286 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



justir3', let us step out aud surreu- 

 dei' to those who can. We should 

 endeavor to increase the demand 

 by giving tiie consumer soraetliing 

 to " tickle his taste," and by our 

 honest, square dealings, let him 

 know tliat he can rely upon our 

 word, and feel that he gets value 

 received for his money. 



We should endeavor to maintain 

 good prices by placing a superior 

 article upon the market, put up in 

 such shapes as will attract atten- 

 tion and suit the convenience of 

 the purchaser ; but until the farm- 

 ers, cane and sugar producers, 

 wool-growers, etc., effect a "corner" 

 on their products, I believe it use- 

 less for the hone^'-producers to 

 organize with that end in view ; 

 on the other hand, I believe it to 

 be detrimental to their interests. 

 While I believe in organizations to 

 defend our rights, elevate and in- 

 crease our industry, I do not be- 

 lieve in "corners," monopolies, 

 etc. 



Sj^rings, Ills. 



For the Ainerican Apiculturist. 



LONGEVITY OF QUEEN 

 BEES. 



Joshua Bull. 



On page 240 of the An for Sep- 

 tember, 1887, you solicit reports 

 upon the longevity and continuance 

 of the fertility of queens, in re- 

 sponse to which I submit the fol- 

 lowing : 



I have two queens which have 

 rendered good service for four sum- 

 mers. One of them is of the Italian 

 race, was hatched in June, 1884, 

 and superseded her mother ; has 

 always been ver_y prolific, and had 

 all the brood space she would oc- 

 cupy until swarming time ; has led 



out a large swarra every summer 

 except the first, after swarmiag has 

 been restricted to eight frames 11 

 X 12 inches inside measure during 

 the remainder of each season. This 

 year she did not come out with a 

 swarm until the fifth day of Jul_y, 

 at which time her colony occupied 

 twenty-two frames, eighteen of 

 which were well filled with brood. 

 This is her fourth season and she 

 has been more prolific this year 

 than ever before, and is apparently 

 still vigorous and healthy thus far, 

 and goes into winter quarters with 

 a strong colony and plenty of hon- 

 ey. Her bees are excellent honej' 

 gatherers, but are stubbornly op- 

 posed to storing it in sections ; T 

 have to take their surplus in the 

 form of ejected (extracted) honey. 



The other queen alluded to is of 

 the l)rown German race, with just 

 Italian blood enough in her (or the 

 drone with which she mated) so 

 that about one out of every hun- 

 dred of her offspring will show one 

 or two yellow bands. She has 

 never been so very prolific as the 

 one above mentioned, yet her prog- 

 eny are excellent workers and 

 good comb builders, and seem just 

 as willing to store honey in sections 

 as in any other part of the hive ; 

 they have sometimes produced as 

 much section honey as some other 

 colonies of equal strength did of 

 extracted at the same time. 



Perhaps you will think that these 

 queens have been superseded at 

 some time when I did not know it, 

 but that could not well be the case, 

 for both of them have one wing 

 clipped, therefore if they were su- 

 perseded by a young queen the fact 

 would be easily discovered. 



Seymour, Wis. 



