For the American Bee Journal. 



Duplicating Queens. 



J. ANDERSON. 



In the last Bee Journal, I have 

 just read Mr. A. F. Moon's challenge to 

 bee-keepers regarding a queen that 

 duplicates herself. It is not my pur- 

 pose to send you— particularly at this 

 late season of the year— a queen such as 

 he wants ; but, in case that his very 

 strong statements should lead any of 

 the readers of your most excellent 

 Journal to conclude that there are no 

 i.ueens in existence that invariably 

 duplicate themselves, permit me to 

 state that I have such a queen now in 

 my possession. By this I mean that I 

 have a queen, the mother of a large 

 number of queens, now in my apiary 

 which invariably duplicates herself. I 

 cannot now state the number of queens 

 I have from her, but this I say, that I 

 reared last summer far more from her 

 than Mr. Moon wants in order to estab- 

 lish the existence of such a queen ; and 

 that I have not yet met one dark queen 

 from her— not one of all I reared from 

 her. All are as bright as herself, and 

 she is a highly colored queen. Some of 

 her daughters are a little brighter than 

 the mother ; but will probably be like 

 her when as old as she is. Perhaps Mr. 

 Moon may regard this as a confirmation 

 of his theory. Well, of course, if the 

 daughter is a little brighter than the 

 mother, then they are not alike; true, 

 but if Mr. Moon takes this ground, then 

 all I have to say is, that the discussion 

 is regarding dark queens produced by 

 bright and pure mothers. Generally no 

 fault is found with queens for being too 

 bright. I have no motive in making 

 the above statement, but simply to 

 guard some of your readers against an 

 impression which I am confident is not 

 correct; indeed, I am as satisfied of its 

 incorrectness, as Mr. Moon can be of the 

 opposite. I have only one queen just 

 now of which I can speak so positive. 

 There may be others in my apiary of 

 which the same might be said were they 

 tested. The queen alluded to is not an 

 imported one. I received an imported 

 queen this season, but her queen-daugh- 

 ters vary greatly in color — some of them 

 very bright, and others very dark— so 

 dark that but few would regard them 

 as pure. Why should anyone conclude 

 that pure queens should not duplicate 

 themselves ? Black ones do it. Fowls 

 also, particularly wild fowls, duplicate 

 themselves. 



But, Mr. Editor, I flatter myself with 

 the thought that I h;ive established one 

 thing connected with the rearing of 



449 



queens, namely : that the heat of the 

 nive and of the season has to do with 

 color of queens, for you cannot raise as 

 bright queens in the spring and fall as 

 in mid-summer ; nor will a queen 

 reared in a weak colony be at all equal 

 to one reared in a strong colony. 

 Tiverton, Ont., Sept. 3, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Doolittle's Honey Report. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



We hope that the numerous readers 

 of the American Bee Journal have 

 not expected a large report from us this 

 season, for if they have they will be 

 mistaken. In no calling in life is a con- 

 tinuous success expected of great pro- 

 portions, but if as a whole, we can keep 

 gaining steadily, we should be satisfied, 

 or, at least, we ought to be. 



We shared the fate of many others 

 last winter and spring in losing quite a 

 number of colonies of bees, and many 

 more were so weak as to compel us to 

 unite them to give us any chance of 

 success. This, with the sale of a few 

 colonies which we promised during the 

 winter, left us with only 60 to commence 

 the season with. The season was 

 rather backward and bees did not 

 obtain plenty of pollen till about the 

 first of May, while gathering honey 

 was out of the question till nearly June 

 first, at which time apple blossoms 

 opened. Bees obtained plenty from 

 this source to carry them over the 

 period of scarcity which we always 

 have between apple and white clover 

 bloom. 



White clover opened June 15th, and 

 only yielded honey enough to keep the 

 bees rearing brood nicely while in blos- 

 som. Basswood opened about July 12th, 

 and yielded a steady flow of honey, 

 although the yield at no time was great, 

 till August first. Buckwheat gave but 

 little or no honey, so the bees hardly 

 obtained a living from that source. So, 

 taking it altogether, the season has 

 been unfavorable for surplus honey. 

 We have, however, obtained 2,909 lbs. 

 of box honey and 572 lbs. of extracted, 

 making 3,481 lbs. in all, or 58 lbs. per 

 colony as an average yield. This is the 

 lightest yield we have had during 7 

 years, with the exception of 1876, when 

 our yield per colony was but 50 lbs. We 

 shall go into winter quarters with 100 

 colonies. 



Perhaps it may be interesting to the 

 readers of the A. B. J., to know how 

 our report stands for the past 7 years, 

 for it is only by a number of years' 



