234 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



October, 



PRE-IXTRODUCTION OF VIRGIN 

 QUEENS. 



In Gleanings for September 1, Ed- 

 itor Root gives a metliod of success- 

 ively inti'oducing virgin queens, which 

 hastens the process of fertilization 

 where a number are to be mated, as 

 practiced in the Root apiary. Here's 

 the idea: 



"Here is a colony that is queenless. 

 Instead of giving it one caged virgin, 

 to be released on the candy plan, he 

 (Mr. Root's apiarist, H .E. H.) gives 

 It two of flying age; but the loose 

 slide protecting the candy is removed, 

 exi>osing the food in one cage, leaving 

 it in the other cage covered by the 

 slide. The bees will release the queen 

 of the first mentioned. In a day or 

 two she will become fertilized and go 

 to laying. The other virgin is kept 

 caged in the meantime. As soon as 

 queen No. 1 is laymg she is taken out, 

 and at the same time the slide cover- 

 ing the candy of the other cage is set 

 back, the bees release queen No. 2. 

 Before that is done, another is put into 

 the hive, caged with the candy pro- 

 tected. Queen No. 2 is accepted and 

 ere long begins to lay. She is removed 

 and the slide of cage No. 3 is set back 

 and another virgin is put in, and so on 

 the cycle proceeds." 



This preintroduction idea, it appears, 

 has come as a final solution of one of 

 the difficult problems in apiculture 

 and bids fair to become the popular 

 method with queen breeders of the 

 future. If we mistake not. the honor 

 of its discovery belongs to the versa- 

 tile "Swarthmore," and the Americaij 

 Bee-Keeper believes it was the first 

 publication to give publicity to the 

 plan, thi'ough an article which ap- 

 peared in its issue of March. 1903. 



Though the method practiced by the 

 Root people diffei's somewhat from 

 the Swarthmore modus operandi, the 

 principle is essentially the same. The 

 Root plan being, perhaps, better adapt- 

 ed to the requirements of the "avei-age'' 

 bee-keeper, while the "Swarthmore'' 

 method is of the rapid-fire type, and 

 is worthy of the consideration of 

 breeders operating upon an extensive 

 commercial scale. 



THE NATIONAL'S NEW OFFICERS 



At the Los Angeles convention of 

 the National Association, President 

 James U. Harris, of the Colorado 

 Slate Bee-Keepers' Association, was 

 elected to the presidential chair of 

 the National Association, also. Mr. 

 Harris is one of the foremost apiar- 

 ists of his great home State, and, it is 

 said, is eminently qualified to dis- 

 charge the duties of the new office, at 

 the head of the National Association. 

 We have pleasure in presenting in this 

 number of The Bee-Keeper an excel- 

 lent portrait of President-elect Harris, 

 of Grand Junction, Colo. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton, III., 

 was elected vice president, while Geo^ 

 "W. Brodbeck, of Los Angeles, pres- 

 ident California National Honey Pro- 

 ducers' Association, succeeds Geo. W. 

 York, of Chicago, as secretary for the 

 ensuing year. 



Some one predicted several years 

 ago that the "Great West" was to 

 liecome the producer of the bulk of 

 America's honey crops. If the pace 

 with which the National officiary is 

 moving in that direction is any index 

 of nectar-producing conditions, the 

 lirophecy is being more speedily ful- 

 filled than even the prognosticator an- 

 ticipated. However, it is gratifying 

 to note that the management of the 

 National's afPairs is passing exclus- 

 ively into the hands of active produc- 

 ers of honey. Bee-keepers them- 

 selves, perhaps, know better than any 

 one else what they want. A thorough 

 knowledge of parliamentary law is by 

 no means the chief essential in meet- 

 ing the present demands of the indus- 

 try; and it is a gratifying sign of the 

 times to see the responsibilities of our 

 associations passing into the hands 

 of the man with the smoker — the man 

 whose personal e.xi)eriences have deep- 

 ly impressed him with the iui]iortan?e 

 of action upon urgent and practical 

 ([uestions, as well as familiarized him 

 with the details and intri.'acies in- 

 volved in surmounting the problems 

 which loom up before him as a men- 

 ace to his means of livelihood. 



New England has had one of the 

 poorest honey seasons on record. 



The Buffalo market is now consid- 

 ered safe for small shipments, by our 

 con-espondent there, who states that 

 low grades of new crop are selling at 

 from eight to twelve cents. 



