THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



205 



[COrYUIGIIT.] 



THIRTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



Bv llKNitY Alley. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Had any one predicted t]iirty years 

 ago that the rearing of queen bees could 

 have been made a special and profitable 

 business by any number of people, he 

 would have been considered insane ; 

 perhaps so much so as the one who 

 dares predict anything concerning the 

 possibilities of future beekeeping. Nev- 

 ertheless, there are at the present time 

 more than a score of people who devote 

 nearly all of their time to the produc- 

 tion of queen bees. 



Thirty years ago but few beekeepers 

 understood 'he art of queen-rearing by 

 artificial methods. No one had written 

 a book upon this interesting branch of 

 apiculture, nor could but few beekeepers 

 be found who had had even the most 

 limited experience in the art of rearing 

 queens. 



The fact that there never had been 

 any demand for queen bees is the rea- 

 son why queen-rearing was so litde un- 

 derstood in days gone by. It may seem 

 strange to the younger beekeepers for 

 me to say that there has been no greater 

 advancement made in queen-rearing 

 than tliere has been in the methods for 

 the production of hone}^ either comb 

 or extracted : also in hives, and, in fact, 

 in all branches of bee culture. If the 

 same advancement continues for thirty 

 years to come that has been made in the 

 past thirty years, no one can predict 

 what is possible in apiculture. 



Queen-rearing is a subject in which 

 all beekeepers are more or less inter- 

 ested. ' How to produce queens, first- 

 class in all respects, by artificial means, 

 is a question that has long attracted the 

 attention of the prominent apiarists of 

 the world. 



Having made queen-rearing a special 

 study and my sole business for more than 



a quarter of a century I hope to be able 

 to throw some new light upon the sub- 

 ject as the result of my long experience 

 in this particular branch of apiculture. 



In order that we may be successful in 

 the production of honey it is of vital im- 

 portance that our queens are first-class 

 in every respect. To rear queens by the 

 "forced or artificial " methods, as it is 

 called, requires many years of practical 

 experience. It is true that one, even 

 with limited experience with bees, can 

 give a piece of comb containing brood 

 or eggs to a queenless colony, and thus 

 rear queens ; but this is not queen-rear- 

 ing by correct, practical, or by proper 

 methods. 



He who can rear queens to equal 

 those produced under the swarming im- 

 pulse has much to boast of. 



Nearly thirty years ago the writer be- 

 gan to rear queen bees and ship them 

 to beekeepers in all parts of the country. 

 With each year of active and practical 

 work in the bee-yard, I have gained a 

 fund of knowledge and experience in 

 beekeeping, and especially of queen- 

 rearing, that but few people are likely to 

 attain ; certainly such as few people will 

 ever achieve without lirst devoting years 

 of labor and hard study to accomplish. 

 Queen-rearing, and beekeeping gener- 

 ally, is a most fascinating pursuit, and 

 when a person once engages in it he 

 seldom gives it up wholly. 



The reader must not suppose that the 

 writer is an old man because he has had 

 so many years experience in queen- rear- 

 ing. Though well advanced in life, he 

 hopes to be with you for many years to 

 come. I began beekeeping at the age of 

 twenty three years, and queen-rearing on 

 a small scale was one of my first hobbies. 

 I had kept bees but a few years when 



