OR, MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 27S 



are eggs or larvae just hatched, will almost always insure the 

 starting of queen-cells in such places. It will be noticed that 

 our queens are started from eggs, or from larvae but just 

 hatched, as we have given the bees no other, and so they are 

 fed the royal pabulum from the first. Thus we have met every 

 possible requisite to secure the most superior queens. As we 

 removed all the brood the nurse-bees will have plenty of time, 

 and be sure to care well for these young queens. By removal 

 of the queen we also secure a large number of cells, while if 

 we waited for the bees to start the cells preparatory to natural 

 swarming, in which case we secure the two desirable condi- 

 tions named above, we shall probably fail to secure so many 

 cells, and may have to wait longer than we can afford. 



Even the apiarist who keeps black bees and desires no 

 others, or who has only pure Italians, will still find that it 

 pays to practice this selection, for, as with the poultry fancier, 

 or the breeder of our larger domestic animals, the apiarist is 

 ever observing some individuals of marked superiority, and he 

 who carefully selects such queens to breed from, will be the 

 one whose profits will make him rejoice, and whose apiary will 

 be worthy of all commendation. It occurs to me that in this 

 matter of careful selection and improvement of our bees by 

 breeding, rests our greatest opportunity to advance the art of 

 bee-keeping. As will be patent to all, by the above process we 

 exercise a care in breeding which is not surpassed by the best 

 breeders of horses and cattle, and which no wise apiarist will 

 ever neglect. Nor do I believe that Vogel can be correct in 

 thinking that drones give invariably one set of character and 

 the queens the others. This is contrary to all experience in 

 breeding larger animals. 



It is often urged, and I think with truth, that we shall 

 secure better queens if we wait for the queen-cells to be started 

 naturally by the bees, under the swarming impulse ; and by 

 early feeding and adding brood from other colonies we can 

 hasten this period ; yet, if we feed to stimulate, whenever the 

 bees are not storing, and keep the colony redundant in bees 

 of all ages by adding plenty of capped brood from other colo- 

 nies, we shall find that our queens are little, if any, inferior, 

 even if their production is hastened by removal of a queen 



