1894 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



095 



FERTILIZING (^UEKNS IN CONFINEMENT. 



Question.— What is the best plan of fertilizing 

 queens in confinement? 



^?(sr<)cr.— So far as I know, there is no prac- 

 tical method of fertilizing queens except to 

 allow them to have their own way, as they 

 have had ever since God placed the little busy 

 bee on the earth. And, furthermore, I do not 

 believe that any successful plan has yet been 

 discovered. After trying faithfully all the 

 plans ever given, only to fail, I feel that I am 

 excusable in saying that I doubt the truth of 

 anyone having a queen fertilized in confine- 

 ment, and believe that those who claim to have 

 succeeded have either deceived others or are 

 deceiving themselves by careless experiments. 

 They may think that they have succeeded in 

 having queens fertilized in that way; but for 

 all that, the chances are that the queen was 

 fertilized as all queens are, when not known by 

 the experimenter. Nature, for various reasons, 

 has provided that the queen should meet the 

 drone in the air, unrestricted by any thing; 

 and they insist on doing as nature has provided' 

 or in not mating with the drone at all. lam' 

 often surprised at the amount of money thrown 

 away on plans which were thoroughly tried 

 and proved to be an entire failure years ago. 

 One man wrote me some time ago that he was 

 ready for the money I offered for a really prac- 

 tical plan by which queen-bees could be mated 

 to any desired individual drone, with no more 

 work than was necessary with our domesticated 

 animals, for he had a plan that would fill the 

 bill. I wrote him that, before I parted with 

 my money, I should require that he give me a 

 brief outline of his plan, so that I might judge 

 of the practicability of it, and whether it would 

 come under the specifications regarding the 

 amount of work required. When the ''reply 

 came, his plan that would " fill the bill " was 

 no more nor less than the one tried by Bro. 

 Root years ago; namely, that of building a 

 large glass house or greenhouse, and setting 

 the hives having the queen and desired drones 

 inside for a few days, when they were to be set 

 out and another set in its place. "In this 

 way," said he, " I have had several queens be- 

 come fertile and go to laying." When I wrote 

 him that his plan was an old one, and that, in 

 all probability, his queens went out to meet the 

 drone either before he set them in the green- 

 house, or else after he took them out, he wrote 

 back denouncing me in any thing but gentle 

 terms, and claiming that I did not mean to give 

 any thing for any plan. Another writes me 

 that he has a new plan which he is going to 

 put into operation next year; and when asked 



to outline the same a little he very reluctantly 

 gives, enjoining the greatest secrecy, the oldest 

 and most tried plan of any— that of a large tent 

 or house made of wire cloth, in which to set 

 any colony having the desired queen and 

 drones. When written to that his " new " plan 

 was one of the oldest, and had been tried by 

 scores, only to fail, he can not think it possible, 

 and says he is still inclined to doubt the truth 

 of my statement, and will rig a wire-cloth house 

 and try it, in any event. Of course, if any in- 

 sist on trying such a thing, after being caution- 

 ed, there is no law of the land to hinder their 

 doing so. I find that the persons who believe 

 success just ahead of them along this line are 

 beginners; and the reason for noticing this 

 query at all in this department is with the hope 

 of saving some from throwing away their 

 money on plans for fertilizing queens in con- 

 finement, which do not have even a shadow of 

 success in them. 



KEAKING (QUEENS. 



Question.~J have decided that every colony 

 that is intended to be run for comb honey next 

 year must contain a queen of this year's rear- 

 ing. I desire good queens, that my stock may 

 not deteriorate. In view of the foregoing, what 

 plan can I follow in order to produce the best 

 results for a series of years ? 



Answer.— I can not conceive what line of 

 argument could have been used to bring the 

 questioner to a decision that he would not 

 allow a queen over a year old in his apiary 

 which was to be run for comb honey, and can 

 not help thinking that, when his experience 

 accumulates, he will find that his decision is 

 not well founded; for queens which are in their 

 second year do fully as good work as younger 

 ones, where the colony is worked for comb 

 honey, and often are equally good the third and 

 fourth year. Besides, I find, as a rule, that the 

 bees will supersede their own queens as soon as 

 they begin to fail to any appreciable extent; 

 and when the bees undertake this work jt is 

 done much more satisfactorily, all things con- 

 sidered, than it is when the apiarist attempts 

 to say, " This shall be," or, " This shall not be." 

 But if you think you must have your own 

 way, then there is probably no better plan than 

 to follow Willie Atchley's way, as has been 

 given in (Jleanings during the past year or 

 two. If you think this too much bother, or 

 consider it '• fussy," as some claim, then you 

 can rear pretty good (|ueens in this way: Kill 

 the old queen and let each colony rear one from 

 her brood. In five days from the time you 

 killed the old queen, open the hives and look 

 for queen-cells. In doing this it is well to 

 shake the bees off the combs so that the cells 

 can be easily discovered. If any are found cap- 

 ped at this time they should be destroyed, as 

 they will contain larvie that are too old' to 

 make good queens. H.-cs do not cap over a cell 

 containing a good queen larva, as a rule, in less 



