126 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



May 



REARING GOOD QUEENS. 



Mr. Greiner in this number makes 

 some interesting observations in re- 

 gard to the results of natural selection, 

 as tending to uphold the standard of 

 excellence in our queens, and the im- 

 probability of man's early undoing of 

 nature's work. In its broadest sense, 

 there is evidently some foundation for 

 Mr. Greiner's theory; yet the whole- 

 sale methods of today, practiced in 

 commercial queen rearing, as a result 

 of which thousands uoon thousands of 

 colonies are requeened annually with 

 stock produced under artificial treat- 

 ment or improved (?) plans, the undo- 

 ing might be surprisingly rapid, if it 

 were, a fact that modern methods of 

 queen rearing were really productive of 

 inferior stock. There is no means at 

 our disposal at this time by which com- 



parisons between the bees of fifty years 

 ago and those of the present might be 

 made. As to honey-gathering qualities, 

 however, it is very doubtful if aiv real 

 advancement has been made. Such a 

 suggestion will doubtless be regarded 

 by some as real heresy; but where is 

 the evidence of superiority feo generally 

 boasted? 



Mr. Alley, in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal presents an illustration of several 

 queen-cells built, he says, by a method 

 with which few bee-keepers are ac- 

 quainted. The picture is shown, ap- 

 parently, to display what Mr. Alley 

 considers an unusual amount of wax 

 used in their construction, for he says: 



"You will see that every cell is large, 

 long and heavily waxed. This latter 



feature is the strongest indication that 

 the occupant of each cell is as good as 

 can be reared." 



Alley has been studying this matter 

 of rearing good queens perhaps longer 

 and on a more extensive scale than any 

 man in America, if not in the world, 

 and his observations carry weight. Yet, 

 he has denounced queens reared by the 

 cell-cup plan, genially, as worthless. 

 In this connection we take occasion to 

 show herewith a batch of cells, re- 

 produced from a small photograph 

 that has been lying arpund The Bee- 

 Keeper office for several years, which 

 was taken by the editor, and which 

 deoicts a batch of cells from artificial 

 cups made by himself. It is evident 

 that, if Mr. Alley's heavily-waxed cells 

 produce queens as good as can be 

 reared, the domestic races are not de- 

 teriorating as a result of artificial 

 methods, and that (as the picture 

 shows) cells equally well waxed re- 

 sult from other and better known 

 methods than the one to which Mr. Al- 

 ley refers. 



We are not vet able tc shape our 

 f.xith in heavily waxo.'l eels to coincide 

 exactly with Mr. Alley's view, but be- 

 lieve conditions which have no in- 

 fluence upon the quality of the result- 

 ing queen to be largely responsible for 

 the excess of wax frequently observed 

 in the construction of cell>, regardless 

 oi the system employed in their devel- 

 opment. That is to say, a strain of 

 bees which is prone to build burr and 

 brace combs excessively will be more 

 liable to finish cells of this style than 

 are the others. Closely grouping the 

 cups has also a tendency towards the 

 same result. Crowded apartments 

 combined with a fiow of honey are con- 

 ditions which yield a larger percentage 

 of heavily waxed cells than a roomy 

 hive and scanty forag?. 



Just now we are oarticularly fortu- 

 nate in having several deep-thinking 

 investigators at work upon these prob- 

 lems. Doolittle, Alley, A. C. Miller, 

 Pratt, Greiner and many others, are 

 helping us to a better understanding 

 of the subject, and it is hoped that valu- 

 able facts may be developed and estab- 

 lished while the matter is up for dis- 

 cussion. 



By the death of Mr. Newman, anoth- 

 er vacancy is created upon the Na- 

 tional board of directors. 



