batch every one. I would not suspect this 

 ditticulty, but it is a fact. Consequently, it 

 will not pay to raise dollar queens by tliis 



frocess, as far as I understand it at present. 

 f you must introduce the queens, at a «reat 

 risk of loss, to nuclei to get them laying 

 before they are salable, better raise them in 

 the nucleus from the first. If it had not 

 been for this unfortunate ditficulty, 1 say, 

 frankly, I should not have told what I have 

 about it, and 1 should have made a sensation 

 in cheap queens. 



As mucli as I know about queens fertilized 

 in confinement, 1 have torn. 1, of course, 

 expect that there will still be those who 

 will say it can'tbe done, and never has been, 

 but if 1 shall have succeeded in stimulating 

 any to work with me in this field, until we 

 can solve to the satisfaction of ourselves 

 and others this most neglected and most 

 important of all problems to the bee-fancier 

 — now doubly important since the arrival 

 of the Cyprians— I shall feel repaid for my 

 efforts, and the opprobious epithets which 

 have silenced others, and which I suppose 1 

 have reason to expect from some of our not 

 very enterprising contemporaries, will not 

 hurt my feeings. J. Uasbkouck. 



Flat iBrook, N.J. 



Mr. Oatman asked what Mr. Hasbrouck 

 expected to gain from this, and he replied 

 tliat it enabled him to keep different races 

 in tlie same apiary distinct, or cross-breed, 

 as he may desire, and he had hoped thereby 

 to cheapen the rearing of queens. He is sat- 

 isfied that by other means practiced one can- 

 not afford to rear queens for a dollar. The 

 great difficulty in introducing queens so fei'- 

 tilized, except within half an hour after the 

 act, is a drawback to its general use. 



Mr. Nellis had notiiing to state except the 

 failure of his experiments. 



Mr. Oatman. This is a serious and impor- 

 tant question, if cross-breeding can increase 

 the production of our bees. He moved a 

 vote of thanks to Prof. Hasbrouck for his 

 able address, with the request that he con- 

 tinue the investigation of the subject. 



L. C. Root. This is a matter of more im- 

 portance than generally considered. We aim 

 to rear our queens from our best colonies, 

 and therefore we should be most particular 

 in selecting the mother as well as the drone. 

 We have no control of this in the natural 

 way. I have experimented largely, but 

 never met with success, and am looking 

 anxiously to have this a success, as it is of 

 great importance. 



Mr. Alley will try the method as soon as 

 he reaches home. 



Nr. Newman thinks it important, and next 

 to the production and marketing of honey. 



Mr. Root has noticed some colonies having 

 very superior drones, and has earnestly 

 wished that Ins queens might be fertilized 

 by such drones. 



Mr. Hasbrouck does not know that he is 

 giving too much importance to the subject, 

 but is surprised that more have not suc- 

 ceeded. 



Mr. Oatman. Will a queen hatched in a 

 hive have any disadvantage over a queen 

 batched in a cage ? 



Mr. Hasbrouck. None ; I only hatch in a 

 cage for convenience to save time in looking 

 for them. 



Mr. Root further stated his experience 

 wliile with the late Mr. Quinhy. Gave Mrs. 

 Tupper $10.00 for her method and failed. 

 First he made a box, then a house eight feet 

 square. Placed a nucleus in the house con- 

 taini ig only yoinig worker bees. Once saw 

 the drones a|>pearing to notice the queen. I 

 should expect if I caught a virgin queen 

 leaving tlie hive that would be the most 

 opportune moment for the experiment and 

 IJiope our members will experiment, j 



Bee(^.Pastiira??e. 



There are many important questions 

 related to the topic with which your com- 

 mittee honored me, in making their assign- 

 ments for essays to be read at this annual 

 gathering. The fact that all our honey is 

 gathered in a few brief weeks of a long 

 season, is a suggestive one. The fact that 

 the quality of iioney, both as to appearance 

 and flavor, is as varied as the jjlants from 

 which it is gathered, must interest the prac- 

 tical bee-keeper. That many honey-plants 

 are vei-y susceptible to external circum- 

 stances, ever varying in the amount of their 

 secretions with climatic and other condi- 

 ti(His, as also that there is great variation 

 among different plants, in the degree of this 

 sensitiveness, are questions of great interest 

 to the thinking apiarist. The fact that bees 

 are also wonderfully susceptible. to exterior 

 circumstances, and only do their l)est at 

 times of general prosperity, is also of inter- 

 est in tliis coiniection. 



Much of interest and value connected with 

 these questions, is now the common property 

 of all intelligent patrons of our art. Much 

 more is yet hidden from our view, waiting 

 to be drawn forth from its seclusion by the 

 keen instruments of the scientist, or to be 

 discovered to the world by the sharp vision 

 of the observing bee-keeper. 



I deeply regret that I am not able to throw 

 more light upon this important suliject ; 

 yet I shall not be wholly dissatisfied if I can 

 even let fall a single faint gleam, either by 

 way of actual information, or of suggestion 

 that perchance may lead to wider knowledge. 



LONGEli AND MORE CONTIMUOUS IIONEY 

 SEASON. 



It is well known to all present, that even 

 in the most favored localities, the aggregate 

 time of active storing, during the best sea- 

 sons, is hardly twelve weeks— one in May, 

 fruit blossoms; four in June, white clover 

 and raspberries; two in July, basswood ; 

 and five in August and September, golden 

 rod, boneset, etc. For most seasons and 

 localities, the above is twice too great. Now 

 this time— wei'e there but flowers to attract 

 tlie bees from the time of the early willow 

 and maple till the autumn frosts — might be 

 more than doubled. The question, then, of 

 replacing these periods of dearth and idle- 

 ness — I might say of robbing and irritable- 

 ness — with those of bloom and industry, 

 becomes one of no small moment. You all 

 know, by the fruitful observation of the 

 past, that could you replace idleness with 

 activity, it would be more than a net gain, 

 as it is no injury to the bees ; in fact, our 

 bees never come through the season in such 

 good condition as wlien the time of secretion 

 is longest and most continuous. Can we 



