72 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 29, 1903. 



The Nucleus Method of Rearing Queens. 



BY DR. K. GAH,UP. 



MR. ALLEY says, " How this must surprise my friend 

 Dr. Gallup," after saying that he worked on the plan 

 that if a colony was deprived of its queen the bees 

 would rear another. Yes, I was surprised that a man after 

 having- as much experience as he claims he has had, should 

 still advocate the rearing of queens on the nucleus plan and 

 recommend others to use it. 



Farther on he says that he knows by actual experiment 

 that just as good queens can be so reared, as can be reared 

 by any other method ever given to the public; and I know 

 by actual experience that they cannot be, and are not as 

 good. I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Alley does 

 not even know what a good queen is. I quote from Prof. 

 Cook's Manual, pages 91 and 92 : 



"We should infer that the best queens would be reared 

 in strong colonies, or at least kept in such colonies until the 

 cells were capped. Experience also confirms this view. As 

 quantity and quality of the food and the general activity of 

 the bees are directly connected with the full nourishment of 

 the queen-larva;, and as these are only at the maximum in 

 times of active gathering — the time when queen-rearing is 

 naturally started by the bees — we should also conclude 

 that queens reared at such seasons are superior." 



My experience — and I have carefully observed in this 

 connection — most emphatically sustains this view. Now, 

 Professor, how dare you so emphatically contradict Mr. 

 Alley, a man who according to his own statement, reared 

 queens in nuclei before you or I knew anything about bees ? 

 Isn't that funny ? 



Mr. Alley says at the conclusion of his article that he 

 will risk his reputation as a queen-breeder on the result. I 

 cannot see for the life of me, how his reputation can be 

 very great when by his own showing 90 percent of his 

 50,000 queens reared have turned out to be worth as much 

 as so many flies. Only think, 45,003 worthless queens he 

 must have been rearing just for fun 1 Isn't it astonishing, 

 how large minds often run in similar channels ? I started 

 in and reared my first queens by tying a piece of comb v^ith 

 a string to the top-bar of a frame, and using a small quan- 

 tity of bees, for I then supposed that a queen was a queen, 

 no matter how she was reared ; but, it did not take me SO 

 years to find out that queens reared in this way were worth- 

 less, and inferior in every respect, and that the plan is un- 

 natural, unreasonable and unscientific. It is unnatural to 

 deprive a colony of bees of their queen and compel them to 

 rear a queen at any time, whether conditions are right or 

 not. 



Now, what are the natural conditions ? The colony is 

 strong in numbers, they are gathering abundance of stores, 

 thus keeping up an abundance of warmth and vitality, they 

 also have lots of nursing-bees to prepare the royal jelly, 

 etc., all of which is lacking in the nuclei. The cells are 

 started and the queen deposits the egg in the cell. If even 

 after the cells are started, and all is proceeding right so far, 

 if from any cause the supply of forage is cut off suddenly 

 swarming is abandoned, the cells are cut down, drones are 

 expelled, and there is no more swarming that season, even 

 if the weather is ever so propitious, until a new crop of 

 drones is reared. This accounts for the bees clustering out- 

 side and not swarming so many seasons in old box-hive 

 times. How many seasons we have watched in vain for 

 swarms, and no swarms came out. Any person, we care not 

 who, that practices the nucleus plan of rearing all his 

 queens, for a series of years, will find his colonies running 

 to the lowest ebb. Any person, we care not who, that prac- 

 tices rearing his queens in extra-strong and populous colo- 

 nies, and under the swarming impulse, will find the reverse, 

 and he will find the first-named queens and workers short- 

 lived and unproductive, while the last-named will be long- 

 lived and productive, even in comparatively poor seasons. 

 Don't expect to bring your queens up to the standard in one 

 season. 



I wish to say to A. C. F. Bartz, on page 760 (1902), please 

 don't class me with the professional queen-breeder, as I 

 have never reared queens for market, never have sold a sin- 

 gle queen to my recollection, but there is probably no man 

 living that has expended so much time and labor in experi- 

 menting with bees, on nearly all lines, purposely for my 

 own satisfaction, and as I have been a noted and prominent 

 writer I wished positively to know by my own experience 

 what I was writing about, regardless of what other people 

 said. I am keeping a few bees now on purpose for my own 

 amusement, and for experimentation. 



