1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



133 



cepted ou being released, while at an- 

 otlier time iiuder precisely the same 

 conditious so far as the operator can 

 see, the queen is killed. If scent is 

 the deciding factor this latter occur- 

 rence should be rare but it is not. 

 It is remarked that it is more difficult 

 to give a queen to old bees than to 

 joung ones. Have, not the latter 

 the ability to smell? Virgin queens 

 over three days old are said to be 

 very difficult to introduce to any bees 

 regardless of the length of time they 

 are caged with them. Can not such 

 queens acquire odors? Colonies hav- 

 ing laying workers prove difficult to 

 give queens to by the caging method. 

 Have not such colonies any odor to 

 impart? 



During a honey flow it is easy to 

 unite bees or introduce queens, but 

 at other times these operations are 

 difficult of accomplishment. If odor is 

 a vital factor it should be as opera- 

 tive under the first as under the eee- 

 ond condition. 



Ordinarily a colony having a queen 

 will refuse or kill a new-comer no 



matter how long the latter has been 

 confined in the hive, but under proper 

 conditions as many queens as the op- 

 erator chooses may be introduced in- 

 to a colony without their having prev- 

 iously been in the hive, and the bees 

 will not molest any of them. 



If the subject is carefully studied it 

 soon becomes apparent that there are 

 too many exceptions to the odor theory 

 to permit of its being acceptable as a 

 rule. Pi-om observation and from com- 

 parison of my work with other inves- 

 tigators in the line, I believe the kind 

 of reception given a queen depends 

 primai-ily upon the queen, and only 

 secondarily upon the bees. 



There is some, at present unknown, 

 cause governing the relations of bees 

 one to another and our failure to dis- 

 cern it hinders our advance in apicul- 

 tural work. The acceptance of an er- 

 roneous theory as truth is worse than 

 having no theory at all, but the truth 

 will be found if we all go to search- 

 ing for it. 



Providence, R. I., June 14, 1905. 



SIXTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



By W. J. DAVIS, Jst. 



FIFTH LETTER— Continued from Page 109, June Number. 



WE WILL come back to our 

 stock, which permitted their 

 young queen to quit her home 

 for a bridal trip. She should com- 

 mence laying eggs in three or four 

 days. We should then look to see 

 that all is right, and if the young 

 queen has begun to lay. Mark F. for 

 fertilized, having previously marked H. 

 for hatched. This record is easily kept 

 on a piece of section, laying on the 

 honey board. On removing the cap 

 of the hive (that shelters the section 

 cases) this record is readily seen. Q. 

 1905. H. June 20 P. and the word 

 "dipt," is added when she is clipped 

 and we have a record of that particu- 

 lar hive, so long as that queen is the 

 head of that colony. This seems to me 

 to be all the apiary register needed. 

 And should the queen be superseded 

 at any time, the fact is known by the 

 queen's wings. And if stocks are sup- 

 plied with queen or queen cells from 



some other hive that we think is very 

 fine. Mark, for instance, q. c. (queen 

 cell) 20 w. (white) June 15, 1905. 



The bee master ought to know the 

 age of every queen in his home apiary. 

 He ought also to know the relative 

 productiveness of each stock, and 

 breed from only the best. 



I am sure a strain of bees can be 

 improved as well as any particular 

 strain of dairy cows. Not with the 

 same certainty but in less time. 



There are worthless specimens in 

 every race of bees, as there is also 

 in every breed of milch cows or breed 

 of poultry — a breeding back from some 

 remote ancestor. It is an altogether 

 mistaken idea, to suppose, that the 

 queen bee that will lay the most eggs 

 is the best queen. It is also a mistake 

 to suppose that the largest queens are 

 best. I take it there is a normal 

 size for a queen bee that has not va- 

 ried in 3,000 years. There are also ab- 



