 

 and August, as can be reared by any other 

 plan. Alley's not excepted. Mr. Alley's 

 plan of queen-rearing I know to be a good 

 one, for I have used it quite largely, and 

 one very much in advance of the plans used 

 prior to 1883, when his book was first pub- 

 lished; but the trying to belittle other plans, 

 either by himself or Mr. Miller, adds noth- 

 ing to the value of that plan." 



" Does not Mr. Alley advocate replacing 

 or superseding queens every two years? " 



" I could not say as to that; but many 

 do; and under the old ways of rearing 

 queens it was often expedient to do so. 

 But since I adopted the cell-cup plan, the 

 average good work of my queens is from 

 three to four years, with an exceptional 

 one doing good work the fifth year. The 

 old saying was, ' The proof of the pudding 

 is in the eating;' and because the 'eating,' 

 with queens reared by the cell-cup plan, 

 has proven the best way with me of any is 

 the reason I keep on 'eating' that way — 

 otherwise I should change to something 

 which gives me more pleasure while 'eat- 

 ing.' And now, so that this conversation 

 shall not be too long drawn out, here is Mr. 

 Alley's book, which I will gladly lend you, 

 together with this one treating on the cell- 

 cup plan. Take them both home with you, 

 read them carefully, then put both into 

 practical use; and the one which gives you 

 the better results, all things considered, is 

 the one for you to adopt in your apiary. 

 Had Mr. Miller told us of his own experi- 

 ence in the use of each plan, and wherein 

 he had found the Alley plan the better, his 

 article would have carried more weight 

 with it. The best is what we should all 

 strive for, regardless of who originated it. 



"But before you go let me say that the 

 credit for the plan of transferring the 'lar- 

 va, cradle, and all,' which Mr. Miller ac- 

 cords to Mr. Pridgen, belongs to Willie 

 Atchley, the Texas lad with whom it orig- 

 inated." 