At the time I had such a great loss of queens, you can 

 see all were reared on the Alley plan, that is, no queen in 

 the hive. In losing the queens I also lost the colonies, as 

 none of them were superseded. Why? Because the queens 

 failed so soon and so suddenly that there was no unsealed 

 brood or eggs for the bees to rear a queen from. When I 

 saw the first queen crawl out of the hive, I picked her up 

 and placed her back into the topof the hive, and she immedi- 

 ately crawled out at the entrance again. I then opened the 

 hive and examined for queen-cells, and found none, and the 

 brood all too far advanced to rear queens from. In watch- 

 ing closely I saw 4 other queens crawl out in the same man- 

 ner, and no queen-cells and no brood to rear queens from. 



Now, Mr. Alley cannot say that the loss was owing to 

 my ignorance in introducing in those cases. I will give Mr. 

 Alley the credit of trying to crawl out of a smaller hole than 

 I ever attempted to crawl through. The reader will see that 

 those queens were not introduced at all, but reared right in 

 the hive. Don't understand me as saying that I saw all 

 those queens crawl out in one day, or at one time, but on 

 different times and days. The most of those that died in 

 the winter I found either on the bottom-board or dropped by 

 the bees in front of the hive. 



I had noticed the loss of queens and colonies previous 

 to this, but did not pay much attention to the matter. All 

 were reared on the Alley plan of depriving a colony of their 

 queen. But the above wholesale loss set me to studying 

 into the matter. I have tried the plan of filling a colony 

 full to over-flowing with young bees, brood, etc., and then 

 taking their queen away and compelling them to rear 

 queens. They usually rear a lot of queens and do fairly 

 well for two seasons, but they do not begin to come up to 

 good queens reared under the swarming impulse. In fact, 

 as far as I have discovered, they lack the missing link. 

 Please see Mr. Riker's article, on pages 766 and 767 (1902). 



Please do not borrow any trouble about Gallup not be- 

 ing able to keep up his end of the row. Alley's tirade of 

 abuse and misrepresentation harms no more than water 

 harms a duck's back. I am just enjoying the fun, and in 

 the meantime trying to interest the general reader. I am 

 not, and never have written for the benefit of those that 

 know more than I do, but for those that know less. I never 

 claimed to know it all. 



Now, let any person that wishes to improve the race of 

 bees try the Alley plan and see for himself, if he chooses. 

 This is a free country ; but I can tell that he will make a 

 move in the wrong direction. Then let him try the plan of 

 rearing queens in large hives, with strong and populous 

 colonies — the stronger the better — and see how he comes 

 out. Let him start with the very best queen he can get in 

 every respect, not one that has been reared on the Alley 

 plan, for it may take three or four generations to bring 

 them anywhere near the natural standard ; then see which 

 he will choose for profit. That is somewhat different from 

 Alley's advice. Any one has the same privilege to go over 

 the same ground that I went over years ago, instead of be- 

 lieving either Mr. Alley's or my bare statement. You can 

 readily see Mr. Alley is seeking a free advertisement, while 

 I have nothing to sell. The contrast between the two kinds 

 of queens will be so great that a blind man with his eyes 

 shut can note the difference. Orange Co., Calif. 



\ Our Bee-HeeDing Sisters \ 



Gonductetl bij EMIwn M. WILSON, Marengo, ill. 

 Amount of Foundation to Use in Sections. 



It is very necessary that foundation be used in sections, 

 at least enough for a guide, so the bees will build straight. 

 There may be a diversity of opinion as to how much is best 

 to be used, but all, I think, will agree that at least a starter 

 is a necessity. 



Some think it cheaper to furnish just a starter, and let 

 the bees build their own comb ; while others think it best to 

 give the bees all the advantage they can in the way of 

 foundation by putting in full sheets. 



So far as concerns getting the comb started in the mid- 

 dle of the section, a starter half an inch deep will answer. 



