AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



595 



hard to rally, but the fields are yet un- 

 able to " look gay." Our bees begin to 

 gather pollen again. 

 Christiansburg, Ky., April 14. 



Tlie Best Queens for llie North. 



Written for ilic American Bee Journal 



BY H. G. ACKLIN. 



On page 231, Mr. J. P. West says 

 something about the best queens for bee- 

 keepers here in the Northwest. My ex- 

 perience in buying Southern-bred queens 

 has not been what I should like, for it is 

 a well known fact that we cannot rear 

 queens as early as we would like, and if 

 queens are needed before the first of 

 June we are obliged to send South for 

 them, unless we can have two or more 

 queens reared and wintered in one col- 

 ony by using bee-tight division-boards to 

 cut off communication in the brood- 

 chamber (and if a surplus chamber is 

 needed, use perforated zinc between the 

 brood and surplus chamber), making an 

 extra entrance on either side, or rear, to 

 correspond with the number of apart- 

 ments desired. The coming season I 

 want to experiment some by trying to 

 rear and winter two or more queens in 

 one colony. 



I have bought queens from several 

 different queen-breeders that are south 

 of the -lOth parallel, and as many as 28 

 at one time. Very few proved to be 

 good, and most of them worthless so far 

 as wintering is concerned. After intro- 

 ducing, they would do well until the ap- 

 proach of cold weather ; then the fol- 

 lowing spring, if the colony lived that 

 long, most of them would "turn up 

 missing," and only about two per cent, 

 survive June 15th. 



The best dollar-and-cent queens that 

 we can get hold of are some that we 

 bred from a daughter of an imported 

 mother, using care to combine all good 

 qualities possible in selecting the moth- 

 er-bee to breed from, and trapping un- 

 desirable drones. We have two colonies, 

 4 and 3 years old, respectively, that 

 have wintered well every winter ; they 

 do not show any signs of bee-diarrhea, 

 and always come out of winter-quarters 

 good and strong ; are gentle and nicely 

 marked 3-banded Italians, and always 

 gather a good crop of honey. We have 

 a number of queens bred from the above 

 two colonies, and also from other good 

 queens reared here in the Northwest by 

 neighbor bee-keepers, that prove to be 

 good. 



We have tried the 5-banded bees, that 

 we very much admire, but that have re- 

 sulted in winter loss every time. The 

 only colony we lost the past winter was 

 one with a 5-banded mother that we 

 bought last summer. 



Now, my good friends, this is not in- 

 tended as an advertisement, for at the 

 present price of honey we have never 

 been able to rear queens to sell, and 

 make as much money as we can by run- 

 ning our colonies for honey ; neither is 

 this intended to injure the queen-breed- 

 ers of the South, who no doubt use the 

 very best possible care in breeding the 

 very best queens for bee-keepers, where 

 the winters are not so long and severe 

 as they are here. 



If any bee-keeper here in the North- 

 west has had a different experience with 

 Southern-bred queens, let him speak 

 out. If not, why not every bee-keeper 

 rear his own queens, selecting a good 

 queen to breed from, and we can soon 

 make up for the heavy winter loss of 

 1891-92 and 1892-93. 



This thing of breeding queens espec- 

 ially for our cold climate has proven a 

 success with me and neighbor bee-keep- 

 ers for the past 8 years, and I feel sure 

 it will with others, if they give it a fair 

 trial. 



We have queens that were bred from 

 an imported mother last summer, that 

 give satisfaction so far. Last year was 

 the flrst we used an imported mother. 



We put our bees out on March 17th 

 for a flight, and on the 25th the mercu- 

 ry was at zero, and we returned them to 

 the cellar. Since then they are reduced 

 some in the number of bees. Reports 

 now coming in show success in winter- 

 ing. 



Ramsey Co., Minnesota, April 18th, 



Honey ExMliits at tlie Mlflwlnter Fair. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY W. A. PRYAL. 



In my last letter I spoke in a general 

 way of what was to be seen at the Mid- 

 winter Fair in San Francisco in the way 

 of honey and beeswax. A day or two 

 ago I was to the Pair again, and at my 

 leisure sought out the several places 

 where honey was displayed. In my first 

 letter I particularly referred to the gen- 

 eral display in the gallery of the Horti- 

 cultural Building. I visited this exhibi- 

 tion again and noted the names of the 

 exhibitors, and the quantity and quality 

 of the honey there shown. 



