490 



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*--*'^*'^*-*--^-^*-^-* 



could hardly find room in the carriage 

 for so biilkj- a present, the Prince of 

 Wales suggested it should be sent to 

 the Castle. Much interest was also 

 shown in the method of folding a one- 

 pound section. The Queen then shook 

 hands with the Baroness and Mr. 

 Cowan, thanked them, and drove off. 



In the other carriage were Prince 

 and Princess Cliristian, and Prince 

 Albert of Schleswig-Holstein and suite. 



The weather was all that could be 

 wished, and it is some years since a 

 show of the Royal has passed off with- 

 out umbrellas being called into con- 

 stant requisition ; but during this show 

 they have only been required to keep 

 off" the sun's rays. 



An amusing incident happened just 

 before the Royal procession passed. 

 The refreshment contractors had placed 

 their cooking furnaces quite close to 

 the skeps that were kept for driving 

 the bees and other operations in the 

 bee-tent. These furnaces were used 

 at night for cooking the joints for the 

 day's provisions. The heat made the 

 bees rather uncomfortable, and a 

 swarm issued and passed over the route 

 to be taken by the Queen. Thousands 

 of bees were flying to and fro, and 

 Mr. Baldwin got a skep and induced 

 the bees to settle by sprinkling them 

 on the canvas of the bee-tent. It was 

 not a moment too soon, for no sooner 

 had the bees settled quietly, when the 

 Queen drove up. All the arrange- 

 ments were perfect. The device, ac- 

 companied by several one and two 

 pound sections of comb honey of first- 

 rate quality, selected from the exhibits 

 of Mr. Woodley, of Newbury, and Miss 

 Gayton, of Much Hadham, wei'e in due 

 course conveyed to the Castle, to be 

 placed on Her Majesty's table. Mr. 

 Huckle has since received the follow- 

 ing commimication : 



WrNDf OK Castle, June 29, 1889. 

 SiK : — i am commanded by the Queen to 

 request that you will convey to the Commit- 

 tee of the British Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 Her Majesty's thanks for the honey and 

 honey-device which they have been kind 

 enough to present the Queen. 



Yours, faithfully, 



Henry Ponsonby. 



The bee-department of the Royal 

 has been honored twice previously bj' 

 Royalty. At tlie Kilburn show in 1879 

 the Prince of Wales visited it, at Nor- 

 wich in 1886 it was visited by the 

 Prince and Princess of Wales, whom 

 Mr. Cowan, with other members of the 

 Committee, had the honor to conduct 

 around the department. 



The visit of Her Majest)' and the 

 Royal Family will cause the Royal 

 Show at Windsor to be long held in 

 remembrance by all bee-keepers. The 

 status of bee-keepers has been raised 

 by the honor conferred tipon them. It 

 has been shown that bee-culture is an 



Integral part of agriculture, and that 

 the connection between agriculture, 

 horticulture and apiculture is very in- 

 timate. The Royal notice, the mag- 

 nificent weather we are enjoying, and 

 the hopeful honey season, will impart 

 a heart of grace to all bee-keepers, and 

 cause them to go on their way re- 

 joicing. ■ 



QUEENS. 



New System of Rearing^ Several 

 Queens in a Full Colony. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY DR. G. L. TINKER. 



It has long been sought to I'car and 

 secure the fertilization of a number of 

 queens, and get them all laying at 

 once in a full colony of bees ; but the 

 well known antagonism of queens has 

 heretofore prevented the accomplish- 

 ing of that object. While it may, or 

 may not, be of any advantage to the 

 honey - producer, to have a multiple 

 of queens in a hive, it must be con- 

 ceded that a successful system of rear- 

 ing queens, as indicated, in full colo- 

 nies, will be a boon to queen-breeders, 

 and a great improvement over our 

 present methods of rearing queens. 



At last I have a successful plan — 

 what I call a " Queen-Rearing Cham- 

 ber " — by which may be readily reared 

 from 10 to 20 queens in any full colony 

 of bees, and get them all laying at 

 once, the worker bees all flying from 

 one entrance, but having access to all 

 of the queens. 



It seems almost incredible that we 

 sliould be able to so interfere with the 

 usual course of nature, as to bring 

 about such a result after so many years 

 of having colonies with only one lay- 

 ing queen, or, at the best, a young one 

 and a superannuated old one ! 



To the introduction and successful 

 use of perforated-zinc in our metliods, 

 is due the success of this new plan ; 

 although, with what I now know, I 

 could make a hive of all wood and 

 succeed ; but the perforated-zinc is the 

 most practical excluder thus far put 

 to use. 



To successfully rear a number of 

 queens at once in a hive, it is only re- 

 quired that we keep the queens apart 

 bj' the use of the zinc, and give them 

 separate entrances. However, one 

 sheet of the zinc intervening between 

 the queens is a partial failure, as the 

 rival queens will discover each other 

 and quarrel ; the result being that one 

 of them takes fright and swarms out, 

 or may be killed. To remedj' this 

 diilicult3% I began to use two sheets of 

 the zinc between the queens, with a 

 bee-space between the sheets, or solid 

 wood. Thus arranged, there is no 



trouble about getting the queens 

 mated. 



The principle here outlined was pub- 

 lished in the Bee Jouknax on page 

 2t> — see next to the last paragraph of 

 the third column — which another sea- 

 son's experience has shown to be 

 correct in every word. Thus it will 

 appear, that while queen-cells will be 

 cared for and allowed to hatch above 

 zinc excluders in full colonies, it is im- 

 possible to secure the mating of the 

 young queens while there is a laying 

 queen in the brood-chamber below. 



I wish all queen-breeders to mark 

 this fact, for it is the sole reason why 

 the perfection of the "queen-rearing 

 chamber" has ,so long been delayed ; 

 for both myself and others have often 

 had queen-cells hatch above queen- 

 excluding honey-boards for years, and 

 although the young queens wei'e given 

 a chance to fly out, not one of them 

 was ever fertilized without a coincident 

 loss of the laying queen below in some 

 mysterious manner. Hence, I feared 

 that we should never be able to get 

 two or more young queens laying in 

 one hive at the same time. I then be- 

 gan to experiment with two virgin 

 queens of the same age, and to my as- 

 tonishment I succeeded in getting both 

 laying the first trial. 



The principle having been dis- 

 covered, it only i-emained to make a 

 practical application of it, and the re- 

 sult is the new " queen-rearing cham- 

 ber." Now we shall be able to have 

 several laying queens in a hive, and 

 after they get to laying, one sheet of 

 the zinc between them is all-sufficient 

 for continued harmony ; the bees seem- 

 ing to care for one queen as much as 

 another in the same hive. 



I have had four queens of the same 

 age together in one hive for the past 

 two months, and numbers of other 

 colonies with two and three laying 

 queens for shorter periods, imtil I 

 know that the system is not onh* pos- 

 sible, but a great practical success. 



In perfecting this method I have 

 spent much time and hard study, be- 

 sides monej', and I came to the conclu- 

 sion that I ought not, in justice to m}-- 

 self, to give it to the public. After 

 perfecting the plan during the season 

 of 1888, I applied for a patent which 

 has just been granted, and now I am 

 readj' to make the matter public. 



Being the first to discover this new 

 system of queen-rearing, and to make 

 a practical and successful application 

 of it, I shall therefore claim all queen- 

 rearing chambers in which the fore- 

 going principle is made to appear. 



How to ;?lake the Chambers. 



The chambers, as I have perfected 

 them, are divided into compartments 

 by three partitions made of part wood 



