58 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



at once admit that I am not too high, to 

 say the least. Admitting, then, that I 

 am correct in the above, does it not 

 follow that those who advertise queens 

 at the ridiculously low prices that are 

 given every month, either are not giv- 

 ing us such queens as we want or else 

 are losing money in the business? I 

 do not i-ear queens, have no friends that 

 are in the business whom I desire to aid 

 by this article. I do believe, however, 

 that better queens are wanted, and that 

 we can only improve our bees by using 

 the best queens procurable ; and with 

 this belief I must advise all beekeepers 

 to buy only from those dealers in queens 

 who charge prices at which a profit can 

 be made, as the risk in purchasing, from 

 those who offer them at what is known 

 to be losing prices, is too great for any 

 of us to run, who desire improvement. 



I assail no one ; I impugn no one's 

 honesty ; I simply say what I know to 

 be the truth, and common sense will 

 show all that no one cares to breed 

 queens at a loss any more than they 

 care to do business of anv kind without 

 a profit. J. E. Pond. 



No. Atfkboro, Mass. 



What we want is good queens. We 

 can get cheap queens any time and per- 

 haps can get good cheap queens once 

 in a while, but that is not the rule. In 

 order to get good queens the same rule 

 of breeding must be applied that we 

 apply to any other class of animals, viz., 

 breed from the best of specimens and 

 continue to select with great care. Pond. 



I am sorry to say that a majority of 

 queen-breeders seem bent on bringing 

 ruin on the queen-rearing business by 

 advertising and selling queens at prices 

 below what good queens can be reared 

 for. When a man proposes to sell an 

 article or commodity at prices below 

 cost value and proposes to continue the 

 business, it is positive evidence that he 

 is sending out an inferior article. The 

 thing that is needed most is better 



queens, and I am sure tliat beekeepers 

 are willing to pay "living" prices for 

 queens if they can only be assured that 

 they will be fairly dealt with. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



Do not crowd down the prices of 

 queens. They are low enough. If there 

 is to be any crowding done, let it be for 

 quality, and a higher price naturally fol- 

 lows. There is nothing so cheap about 

 an apiary as a cheap queen. 



Two or three months' hard work in 

 the scorching sun would convince all 

 that we cannot afford to rear a queen 

 for less than ^1.50, and $2.00 is none 

 too high, taking into consideration the 

 risk all young queens are heir to. 



I have felt, and still feel, that this cheap 

 queen traffic tends to haste, not care, in 

 breeding, and that with 'dollar queens' 

 ruling in the market, there is lack of in- 

 ducement for the careful, jiainstaking la- 

 bor that is absolutely requisite to give us 

 the best race of bees. . . I have feared 

 that this ' cheajD queen ' traffic would 

 crush the hard effort, requiring study, 

 time, money and the most cautious ex- 

 periment and observation necessary to 

 give us a very .superior race of bees. 

 There is reason to hope now that it will, 

 at most, only delay it. Enterprising 

 apiarists see in this the greatest promise 

 for improved apiculture and are already 

 moving forward. Enterprising beekeep- 

 ers will purchase and pay well for the 

 bee of the future that gives such evi- 

 dence of superior excellence. One thing 

 is certain : 'dollar queens' are in the mar- 

 ket, and are in demand ; so whether the 

 business tends to our good or evil, as 

 rational men we must accept the situa- 

 tion and make the most of things as they 

 exist. Let me urge, however, upon the 

 progressive apiarist that there is no pos- 

 sible doubt but that the bees of the fu- 

 ture will be immensely superior to those 

 of to-day. Man can and will advance 

 here as he has in breedins; all other 



