1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



507 



This appears to me to be the most expeditious 

 way of providing drawn combs in sections, 

 and the abuve result fully justifies my con- 

 tention. More detailed arangement is to be 

 found in "A Modern Bee Farm." 



It will have been seen that, in working for 

 extracted honey, Mr. Wells secured higher 

 results with his double-queen hives than with 

 single queens, there being an average of 156 

 lbs., for his five lots, or 78 lbs. for each. 

 Will there be any advantage in the plural- 

 queen plan? I see none. 



Note. — The first intimation of my method 

 of selection by breeding solely from one 

 qiiecn for one season was outlined in the 

 American Bee Journal for March, 1906, also 

 showing how each selected queen-mother was 

 afterward passed on as the parent or grand- 

 parent of the only drones used in the follow- 

 ing season, thus always mating bacli to the 

 progeny of the next selected queen brought 

 into the strain. 



Heathfield, Sussex, Eng. 



[In looking up the Wells system originally, 

 we did not run across any articles where Mr. 

 Wells mentioned the use of perforated zinc. 

 In the reference above given, he clearly states 

 its use and we accept the correction. — Ed.] 



THE DUAL AND PLURAL QUEEN 

 SYSTEMS. 



Conditions Under which They may be 

 Used ; a Review of tlie Whole Q nestion. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



Judging from the nature of the argument 

 that has been advanced in opposition to the 

 plural-queen system it would seem that this 

 system is not well understood, even by those 

 who consider themselves sufficiently qualified 

 to criticise it. Therefore the object of this 

 article is to show that the plural-queen sys- 

 tem is not only possible but profitable, as 

 well as highly desirable under certain condi- 

 tions 



It is claimed that the conditions under 

 which two queens are allowed to remain in 

 the same hive are in cases of supersedure, 

 when, after rearing a young queen, the old 

 one is allowed to remain in the hive as long 

 as she lives. Granted that this is true of 

 bees when guided by the hand of nature. It 

 is equally true, however, that, when guided 

 by man's reason and ingenuity, two or more 

 queens may be kept in the same hive with 

 impunity. 



It has been found that, while a vigorous 

 queen will not tolerate a rival queen, the 

 bees themselves will tolerate a plurality of 

 queens or any number of queen-cells; there- 

 fore all that is necessary in order to keep 

 two queens in one hive is to keep them from 

 getting together. This is done by means of 

 perforated metal, which keeps the queens 

 apart, but allows the bees free access to both 

 queens. Thus we have one large hive with 

 two queens, each queen being sole mistress 

 of her own brood-apartment. 



It is hardly necessary to add that these are 

 the only conditions under which two queens 

 may be kept successfully in the same hive. 

 It will be seen that the two-queen system, 

 instead of being an open violation of nature's 

 laws, is the result of a correct knowledge of 

 the habits and instincts of bees 



In discussing matters pertaining to apicul- 

 ture, sufficient allowance should be made for 

 the location and environments of the writer 

 of an article as well as the hive he uses. 



THE PLURAL-QUEEN SYSTEM OF DOUBTFUL 

 VALUE IN DEEP HIVES. 



Viewing the plural-queen system from the 

 standpoint of the deep-frame hive, with its 

 slow-going methods of manipulating frames 

 singly, it is doubtful if it could be made a 

 success. However, it should require little 

 argument to prove to the bee-keeper of av- 

 erage intelligence the many advantages to be 

 derived from the use of the plural-queen sys- 

 tem when used in connection with the sec- 

 tional hive with its improved methods of 

 rapid hive manipulation. 



Bee-keeping as a pursuit is progressing, 

 and bee-keepers are fast realizing the neces- 

 sity of employing short-cut, labor-saving 

 methods. "Twenty-five years ago rural elec- 

 tric lines, rural telephones, and rural mail 

 delivery, were unknown. To-day the face 

 of the country presents a network of electric 

 and telephone lines, and every rural district 

 has its free mail delivery; likewise the bee- 

 keeper of to-day is compelled to meet great- 

 ly changed conditions. Good locations are 

 scarce. Our one-time bee-pastures have giv- 

 en way to fields of waving grain, and the 

 woodman's ax has laid low our forests of 

 basswood. Our honey yield has been cut in 

 two in the middle, which means that we 

 must either adopt short-cut labor-saving 

 methods that will enable us to keep twice as 

 many bees as we kept before, or go out of 

 business. 



The bee-keeper of to-day who advocates 

 the slow-going methods of a quarter of a cen- 

 tury ago is fast becoming a back number. 

 It is high time for this class of bee-keepers 

 to wake up and take an inventory of stock 

 before they get so far in the rear that they 

 will never catch up. 



As the horse-car has give way to electrici- 

 ty, so the old methods of handling, brushing, 

 and interchanging brood-frames singly must 

 soon give way to the more modern methods 

 of rapid manipulation by hives. 



Mr. Dadant's statement, that the queen is 

 of vastly more value than any one thing con- 

 nected with the colony, is literally true. Does 

 not this prove that a plurality of queens in- 

 creases the value of a colony? A queen may 

 easily be worth ten dollars. Is not the bee- 

 keeper making money who can rear such a 

 queen at practically no expense, save for a 

 very little time and with a little talent? 



Again, Mr. Dadant discourses at consider- 

 able length upon the difficulties of rearing 

 queens early enough in the spring to produce 

 workers in time for the harvest. "This ar- 

 gument falls to the ground in the face of the 

 fact that queens are reared at the close of 



