Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 



Vol. XII 



AUGUST 1902 



No. 8 



THE QUEEN. 



Rules To Be Observed in Her Selection— Intro- 

 duction, Clipping, Etc. 



(Arthur C. Miller.) 



THE QUEEN, the center of the 

 bee universe offers the most fas- 

 cinating field for study to be 

 found in all apiculture. Notwithstand- 

 ing the volumes that have been written 

 on the subject, it is comparatively a vir- 

 gin soil. To the beginner the queen is 

 an almost mythical creature, and when 

 found is to be gazed upon with awe 

 and reverence- Truly she is wonderful 

 and the better she is known the more 

 wonderful she will become, and as the 

 traits and habits are learned the field 

 broadens and queen rearing becomes 

 the chief part of bee-keeping, at least 

 to the amateur. 



As size, color and shape of queens 

 naturally first engage the attention it 

 may perhaps be best to first consider 

 those factors. Size is the most decep- 

 tive of all attributes; the large queen 

 today is small next week and even in- 

 significant at some seasons. The large 

 bright "Virgin'' becomes a "Whopper" 

 as she begins to lay, only to shrink to 

 normal soon after. It is somewhat the 

 same with color; at one tinTe a queen 

 looks bright, at another time much 

 darker. These variations are seemin^g- 

 ly great because we judge of a queen 

 almost solely by the color and size of 

 her abdomen. According as this is con- 

 tracted or shrunken, or is distended 

 with eggs, so varies size and shade of 



color of the queen. But a dark queen 

 will never be light or vice versa; each 

 will retain her original markings, some 

 being like rich, mottled mahogany, and 

 others golden yellow, almost to the 

 very tip. 



But color and size of abdomen are of 

 little value in selecting queens. For 

 fine queens select those with a large 

 thorax, long wings and legs, and who 

 stand high, or as a fancier of game 

 fowl would say who have a fine "sta- 

 tion." Such queens will necessarily be 

 long in abdomen, even though it may 

 not be apparent at time of selection. 



Queen raising is a subject by itself 

 and can be but alluded to here. What- 

 ever system the bee-keeper adopts, let 

 every energy be bent towards produc- 

 ing the very best possible under that 

 system, not towards raising the great- 

 est number. The veteran. Dr. Gallup, 

 has recently in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal been urging the need of raising 

 long-lived queens; and hence, of neces- 

 sity, long-lived bees. It is a need of 

 bee-keeping that deserves the greatest 

 publicity and a virtue in queens which 

 each bee-keeper should foster by every 

 possible means- 

 Queen introduction, once the great 

 worry to the bee-fancier, is fast losing 

 its terrors, and soon will have none 

 at all except, perhaps, for the veriest 

 tyro. Among all the systems I have 

 found the "direct'' method of introduc- 

 tion to be the safest as well as the most 

 expeditious and economical. It matters 

 not to me whether the old queen has 

 just been removed or has been out sev- 

 eral days (provided they have no seal- 



