54 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



didn't your foreman have an oj)i)or- 

 tunity to caiTy out liis experiments 

 with the Swarmer? Certainly there 

 must have been plenty of bees in your 

 apiary in the years 1887-88 and in 

 1889. _ 



« 

 Kelation of the queen breeder to 

 the honey producer. 



E. L. Pkatt. 



The queen-breeder of to-day stands 

 to the honey-producer as the power- 

 furnishing concern stands to the man- 

 ufacturer. In older times when every- 

 thing w^as made by hand there were 

 no machine shops needed nor was 

 there any need of the queen breeder. 

 But now everything is toward central- 

 ization of all industries. With labor- 

 saving machinery comes sharp com- 

 petition on all sides. This calls for 

 improved power. 



The honey-producer of to-day does 

 not receive the price for his product 

 that he did in olden times on account 

 of sharp competition in his line of 

 trade. Thus the call for improved 

 power in the engine of the hive (the 

 queen). 



On the queen depends the number of 

 working force and on the worldng force 

 depends the j)roduction of honey. 



With our present knowledge of 

 queen-rearing we have improved the 

 mother bee to a marked extent and we 

 are not coming to a standstill yet 

 awhile. 



We often hear large honey produ- 

 cers say " started with such a number 

 but only such a number were ready 

 for supers." Why this difference in 

 colonies"? Ninety-nine cases out of 

 one hundred the difference can be 

 traced to the queens. We often hear 

 of extraordinary yields from particular 

 colonies. Why ? On account of a pro- 

 lific queen with hard-working progeny. 



Thousands of reports come in every 

 year of success and failure, all of 

 which are traceable to good or poor 

 stock, barring dearths of nectar in 

 poor seasons. Then we hear of loss 



in winter, spring dwindling and the 

 like discouraging mishaps that can 

 without doubt be remedied by the 

 queen to a great extent. The supply 

 market has gone down to hard pan. 

 Nothing can be hojDed for there. 



The queen-breeder should receive 

 all the encoui-agement possible from 

 the honey-producer for who knows but 

 what a better queen is the honey pro- 

 ducer's only salvation from this ava- 

 lanche of sharp competition encoun- 

 tered on every side. The price of honey 

 will never go up again. We must in- 

 crease the yield per hive to counteract 

 this fall in price. Come, producers, 

 give us a lift. You need us badly. 



Queen cages again. 



I have sent away several cages as 

 exj^lained in November Api. Those 

 who have reported have joronounced it 

 O. K., giving what suggestions they 

 had to offer, many of which are de- 

 tailed below. Thanks. 



The advantages claimed for this 

 cage are: It is a perfect shipper and 

 introducer, and contains food enough 

 in bulk to last twenty or more days, 

 and remain soft and moist; it can be 

 mailed for one cent; it can be sent 

 with or without wrapping or tying. 

 For my own use I am having a neat 

 little manilla wrapper, with directions 

 for introducing, lines on which to write 

 an address, and my card i^iiuted 

 thereon. This cage is so constructed 

 that the bees can at all times make 

 themselves comfortable and so much 

 so that they will often build comb in 

 the cage home during their confine- 

 ment. If the weather is chilly the con- 

 fined bees will huddle together in the 

 closed middle apartments where their 

 feed is always accessible and thus 

 stand a much lower temperature than 

 with any other cage. In hot weather, 

 they spread out through the whole 

 cage. You can often hear them fan- 

 ning fresh au' into the apartment 

 through the screen cloth that covers 

 the fresh air hole. 



Being closely sealed with a thin 



