Sept. 4, 1902 



/\MERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



569 



of swarming, they usually notice the change from theirown 

 ciueen to a stranger. Ordinarily they accept the intriulir, 

 but in many in.stances it is only a temporary acceptance. I 

 have seen this many times, vvlicn we used to import quetri-. 

 from Italy by tlie hundreds and introduced them in full colo- 

 nies. Often the bees would accept them quietly, but would 

 also (juietly go to work rearing (lueen-cells with the inten- 

 tion of getting rid of the stranger at the first opportunity. 

 At any rate that is what I thought was their purpose, for I 

 have many times seen the bees rear queen-cells in a hive 

 where a new queen had been introduced. As a matter of 

 course, if this happens during the swarming-tirae, there are 

 ten chances to one that the bees will swarm out with the 

 queen instead of killing her. The bees have almost become 

 reconciled to her and they arc reluctant to hurt her. So out 

 goes the swarm. That is why, as Dr. Miller says, a young 

 queen may go out with a swarm from a colony to which she 

 had been given not a week before. 



In our efforts at domesticating the bees and making 

 them bend to our will, we must put up with their natural 

 tendencies. If our work does not contravene with their 

 native instinct we will succeed, but there will probal)ly al- 

 ways be some difficulties which we cannot overcome. Thus 

 the very requirement to prevent swarming — the rearing of 

 a young queen in the hive at the proper time — will be our 

 undoing, if the bees conclude that the hive is too crowded 

 at the time when the young queens hatch. 



I would like to suggest to those who wish to avoid 

 natural swarming, to rely mainly on good, young, prolific 

 queens of the previous year's rearing, for two reasons : The 

 first is, that the removal of the old queen and the rearing of 

 a young one at the opening of the harvest is sure to result 

 in a weakening of the colony by the interregum of the 

 greater part of a month, during which no eggs will be laid. 

 The second is, the ditScuIty of preventing the swarm from 

 issuing with the first queen hatched. It is true that the 

 cells may be removed, all but one, but in a populous colony 

 it is quite a task to make sure of all the queen-cells, and this 

 would be practicable only in small apiaries, as it would en- 

 tail a great deal of labor. *• 



When all the conditions have been as favorable as pos- 

 sible to the comfort of the bees — shade, ventilation, and 

 storing space amply provided, the production of drones re- 

 duced within the smallest possible limit — we find that there 

 is but one very strenuous cause of swarming, and that is 

 the supersedure of an old queen by her bees. As the laying 

 has been long protracted, the queen begins to show signs 

 of weakening, or of decrease in her laying, and the bees 

 build queen-cells in the prevision of her decrepitude. Should 

 the queen retain enough vigor, as she often does, to resent 

 this treatment, an excitement is produced, and swarming 

 results, even though the other conditions may be satisfac- 

 tory. So it is very certain that the older the queens are, 

 the more probability there is of swarms. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



. The "Missing Link" in Queen-Rearing. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



It was with more than usual interest that I read the 

 articles on " Rearing Long-Lived Oueens and Bees," by 

 Dr. E. (iallup. And why ? Because Dr. Gallup was about 

 the oiaXy personal teacher I ever had in bee-keeping. Under 

 date of the earlier 70's, I have a stack of letters nearly three 

 inches thick, which the then Elisha Gallup wrote me, giv- 

 ing me the minutest instructions how to proceed along the 

 different lines in bee-keeping I asked him about ; and I 

 have kept these letters all these years as a sweet memento 

 of the man who had so much patience with a beginner in 

 the mysteries of apiculture. 



Brother Gallup and myself have aged nearly, or quite, 

 30 years since then, but I see by these articles on queen- 

 rearing of his that he is quite as young on this theme as he 

 was at the time he wrote me that " Good, long-lived c/iwt-ns 

 come only from cells in which there was a lump of ro\al 

 /VZ/jf /f/? after the queen had emerged from the cell." .\tid 

 that was 29 years ago. He was so emphatic in this matter, 

 and made it so plain to me, that I soon discovered why I had 

 so many queens h-ing dead at the entrance of their hives 

 the spring before, for I had been rearing them on " the 

 nucleus plan" recommended by some of the "leading 

 lights" in queen-rearing of those days. 



