1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEl'ER 



225 



sede all queens each year, while others 

 are more moderate and say that "every 

 queen should be superseded when two 

 years old," unless perhaps they except 

 these most vafued for breeding pur- 

 poses, such claiming that older queens, 

 as a rule, are not so prolific as young 

 queens; hence it often happens that old- 

 er queens fail at a time when the work 

 of storing surplus is interfered with. All 

 this reads very nice, and if time hangs 

 heavily on any bee-keeper's hands, here 

 is a chance for such an one to pass 

 away his time with the idea that he is 

 doing that which tends toward a great- 

 er financial gain; but with the average 

 bee-keeper it is usually more work than 

 he can do during the summer months, 

 let alone any work of a doubtful nature. 

 There is no question but that we want, 

 for comb honey production, either 

 very prolific queens, or queens which 

 give bees having great longevity of life, 

 or a brood chamber not of a size which 

 will require the most prolific queen to 

 strain every nerve to keep it filled with 

 brood. I believe it more profitable to 

 adjust our hive system to the average 

 queen producing long lived workers, 

 than to practice superseding queens 

 every year, as some do. 



A queen should be allowed, according 

 to my opinion, to remain as mother of 

 a colony as long as she retains her fe- 

 cundity, for the prolificness of a queen, 

 and the long living of her offspring 

 should be the test in this matter; not 

 age. I never supersede a nice queen, 

 no matter how old, until she shows 

 signs of failing powers. I want queens 

 for the good qualities of the workers 

 coming from their eggs, and for that 

 reason, power of production, and not 

 age, is the rule to follow. I would not 

 keep even a young queen, if she did 

 not lay up to a fair average, and her 

 workers showing a shortness of life, 

 for there are a few queens which show 

 before they are six months old that they 

 are unworthy of the name of "mother," 



by the fewness of their short-lived off- 

 spring. And where I find such queens, 

 I always give their colonies something 

 better to take their place, no matter 

 how young they are. However, such 

 queens as this last are the exception 

 and not the rule; for the bees do not 

 often allow such queens to remain in 

 the hive long, especially if they are of 

 the Italian variety. 



After experimenting in the direction 

 of superseding queens for years. I now 

 decidedly prefer to leave it to the bees 

 to decide when their queens are worn 

 out, unless, by outside observations, I 

 believe they are holding on to same 

 young qtieen not worthy of the name of 

 "mother queen." As a general thing, 

 the bees will make fewer mistakes in 

 directing this delicate matter than the 

 wisest apiarist is likely to make, there- 

 fore I think it reasonable to leave this 

 matter to them most generally. 



Borodino. N. Y. 



Oh, as the bee upon the flower, I hang 

 Upon the honey of thy eloquent tongue. 



— Bulwer. 



Wm. Rohrig for Director. 



Just as we <;;o to press, (Nov 23). Gleanings for 

 Nov. 15 comes to hand, and we note that Presi- 

 dent Root has very kindly included the name of 

 H. E. Hill in his nominations for directors of the 

 National Association. While we deeply appreci- 

 ate the honor thus con/erred, we more deeply re- 

 gret the use of our name in this connection. That 

 we are deeply interested in the success of the As- 

 sociation and its work, is indeed true; but that 

 the name of one who has never taken active part 

 in the Association meetings, should be used, to 

 the exclusion of the multitude of eminently more 

 capable aud experienced gentlemen on all sides of 

 us, is to be deplored. The American Bee-Keeper 

 prefers to and insists on remaining outside, with 

 the assurance that it will earnestly co-operat,i 

 with the Association in every move which it recog- 

 nizes as beneficial to the fraternity. Further 

 than this we have no ambition, and believe that 

 we can better serve the Association in this way. 

 If it is desired that a representative be elected 

 from this section of the South, let our readers who 

 are members of the National Association, concen- 

 trate their votes upon Mr. O. O. Poppleton, of 

 Stuart, Pla., an experienced Association worker 

 and a deAoted member; Dr. J. P. H. Browu, Au- 

 gusta, Ga., or Mr. W. S. Hart, Hawks Park. Fla. 

 Editor Root has placed in nomination Jthe name, 

 also, of Mr. Wm. Rohrig, Tempe, Ariz., with the 

 assurance that he is a gentleman worthy and ca- 

 pable. Let's elect him. Remember, Wm Rohrig, 

 Tempe. Arizona, is a candidate for director at the 

 December elections. 



