256 



Tliose intended for queens, however, are fed 

 the richer royal jelly right along. Whether 

 this be the case we do not know, as it is a 

 rather difficult matter to get any reliable 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE 



data on. If any of our readers have had 

 any opportunity for making experiments 

 one way or the other, we sliould be glad to 

 hear from them. — En.] 



THE STRONGEST VIRGINS MATE THE EARLIEST AND BECOME THE 



BEST QUEENS 



BY P. A. HOOPER 



Why can not all the colonies in the same 

 yard store alike? In an apiary of, say, 300 

 colonies, one will find that about one-third 

 store on an average 8 imperial gallons of 

 honey (112 pounds each) ; another luuidred 

 will average about 4 gallons, and the re- 

 mainder will average from three gallons to 

 nothing. The first third we class as No. 1. 

 These colonies, on the opening of the sea- 

 son, have a large force of bees ready for the 

 field; and on examining them, the combs 

 will be found to have evenly sealed brood 

 and plenty of stores. 



The next third we class as No. 2. These 

 colonies, on the opening of the season, are 

 not strong enough to take advantage of the 

 first bloom, for they are deficient in brood, 

 bees, and stores. 



The remaining third we class as No. 3. 

 These, on the opening of the season, are so 

 poor that they have to be supplied with 

 combs of brood and stores to keep them 

 alive until they gain sufficient strength to 

 be able to gather nectar for themselves. 



These 300 colonies may have queens all 

 reared from the same mother and under the 

 same conditions, yet some are very much 

 inferior to the others. 



Again, suppose we make up, say, 100 

 three-frame nuclei, each nucleus having the 

 same amount of bees, brood, and stores, or 

 as near as possible. The cells are distribut- 

 ed the same day, and from five to twelve 

 days all these virgin queens are mated. In 

 eight weeks, and sometimes less, many of 

 these nuclei will have built up to strong 

 ten-frame colonies, while others will take 



from three to four months before they be- 

 come established colonies. There are others, 

 again, that will not build up, but dwindle 

 and die out if left unaided. 



THE FAULT LIES WITH THE QUEEN. 



No one, by looking at a queen, can tell 

 for a certainty that she is of good quality. 

 I have had them as large as a queen should 

 be, yet they were not wortli a pound of 

 honey. On the other hand I have had queens 

 with nothing very remarkable about them, 

 yet their subjects stored twenty imperial 

 gallons of honey in one season — that is, 

 from December to the following June. From 

 these queens I bred several, but none of 

 their daughters proved of much value. 



For the sake of experiment I once bred 

 some queens from very inferior stock, and 

 yet of that lot there was a couple whose bees 

 stored over 100 pounds of honey in a season. 

 Is there no method left untried to get all 

 our queens to give good results? 



We all know that virgin queens take from 

 four to twelve days in mating. Those that 

 get mated on the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 

 day generally turn out drone-layers, or start 

 drone-laying before they commence to lay 

 worker eggs. Note these queens carefully ; 

 and before the following season opens they 

 will have died out or absconded with their 

 little swarm. 



In my opinion it is the strongest and most 

 healthy virgins that get mated soon after 

 hatching, and it is these queens we are in- 

 debted to for large yields of honey. 



Four Paths, Clarendon, Jamaica, B. W. I. 



UNIFORMITY IN QUEENS AND RESULTS NOT IMPOSSIBLE 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE 



Mr. Hooper, in the foregoing, tells us 

 something of his experience with beekeeping 

 on that sunny island Jamaica, where there 

 are no frosts, to say nothing of the 20 to 30 

 degi-ees below zero which we here in York 

 State have to contend with. It would seem 

 that there should be no trouble in having 

 every colony in such a warm climate 

 brongiit to jierfection ready for any honey 



harvest when it comes. But instead of per- 

 fection I find him telling of just about the 

 same thing I used to have 25 to 40 years 

 ago, namely, one-third of the colonies in 

 good condition for the harvest; one-third 

 scarcely fair, while the I'emaining third are 

 " no good " so far as any surplus is con- 

 cerned. And I note that he seems to think 

 that the fault of the jDoorness of the last 



