AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



717 



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 OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 



Toronto Island— Queen-Rearing and Mating— Other Inter- 

 esting Apiarian Matters. 



BY JOHN M'ARTHUR. 

 (Continued from page G89.) 



In 1890, queen-rearing was commenced on the island, and has been carried on' 

 in a small way, experimenting and observing closely the eifects of in-breeding, also 

 the effects of drones from laying workers, which will be referred to further on. 

 Had I known the labor and expense, and attending to three apiaries besides, single- 

 handed, I would have let the business of queen-rearing drop, except what was 

 wanted in my own yards. 



I imported some breeders, and can conscientiously say, that if such be a fair 

 sample of our breeders that thousands are reared from, it will be a long, long time 

 before much improvement takes place in our race of bees. I am afraid we are be- 

 ing gulled in this queen-business. No doubt they can be reared in great numbers 

 but this will cease, because there is a great amount of unnatural or mechanical 

 work about the business. We have only to look at the queens — they are shrivelled, 

 narrow, tapering bits of things. They don't lay worth a rap, and are short-lived. 

 They are not the fine, long, broad, deep-bodied and curved-back queens we find pro- 

 duced under natural conditions — ones that last four or five years. These are the 

 sort that I want to purchase and produce. Like produces like. Fine, large queens 

 will produce fine, large bees and drones, and beauty combined. " A thing of beauty 

 is a joy forever," I think I hear some one say. " Handsome is that handsome does." 

 You can get that, too. Never sacrifice the useful to establish the beautiful. 



Enough has been said and done on this line to convince me that our isolation is 

 most complete, and the nearest approach to control the mating of our queens has 

 been reached. Queen-rearing can be conducted with pleasure and profit. There 

 is an assurance or confidence that what is done is right, and no mistakes. Queens 

 cannot be reared on the island so cheaply as on the main land. The loss 9o far in 

 mating has been heavy, owing, I believe, to so much water being present. Bays 

 cut into the island, with several large lagoons. 



Mating of Drone and Queen.— A great many experts believe that queen and 

 drone, when coupled, fall to the ground. In fact, there are instances on record of 

 such being the case. In 1882 I saw one drop, but a chicken was smarter than I 

 I perceived the chicken, and caught both. The queen was dead. There was evi- 

 dence of mating. 



The year following, in the month of September, I found a pair of yellow wasps 



