54 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



fertile. Our long experience in rearing 

 queens has given us the "practised eye" 

 to detect any imperfections that may 

 exist in a queen the moment she leaves 

 the cell. The quaUty of a queen is 

 judged by the following points: i. 

 The cell must be large and pointed from 

 which the queen came. 2. She must 

 cut off a large cap when she leaves the 

 cell. This last is one of the be^t indi- 

 cations that a queen is likely to prove a 

 valuable one. 3. The queen should be 

 large, plump, active, and of a hght straw 

 color. The above are the first tests of 

 the quality of a young queen ; but we 

 are not done here. The queen to be 

 up to the standard should be fertilized, 

 if the weather is pleasant, inside of ten 

 days after she leaves the cell, and begin 

 to lay in the course of thirty-six hours 

 thereafter. Now comes a test that 

 should crown all the others. When the 

 queen has filled one comb with eggs, 

 examine the cells to see that every egg 

 is put in the cells in nearly exactly the 

 same position, that is, point downward 

 and the eggs large and plump. 



The above are all the important points 

 required to test a queen bee until she 

 has been introduced to a full colony. 

 After that it will require about one year 

 to test the wintering and honey gather- 

 ing qualities of her colony. 



rambler's opinion of our bkst quekn- 



J.J. Martin, of Hartford, N. Y., better 

 known in the role of author as "Ram- 

 bler," visited the Bay State Apiary at 

 the last of September, 1890, and of 

 course was shown our famous hundred- 

 dollar queen and her colony. Here is 

 what he says about it : 



"We were next shown the colony in 

 which was installed the celebrated SlOO 

 queen. This colony had thrown ott' a 

 swarm quite earl.v, and during tlu season 

 sixty frames of brood liad been drawn 

 from the parent colony alone for queen- 

 rearing. But whatever prodigies the 

 colony had done, we noticed that they were 

 very active ; and though it was during the 

 last days of September, they were busy 

 at work; and, allowing the Rambler to 

 judge, it was the best colony in the Bay 

 State Apiary." 



This colony has always been in good 

 condition. \Ve will now drop this part 

 of our subject and tell you something 

 about the 



GOLDEN CAHNIOLAN BEES AND QUEENS 



that were first originated in the Bay 

 State Apiary. We have informed the 

 readers of the Api what an easy matter 

 it is to breed up golden, or yellow Car- 

 niolan bees from the daric strains of this 

 race. We now have in the JBay State 

 queen-rearing apiaries several colonies 

 of the beautiful golden Carniolans. 

 These colonies proved to be superior in 

 all respects to the dark or gray Carni- 

 olans ; splendid workers and as gentle 

 as bees can be ; queens very prolific, 

 workers large, active and always on the 

 hunt in the fields for forage. Late last 

 fall these bees seemed determined to 

 secure sufficient stores for winter. Have 

 seen them working in a rain storm. 

 Cold weather only could keep them in 

 the hive. The queens keep the combs 

 solidly packed with brood all through 

 the warm months. Up to date these 

 colonies have wintered in the best con- 

 dition and l)ut few dead bees have been 

 seen about the entrance of the hives ; 

 no mould or dampness, and bees very 

 quiet. AUhough a large sum of money 

 has been offered for some of these col- 

 nies, they were not sold, as they are to 

 be used in our apiary the coming season 

 for rearing queens. We shall run a 

 queen- rearing yard for golden carniolans 

 two miles from our home apiary, and 

 can guarantee the purity of all such 

 queens sent out by us. 



Rambler was shown these bees when 

 here, and special pains were taken by 

 him to test their disposition. Listen to 

 what he says of them : 



" We expressed a desire to see the yel- 

 low Carniolans and were immediately 

 shown a colony that would ordinarily pass 

 for very good Italians. But these bees, 

 when the liive was opened, showed all the 

 traits of the dark Carniolans. No veil 

 nor smoke was used. Quick motions 

 near the comb or over the hive were not 

 resented. As to honey-gathering qnali- 

 ties, we should think that eastern Massa- 

 chusetts is not the locality to test them 