The next year found nie rearing all my queens by nat- 

 ural swarming, coaxing colonies to swarm both early and 



late in the season, that I might rear the more while the 

 bees were under this magic of swarming. This I continued 

 to do till into the early HO's, when I discovered a colony 

 having two laying queens in it mother and daughter. 

 These two queens just filled that hive from end to end, and 

 from bottom to top, with brood in May and June, and when 

 the basswood bloom came on their workers filled the supers 

 with honey equal to the way the hive had been filled with 

 brood. The old (|ueen died during the honey-tlow. But the 

 young queen lived to be nearly six years old, doing the best 

 of work for five years. 



This turned my head from queens reared by natural 

 swarming to queens reared whore two laying queens were 

 tolerated in the hive at the same time, and the next time I 

 found such a case — which was some two or three years later 

 — I took away the young queen as soon as she commenced 

 to lay, and then cut out mature queen-cells as fast as the 

 bees built them. In this way I secured the finest lot of 

 queens I ever had known before, and, later in the season, 

 after I had discovered the " cell-cup " plan, I gave this col- 

 ony a frame of prepared cups, which they accepted at once, 

 and turned out from them as fine a lot of queens as I ever 

 saw. every one of which was long-lived, and of the best 

 quality. And each of these cells had a lump of royal jelly 

 left in them, just as Elisha (rallup said there would be 

 where good queens were reared. 



From this sprung the plan as given in " Scientific 

 Queen-Rearing," from which I have reared many queens 

 that have given splendid service for four, five. and. in a few 

 instances, well into the sixth year. And I wish to say to 

 my indulgent teacher of the "gone-by" j'ears. that in 

 nearly every instance where I have cut open cells I have 

 found that " missing link " present — that which Dr. Gallup 

 pleases to term " an umbilical cord. " I had noticed this 

 cord many times in years gone by, when, in instances where 

 I had more ripe cells than I needed for use, I would cut them 

 open and critically examine the embryo queen to see in just 

 what stage of development she was. And this cord has 

 often been so strong that it would hold the queen-embryo 

 suspended to the cell after I had rolled her out in my hand, 

 or partially so, as far as the cord would allow, when it 

 would take quite a little force to break it. 



Since the Doctor wrote his articles I have examined 

 more closely into this matter, and every cell which I could 

 spare since has been carefully opened, only to find in each 

 case the tendrils he speaks of, as they run from this cord 

 up the inside of the base to ths wax cell-cups, and all under 

 and through the royal jelly in every conceivable direction. 

 Therefore, according to my old teacher, the "missing 

 link " — that which will produce the best of queens — is sup- 

 plied in nearly every instance when using the plan of 

 queen-rearing as given in " Scientific Queen-Rearing." 



And this best of qiteens is as hundreds, if not thousands, 

 have found it to be when using that plan, for I have hun- 

 dreds of testimonials telling me that those using this plan 

 now produce queens of far greater value than thej' were 

 ever able to produce before using the same. And these 

 hundreds and thousands can only smile a quiet, contented 

 smile when told by Mr. Alley that queens so reared are " as 

 worthless as so many house-flies." "The proof of the pud- 

 ding is in the eating," and after having tasted of a really 

 first-class article, none care to go back to the " makeshifts" 

 of the past. 



To say that " a colony of bees will not rear good queens 

 while there is a fertile queen present," shows the fallacy of 

 many of the other statements and assertions made by the 

 writer, for a moment's reflection will convince any think- 

 ing, reasonable person that 99 out of every 100 queens were 

 so reared prior to the Nineteenth Century, queens which 

 brought our bees down to us in as perfect condition as they 

 were when the Creator pronounced them as "good." 



And lest some may think that I have an " ax to grind " 

 in this matter, I wish to say that I am in no financial way 

 interested in "Scientific Oueen-Rearing." The same is 

 the property of the publishers of the American Bee Journal, 

 to use and to do with as they please. 



Onondaga Co.. N. Y. 



[The price of Doolittle's "Scientific Queen-Rearing" is 

 $1.00 bound in cloth : or with the American Bee Journal one 

 year — both for $1.60. Bound in leatherette, price 60 cents, 

 or with the Journal a year — both for $1.30. Order from this 

 office. — Editor.] 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. Look at them. 



