170 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



that will make the best compro- 

 mise? We want a single hive only ; 

 we want it for summer and winter 

 use ; for uniting and dividing colo- 

 nies for rearing queens and for 

 wintering ; all these are not onlj'^ 

 needed, but absolutely required, 

 and actually seem to be best sub- 

 served by a frame about 9J- inches 

 in depth. Now, I ask again, why 

 will not a frame of this depth 

 winter our bees safely ? 



Foxhoro^ 3fass., July, 1884. 



IMPORTANCE OF GOOD 

 QUEENS. 



By L.C. Root. 



The question in regard to queens 

 in July No. of the journal is one of 

 too much importance to be an- 

 swered in "Question and Answer" 

 department, as the limited space 

 would not admit. When you ask 

 how and by whom queens should 

 be reared, you have asked a ques- 

 tion which should command the at- 

 tention of every beekeeper in the 

 world, for it is one of extreme inter- 

 est. Every thoughtful beekeeper 

 should keep these two words, 

 " better queens," constantly before 

 him — for upon this will largely 

 depend his success. 



I am aware that I shall find some 

 opposition to the position I shall 

 take in the matter. My first state- 

 ment is that the manner in which 

 the queen-rearing of the past has 

 been conducted has largely been a 

 hindcrance rather than a help to 

 our calling. Tiie great eflTort has 



seemed to tend towards cheaper 

 and not better queens. 



It is a fact to be regretted that 

 our bee journals almost without ex- 

 ception are encouraging and sus- 

 taining the cheap queen traffic in 

 its most extreme form by dealing 

 so largely in this class of queens. 



If there can be a man found who 

 has money enough so that he can 

 rear good queens for the very low 

 prices at which they are sold, I 

 have certainly no objection to his 

 doing so ; but there is one thing 

 that I do know from experience, 

 and that is, if it is to be conducted 

 as a paying business, we are to 

 have no great advance in the quali- 

 ty of our queens, so long as they 

 are furnished to us at one dollar 

 each by dealers who do not breed 

 them for themselves, but who se- 

 cure them from breeders at from 

 $50 to $70 per hundred. If you 

 look for your queens from such 

 sources, I say enq)hatically to bee- 

 keepers everywhere, rear your own 

 queens. 



That there are advantages in 

 reaving our own queens no person 

 will deny. If you desire to intro- 

 duce a queen to a full stock under 

 most favorable circumstances, how 

 could it be done more satisfactorily 

 than to take her from a nucleus in 

 one's own yard. Those who have 

 received queens largely by mail or 

 express well know that they are 

 liable to be injured by shipment. 



That there are many advantages 

 to be gained where queens are 

 reared by specialists, I am fully 

 aware. If a man like Mr. Alley, 

 who has had twenty and more 



