122 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec, 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Essay on Queen Kaising. 

 By Elisha Gallup. 



Bead before the Micliig m P.eelcee^^ers' Ai^sociation, 

 ISejitember 29, 1S71. 



In natural qneen raising, the cell is built and 

 the egg deposited therein, and not the cell built 

 around the egg, as some assert. 



The first requisites in natural queen raising, 

 or natural swarming, are : warm weather, abund- 

 ance of forage, and a large stock of bees. We 

 find that queens raised under such circumstances, 

 are almost invariably large and prolific, and if 

 we examine the cells, we find that the larva is 

 supplied with an abundance of food — fioating 

 in it in fact. And there is a mass of this food 

 still left, when the young queen leaves the cell at 

 maturity ; a mass not unfrequently as large as a 

 common marrowfat pea. Nearly the reverse of all 

 this is true, in raising forced or artificial queens. 

 These are mostly raised in small nuclei, contain- 

 ing comparatively few nursing bees, or bees 

 capable of preparing the necessary food ; for it 

 requires young bees U> prep ■. re this food. The 

 consequence is, the larva is supplied with an iu- 

 suffii'ient quantity of food ; and if we examine 

 we shall find that not more of it is furnished 

 than is actually consumed — there is none left 

 in the cell wlien the queen leaves. You will 

 probably say that if she is fed just enough, she 

 must be just as perfect as one that receives a 

 superabundance. But we must bear in mind 

 that the nymph or chrysalis is continually draw- 

 ing in moisture through the pores of her abdomen 

 from the mass of food, up to the time of her ma- 

 turity, when we find the mess dried up ; whereas 

 before maturity it is siill moist. The queen 

 raised under all these favorable circumstances 

 will almost invariably be large, prolific, and 

 long-lived. We have, in fad, had them at the 

 sge of four years as prolific, to all appearance, 

 as they were the first season. A queen so raised 

 will be full sixteen days coming to maturity, 

 from the time the egg is deposited in the cell. 

 Queens raised in small nuclei, with iusutticient 

 food, or in insufficient quantity, cVc, are imper- 

 fect and not long lived. 



We have never been aide to discover any dif- 

 ference between artificial and natural queens, 

 ■when they were ] roperly raised. To explain 

 this so as to be understood, we will give the 

 right conditions and the wrong conditions. We 

 deprive a small and a strong stock of their queens, 

 in the height of the breeding season. They 

 ha\e large quantities of eggs, huvaj in all stages, 

 nursing bees, &c. Tliey are also gathering foi'- 

 age in abundance, and consequently the nursing 

 bees are prepaiing large quantities of food for 

 the larva}. Under these favorable circumstances 

 they almost invariably commence from the 

 larva3 just hatched, feed abundance of food, and 

 there is an abundance of warmth. Consequently 

 we have just as good queens, prolific, long-lived, 

 tfcc, as any natural queens can be. Remember, 

 I am not here writing theory, for I have been a 

 close observer on this very subject, during the 



past eighteen years. On the other hand we have 

 a strong stock of bees that have lost their queen, 

 and before we discover the loss, the brood is all 

 hatched out. They have now no larvje to nurse, 

 and are consequently preparing no food for any. 

 We give them a card of brood from which to raise 

 queens, and they will almost invariably select 

 larva? from three to five days old to rear queens 

 from. But suppose they should select one just 

 hatched, it will be fed on an insufficient quan- 

 titj' of food, and is consequently imperfect. The 

 warmth in such a colony, through the inactivity 

 of the bees, is not near as great as it is in one 

 where all branches of industry, such as nursing, 

 gathering, &c., are carried on at tlie same time. 

 Queens raised from larvaj which hatch in eight 

 days, die of old age in from ten to twelve weeks; 

 those hatched in ten days are worthless in 

 eighteen months ; and those hatched in small 

 nuclei, with insufficient food and warmth, 

 although they may be twenty-four days iu 

 hatching, are worthless too. 



To sum up. The conclusion is— Raise your 

 queens in strong stocks, which have abundance 

 of eggs, larvae, nursing bees, &c. ; and if they 

 are not gathering forage abundantly at the time, 

 supply them regularly and artificially, and they 

 will be all right. After the cells are sealed, we 

 can transfer them to nuclei or queen cages. But 

 nucleus hives should be kept strong in l^ees, and 

 receive abundance of food, in order to keep up the 

 proper temperature. Recollect that I have never 

 said that all artiiicial queens are worthless. But 

 a large proportion are, as they are usually raised. 

 Mr. Langstro'di, Mrs. Tupper, and some few 

 others, take particular pains to state that they 

 raise all their queens in full colonies. We will 

 venture the assertion from our own experience, 

 that a large proportion of the queens sent out 

 by Tom, Dick, and Harry, have either been su- 

 perseded or are worthless, at the end of eighteen 

 months. 



• The next question is, how to raise pure Italian 

 queens ; and here we shall in all probability 

 tread on somebody's corns. There are all man- 

 ner of dodges got up by queen breeders, to ac- 

 count for their impure queens. Some assert 

 that the pure Italians are a cross themselves. 

 Some assert that three-striped workers are a 

 test of purity. Some say that we can test their 

 purity by taking them to a glass window. Some 

 allege that the queens must be all light colored, 

 etc., &c. We were among the latter class two 

 years ago ; but our views have been somewhat 

 changed since then. Our Durham cattle were 

 not started from pure Durhams. Now if our 

 Italian bees were started from black hornets, 

 and have been bred up to their present standard, 

 until they have become a fixed breed, and have 

 thus continued to be a fixed type, breed, or race 

 for hundreds of years in their native country, 

 Italy, why can they not be bred in thivs country 

 just as well as in Europe, and just as pure ? These 

 are questions for our consideration. ^Vhat are 

 the characteristics of the imported Italians — 

 that is, those imported directly from Italy ? The 

 queens are almost invariably dark colored ; some 

 of them almost black ; or of a dark rich golden 

 or leather color. The workers are three-striped, 



