354 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Natural versus Forced Queens. 



Mr. Edward Moore, Barrie, Out., 

 addresses the following pertinent let- 

 ter regarding queen-rearing : 



In "Cook's Manual" instructions 

 are given for rearing queens. It ap- 

 pears necessary to drive the bees to 

 the necessity of rearing queens for 

 the purpose of increasing their num- 

 bers for traffic, for several reasons. 



On page 6, of the specimen number 

 of this year's volume sent last year, 

 there are some apparent objections 

 raised, which appear reasonable. Are 

 queens reared in the way referred to 

 as line, large, healthy, strong, proli- 

 fic, long-lived, aiul in every respect as 

 good as queens reared in the natural 

 order? Those who have had long 

 practical experience in rearing queens 

 should be able to tell, although itmay 

 be against the interest of some to do 

 so. Will some one plea.se answer for 

 the information of the less experienced 

 in apiculture ¥ 



There are many strong arguments 

 adduced by the advocates of natural 

 queen-rearing througli the swarming 

 impulse, some of which seem to us 

 unanswerable, especially the fact that 

 eggs are almost invariably selected 

 by the bees from wliicli to rear queens, 

 when swarming is contemplated, and 

 the further fact that the honey flow 

 generally prevails, and the bees are 

 most populous and prosperous when 

 the eme}ik takes place, and the most 

 careful and deliberate provision is 

 made for the future welfare of_ the 

 parent colony. If, however, the'col- 

 ouy be deprived of their queen, and 

 eggs, larvfe and sealed brood prevail, 

 the bees naturally force the maturity 

 of a new queen by utilizing larvtc 

 sometimes in various stages from 

 which to rear her, as they well know 

 that depletion must take place imtil a 

 new mother is provided. In colonies 

 of this kind, where queen-rearing is 

 forced, it is not unusual to lind queen 

 cells, even after a week has elapsed, 

 in various stages of development- 

 some perhaps capped over, while 

 others are but scarcely commenced, 

 or with the larvK just placed in, and 

 the feeding of royal jelly not com- 

 pleted. The result is, that the larvas 

 2, 3 or 4 days old from the time of 

 hatching from the egg, are the first to 

 emerge from the cells as queens— and 

 the first out, although not more than 

 two-thirds developed and wholly 

 ■worthless, has vitality and vindictive- 

 ness enough to destroy the remainder. 

 It is possible sometimes to rear good 

 queens in this manner, but we be- 

 lieve they are the exception. 



There is a serious objection, how- 

 ever, on the part of some queen-breed- 



ers to the natural method of queen- 

 rearing, as the number of cells built 

 is not great enough to make their 

 business profitable, and they have to 

 await the pleasure of the bees and 

 favorableness of the weather to pro- 

 cure any cells at all. 



If, however, our favorite method of 

 artificial swanning be practiced, the 

 objectionable features of the forcing 

 process will be overcome, and all the 

 desirable ones of the natural swarming 

 impulse will be obtained, while the 

 number of cells will be limited only 

 by the ambition and skill of the 

 apiarist. The following is the simplest 

 and most satisfactory manner : When 

 the weather has become warm and 

 settled, with honey coming in rapid 

 enough to stimulate breeding to the 

 fullest extent, remove a frame from 

 the colony you wish to rear queens 

 from, substituting iherefor a frame 

 of foundation in the center of the 

 brood-nest ; keep a close watch until 

 it is well filled with eggs, then before 

 any are hatched, remove from its 

 stand, while the bees are working 

 busiest, the strongest colony in the 

 yard, and put an empty hive in its 

 place ; nftw put in the center of this 

 the comb with fresh eggs, cutting 

 away the lower one-third in a zig-zag 

 shape, to afford an irregular edge on 

 which to build the cells; if you can 

 find a frame with all sealed brood 

 place it alongside with all the young 

 bees adhering to it, fill up the hive with 

 its complement of empty combs or 

 foundation, or at least enough to ac- 

 commodate the bees, adding others as 

 needed, cover well with blankets or 

 cotton cloth, and put on the hive 

 cover. By this method you will se- 

 cure all the field-workers from the 

 colony removed, and but little hinder 

 it in general work ; you will also get 

 a liberal batch of queen-cells from 

 your best queen mother, all maturing 

 about the same time, and all can be 

 left in the hive till nearly the last 

 moment, and, we believe, all equally 

 good as the best. 



Twenty-four hours before removing 

 the queen-cells, form your nuclei by 

 placing a frame of brood (in any 

 stage), a frame of honey, and an 

 empty comb in a 'full-size hive, put- 

 ting in a division board to contract 

 the space and retain the heat ; on the 

 following day, cut a hole in the frame 

 of brood comb and trim outa queen cell 

 from the queen-breeding colony to fit 

 it; now replace in the hive and cover 

 well. Unless the weather be quite 



warm, these queens should not emerge 

 from the cells in less than fourteen tO' 

 fifteen days, and we believe the longer 

 they are left in the hive where built 

 the more satisfactory they will prove. 

 After the queen has hatched, another 

 empty comb can be added to the nu- 

 cleus if desirable, though it is not 

 necessary unless very crowded with 

 bees, and then, perhaps, it liad better 

 be delayed till the queen gets to lay- 

 ing. We have in this manner reared 

 a full batch of queens, the last hatch- 

 ing within two hours of the first, all 

 well developed, and equally as good 

 in every respect as any swarm- 

 reared queens we ever saw. 



One thing should always be borne- 

 in mind, good queens are not liable to 

 be produced, by any method, in cold, 

 changeable weather, and we hardly 

 think it matters much how many are 

 reared from one queen, whether it be 

 one or one hundred, if the weather 

 and method are favorable, and egg* 

 sufficient be given a large artificial 

 swarm from which to make its selec- 

 tion. We know nothing of the meth- 

 ods practiced by queen-breeders gen- 

 erally or individually, and only give 

 the foregoing as the result of our 

 many experiments, and a desire to 

 contribute the same to the benefit of 

 those who wish to breed the best from 

 the best. 



Vennor's Prognostications. 



Not because we have implicit con- 

 fidence in Vennor's weather predic- 

 tions, b\it because many of ouv read- 

 ers have the curiosity to know what 

 he has said concerning the coming 

 summer, do we give the following a& 

 his forecast : 



I desire to give a short, but com- 

 prehensive outline of what, in my 

 bumble opinion, are likely to be most 

 remarkable features of the summer 

 and autumn of the year 1SS2 : 



1. A season that will well merit the 

 designation of cool to cold and wet 

 generally. Not that there will not be 

 terms of summer warmth and even 

 intense heat for periods, but rather 

 that these last will appear in the ret- 

 rosi)ect as of but comparative insigni- 

 ficance, or as the exception to the gen- 

 eral rule. 



2. The season will be marked by 

 not only great precipitation, but by a 

 mugginess of atmosphere generally^ 

 caused by the reeking condition ot 

 the earth and the long continuance 

 of a cloudy sky. This will result in 

 periods of extreme sultriness and 

 lieavy weather, during which the 

 tliunder and hail-storms will occur. 

 In other words the summer will be 

 the reverse of clear and dry. 



3. There is a likelihood of June and 



