40 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



that other queens are reared to fill their 

 places. Are not those queens reared 

 according to nature's ways? Why 

 should not those queens reared under 

 such circumstances be equal to those 

 reared when the bees are gathering 

 honey? It matters not what method 

 is used in rearing queens, it is nature's 

 way every time ; there is no other way. 

 So long as there is a large colony of 

 young bees and plenty of honey and 

 pollen present, nature's way is followed 

 in every case. 



I am free to admit that, as a rule, it is 

 -rather difficult to improve upon nature ; 

 yet the intelligent and skilful man has 

 •beaten nature in many instances. I 

 think I can show that better queen bees 

 can be reared by what is called the arti- 

 cial method than is usually reared un- 

 der the swarming impulse. Let us see 

 about it. 



I once had several colonies of Albino 

 bees. Each colony had a queen reared 

 at swarming-time. These colonies were 

 as strong as any colonies I ever saw. 

 The hives were crowded with bees and 

 some immense swarms came from them. 

 These bees did not have sufficient am- 

 bition to get a living while other colo- 

 nies in the same apiary were storing 

 honey in sections. Well, these bees 

 built cells and swarmed even more than 

 those colonies that were storing honey 

 in the sections and those that had all 

 the desirable points of excellence bees 

 should possess. 



I state the above merely to illustrate 

 'the fact that when bees are left to work 

 in accordance with their natural instincts 

 that there is little or no improvement 

 made in their condition. Jt will be 

 seen that an inferior race or strain of 

 bees will construct queen cells, swarm 

 and pursue the same course as the most 

 ■vigorous hive of bees. Now, what course 

 ;must the bee master pursue to improve 

 his apiary, when his bees are no better 

 than the Albinos here spoken of? He 

 should simply supersede the worthless 

 queens and replace them by those reared 

 in the best colonies in the apiary. 



The practical and thoughtful bee- 



keeper does not rear queens from the 

 inferior mothers or colonies in his api- 

 ary. p]y adopting the proper methods 

 and following well-known and thorough- 

 ly tested methods for rearing queens, 

 there is no doubt that much better 

 queens can be reared by the forced 

 methods than are produced generally 

 under the swarming impulse. 



To those persons who assert that no 

 improvement can be made upon na- 

 ture, let me call attention to what the 

 intelligence and perseverance of man 

 has accomplished in the great produc- 

 tion of the innumerable varieties of fruit 

 we have ; and I might mention thousands 

 of other things which the skill of man 

 has improved. W'here can any natural 

 fruit be found that will equal that pro- 

 duced by cultivation? 



Old methods of queen rearing. The people 

 who practised them. 



Notwithstanding the great advance- 

 ment made in the methods of rearing 

 queens, there may be found a few bee- 

 keepers who still practise the old ways. 

 Such people find it hard to get out of 

 the old ruts. This same class of bee- 

 keepers will be found using two-pound 

 boxes for surplus honey, narrow top- 

 bar brood-frames and ten frames to the 

 brood nest, etc. These are the fellows 

 who know it all. Such people never 

 admit that other beekeepers can be 

 found who know as much about bee cul- 

 ture as themselves. I need not say, they 

 are not the people to whom to apply for 

 information about bees ; they know too 

 much. They will tell you that these new- 

 fangled ways amount to nothing. The 

 good old way is good enough for them ; 

 in that opinion they are correct. If 

 asked if they read the bee-papers, the 

 answer will be, " No." What do the 

 bee-papers amount to ? When I come 

 across one of those fellows I drop him 

 about as suddenly as I would drop a 

 piece of red-hot iron. There are plenty 

 of people in the world who can see no 

 good in the inventions and advancement 

 made by their neighbors. Let them 

 alone. 



