T5G 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



queen. I have accomplished something 

 by grafting the cell so the point will rest 

 on the bottom-bar. 



The "pulled" queens don't suit me, 

 because some are dragged out when put 

 into a hive, some stay in three days, and 

 are always teased by about three bees 

 when I see her, and has the hair all 

 gnawed off her, and lays but little, if 

 left to lay. 



Now as to that "pulled" chicken: 

 You surely will admit that all animals, 

 or birds, that have a premature birth, 

 are not as vigorous. Still you think 

 that bees are an exception to this law of 

 nature. Now, I would like Prof. A. J. 

 Cook to give his opinion. Ask some 

 woman, that raises large quantities of 

 fowls, how chickens, ducks, or goslings 

 do, or live, which have been helped out 

 of the shell. But then, you say that 

 chickens are not bees. Then you may 

 say that fowls are not animals, etc. 



Again, you tell me to try fastening a 

 chicken in the shell after it would come 

 out if let alone. Now, my theory is, 

 that it would improve it for a length of 

 time — about six hours ; after this, it 

 would perhaps begin to weaken. Some 

 tell me that a good, healthy chicken is 

 about 18 hours old before it takes any 

 food. Yours truly, 



Jas. R. Bellamy. 



If Mr. Bellamy is correct in his theory 

 that there is a considerable difference in 

 the longevity of different colonies of 

 bees, it may help to answer the puzzling 

 question that so many have asked with 

 little hope of finding an answer. I mean 

 the question, " Why is it that two colo- 

 nies side by side, apparently the same 

 in all respects, should produce such dif- 

 ferent results ?" 



I confess I have not closely watched 

 the matter so as to observe the difference 

 in colonics of which he speaks. It may 

 exist, for all that, and it would be inter- 

 esting to know whether others have no- 

 ticed it. As I understand him, two colo- 

 nies having the same amount of bees to 

 start with, and the same amount of 

 comb constantly occupied with brood, 

 show a decided difference in population, 

 and he reasons that in no way can that 

 difference of population be explained 

 other than to say that the workers of 

 one colony live longer than the other. 

 If his premises are correct, I see no rea- 

 son why his conclusion is not correct. If 

 so, it is worth while to work for a strain 

 of bees that will live longer than the 

 average, and if there be only a differ- 

 ence of two or three days, then that 

 difference is worth gaining. 



The life of a worker in the busy sea- 

 son is estimated at 42 days. What ad- 

 vantage will there be in having it ex- 

 tended to 45 ? If a bee commences to 

 store when it is 16 days old, then the- 

 bee that lives 42 days days will have 27 

 storing days. If it has three more stor- 

 ing days, then it will store 11 per cent, 

 more. Quite an item. If its life should 

 be lengthened a week, then it would 

 have a fourth more than the usual num- 

 ber of storing days. 



With regard to rearing queens from ' 

 an old queen four or five years old, Mr. 

 Bellamy does not claim that a queen is 

 better at that advanced age than she is 

 when younger, only he is not sure at a 

 younger age that she possesses the 

 longevity desired. If she has lived to- 

 an old age, he expects her posterity, 

 both queen and worker, to be remark- 

 able for longevity. 



The matter is one of interest and im- 

 portance, and possibly the attention of 

 others may be directed to it so as to gain 

 more light. 



With regard to the matter of pulled 

 queens, it is not of so great importance, 

 and if Mr. Bellamy and others find no 

 advantage in them, there is no law com- 

 pelling them to use them. Others, how- 

 ever, find them profitable. Like every- 

 thing else, there's a right way and a 

 wrong way, and I would not think of 

 using a young queen that had not yet 

 attained maturity. I would not use 

 them younger than they would hatch 

 out of themselves in the hive, if the bees 

 did not hold them in on account of the 

 swarming fever. 



Mr. Bellamy asks if my pulled queens, 

 like the two he mentions, would fly at 

 the time of emerging? Certainly. I 

 have had them do that very thing. Why, 

 Mr. Bellamy, if you had let those twa 

 queens out five minutes before the time 

 they really emerged, don't you think 

 they would have been strong enough to 

 fly? And in that case what else would 

 they have been than "pulled queens?'* 

 And if you had prevented the bees from 

 swarming for 24 hours longer, and then 

 had pulled the two queens, they might 

 have been stronger yet, according to 

 your theory ; but I doubt. 



Yes, I freely admit that animals of 

 premature birth are not so vigorous, 

 and I do not think that bees are any ex- 

 ception to the general rule, but I would 

 not use a queen until fully mature, and 

 the whole matter of pulled queens rests 

 on the fact that under swarming condi- 

 tions bees retain queens in their cells 

 after they are fully mature. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



