THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



109 



had, there was not .1 queen fertilized 

 nnd ready to ship until the first week 

 in Jniie. 



The weather and queen-rearing. 



Well, it did seem to me that tliere 

 never was such cold, cloudy, windy 

 and wet weathei-as we had all through 

 the month of May and to this date, 

 June 16, still continues. Once in a 

 great while we had a warm day, Init 

 such days were followed l)y, at least, 

 ten days of cold and wet weather. 

 On Wednesday, June 11, we had the 

 lirst warm, summer-like day. That 

 night the wind swung round to the 

 northeast and all hands had to put 

 on winter clothing to keep warm, 

 and then the rain and wind came and 

 continued up to June 16, with not the 

 slightest indications or prospect that 

 the sun would ever shine again in this 

 part of New England. During the 

 first week in June, while people but 

 two hundred miles from here were suf- 

 fering from the heat, here in New P2ng- 

 land it was wet and cold. Old Sol 

 will most likely let his light shine later 

 on. All will rejoice when he does as 

 wc have been aftlicted with the worst 

 of weather since Sept. 1, 1888. I need 

 not tell our readers the effect such 

 weather has on the queen dealer, and 

 beekee|)ing generally. 



I find it has taken about five pounds 

 of sugar, on an average of 8^ cents 

 per lb. to rear each queen we have 

 sent out since the last week in Au- 

 gust, 1888. This little item is in ad- 

 dition to the " cussing " we have re- 

 ceived and hard names we have been 

 called because we were not more 

 prompt in filling orders for queens. 

 How could we do it ? We have made 

 every effort to ship queens and fill all 

 orders as soon as possible, but it has 

 been impossible for us to do all our 

 customers justice. We have had no 

 less than two hundred and fifty nucleus 

 colonies, each containing a queen or a 

 queen-cell, yet the weather was such 

 all through the month of May that 



only a few queens were fertilized rtn 

 any day. 



Our readei's know, or, at least, the 

 older ones know that queens will not 

 leave the hive on the mating tour when 

 the weather is cold and cloudy, and 

 only on such days as are warm and 

 [)leasant — just such days as we have 

 when bees are gathering honey in 

 great quantities. Well, we do not 

 have many honey-gathering da3's iiere 

 or, rather, have not had the past two 

 seasons. Tliis state of things will 

 not, in all probability, continue nuich 

 longer. 



If we are favored with a few pleas- 

 ant days during the next three weeks, 

 every order for queens will be filled 

 before July 10. If any order remains 

 unfilled on that date it will be liecause 

 it has been overlooked or received on 

 that day. 



June 15, there was a change in the 

 weather. Our hives are now full of 

 honey ; bees at work in sections, and 

 all is going well. 



No less than three hundred queen- 

 cells were started on one day the past 

 week from our $100 queen. This week 

 as many more will l)e started. All 

 this is in addition to the three hundred 

 queens we now have in nuclei and in 

 the queen-nurseries. 



There are in the Bay State queen 

 apiaries two hundred and fifty nuclei 

 in as good condition as it is possible 

 to get them. They are nearly all 

 crowded with bees and brood. It has 

 cost a good deal for sugar to do this, 

 but the cost in this case is an item not 

 to be considered. We have advertised 

 queens for sale, and as orders are 

 coming by each mail we must have 

 the queens, leaving the cost to come in 

 as a later consideration. 



One hundred queens will be mailed 

 tiiis week (between June 16 and 21) 

 to our customers. Right here, sup- 

 pose we give the readers the contents 

 of a few private letters that have come 

 to us within a month. 



The first one is from a well-known 



