310 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



just referred to, as found in my 

 apiary. 



Mr. Demaree believes that every 

 honorable breeder should be able to 

 give a description sufficiently compre- 

 hensive to enable any one to identify 

 his bees, and distinguish them from 

 every race or strain of bees. Mr. D. 

 uses the word " strain," can he, 

 roaming the fields, distinguish bees 

 from his apiary, from those of other 

 strains of the same race 'i I can do 

 this with mine. 



Mr. D. thinks I sliould give a des- 

 cription of my bees. I did so, and it 

 was so plainly given, and so well de- 

 fined a de.scription that he held it 

 up to ridicule, and sought to make 

 fun of the terms " long-bodied," and 

 " leather-colored ;" forms and colors 

 well known to modern bee-keepers. 

 Kow he has the audacity to come for- 

 ward with bees of " plumage," "white 

 silver bands ;" ''slender in form," and 

 " second-band conspicuously broad," 

 and " generally wearing but little 

 plumage," but that little of a " light 

 silver rather than a golden hue." 

 " Form slender, inclining towards 

 orange banded." Why, if we had not 

 known that Mr. D. was a lawyer, and 

 were we inclined to look upon every 

 new and novel movement as a " mer- 

 cen.iry " dodge, I should be induced 

 to believe that Mr. Demaree was 

 about to advertise " Queens for Sale !" 



The Legislature of Kentucky is now 

 working on conservative ground. 

 Kentucky always did think that her 

 stock had readied the end of perfec- 

 tion ; and consistent with that view, 

 demands '' purity of her stock." But 

 will Kentucky and its able lawyer 

 please to remember that their short- 

 horns and blooded horses were not 

 handed down to us from on high, but 

 were produced by the efforts of some 

 one who said : "Let us have better 

 horses and better cows ; let us cross 

 this one with that one ; let us breed 

 for qualities." Some Legislatures al- 

 lowed men to bring forth the setter 

 from the spaniel, the pointer from the 

 setter and hound. This was not the 

 Legislature of Kentucky. 



Nature has done for the mule what 

 Kentucky would do for all stock, and 

 the uuile stands in the stoclc world 

 just wliere Kentucky will in ttie api- 

 cultural world, if she passes any such 

 laws regarding bee-breeding, as Mr. 

 .D. alludes to in his "aforesaid" 

 article. 



Dowagiac, Mich., June 8, 1883. 



[As both disputants have now had 

 another " round," let the subject rest. 

 Neither party can be convinced, and 

 no good can come of a mere wordy 

 war ; so "give us a rest."— Ed.] 



IS" The bee-keepers of Fulton and 

 adjoining counties, are requested to 

 meet at the Commercial House, in 

 Astoria, Fulton, Co., 111., on Satur- 

 day, June 30, at 2 p. m.. for the pur- 

 pose of organizing the Fulton County 

 Bee- Keepers Association. By order. 

 Committee. 



Rural New Yorker. 



ftueen-Rearing— A Review. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



For some time it has been known 

 that this work was in process of prep- 

 aration, and from the long and suc- 

 cessful experience of the author as a 

 queen breeder — an experience cover- 

 ing more than a score of years — the 

 work has been eagerly looked for bv 

 all those engaged in "breeding bees. 

 Nor will its study disappoint these 

 ardent expectations. The following 

 is only a brief synopsis of some of the 

 most noteworthy points : 



Mr. Alley believes that the same 

 rules of breeding apply in the rearing 

 of bees that should govern in higher 

 animals. Thus he urges stoutly the 

 most careful selection of the queen 

 and drones. He keeps his selected 

 queen iu a small hive, so that he can 

 get eggs at once upon adding a frame 

 of bright empty comb. Corahs that 

 have contained one or two broods are 

 to be preferred. 



The queen-cells should only be 

 formed in very strong colonies. Such 

 are drummed from their hives and 

 kept queenless in an empty tiive, in a 

 cellar for ten hours. This fits them 

 better, as Mr. A. thinks, for feeding 

 the queeus. To procure queen cells, 

 Mr. Alley cuts the strips of comb 

 which are filled with eggs, so narrow 

 as to contain only one i-ow of entire 

 cells and two rows of half cells each. 

 On one side, the eggs in each alternate 

 cell of the row of uncut cells are des- 

 troyed by the use of a common match. 

 By "dipping the opposite face of this 

 strip into melted wax and resin 

 mixed, the comb is fastened to a 

 frame of comb and given to the bees, 

 which have been ten hours queenless. 

 No other brood is given them that is 

 uncapped, and so they form beautiful 

 cells, in a regular row, equally spaced, 

 and as the eggs were all laid at a 

 known date, it is known precisely just 

 when the queens will come forth. He 

 never permits more than ten cells to 

 be formed in a single colony. The 

 bees are made queenless in the morn- 

 ing and given the eggs at night. ]\Ir. 

 A., in letting the bees escape from the 

 hive where they have been shut in, to 

 enter the new hive where the queen 

 cells are to be formed, which now rests 

 on the old stand, prevents the drones 

 from leaving, if they are undesirable, 

 and so gets rid of the inferior drones. 

 If the bees cannot gather, they are 

 fed one i)int of syrup or honey twice 

 a day. The cells are cut out on the 

 eighth day from hatchinj^, or the 

 eleventh from the laying ot the egg. 

 The cells are put into a queen-nur- 

 sery like that described years ago by 

 Dr. Jewell Davis. A single colony 

 can care tor 100 of such cells. A colony 

 is kept purposely for it. 



Mr. Alley condemns the lamp nur- 

 sery, though he confesses he never 

 used it. He says it is unnatural. The 

 same argument would condemn his 

 whole method. He has improved upon 

 nature. Some of our best queen 

 breeders, like Viallon, Hutchinson 

 and Hayhurst, use tlie lamp nursery 

 and think it excellent. He says if 



we feed young queens in a queen 

 nursery, they will remain there safely 

 several weeks. But what of Ber- 

 lepsch's theory that a queen unmated 

 for three weeks is ruined V 



Mr. Alley introduces the queens as 

 virgins. But the old colony or nucleus 

 must have been queenless three days. 

 He uses tobacco to smoke them, and 

 thinks this is a sine qua non. He also 

 advises dropping a virgin queen into 

 honey and then into the hive. He 

 sometimes introduces these virgins by 

 use of a cage, stopping the entrance— 

 a half inch hole an inch long — with 

 the " Good candy." The bees eat the 

 candy, liberate the queen and accept 

 her. 



Mr. Alley never uses a colony twice 

 ill succession to form cells. After 

 they are used once, he gives them the 

 uncapped brood and queen of another 

 colony which is to be used, and con- 

 siders them ready again in four weeks. 

 Thus queens are always reared from 

 eggs ; tew are reared in each colony ; 

 these have all the attention, and " are 

 almost sure to be superior queens." 

 The nucleus or colony receiving a vir- 

 gin queen should not be near the col- 

 ony which is forming cells at the 

 time, or the young queen, as she re- 

 turns from mating, will enter the hive 

 and destroy all the ceHs. If a queen 

 is " balled " as she returns from mat- 

 ing, it is a very sure sign of the pres- 

 ence of fertile workers. 



Mr. Alley's instruction as to intro- 

 ducing virgin queens is very valuable, 

 if the method will work in other 

 hands. In this case the colony, or 

 nucleus, must h-ave been queenless 

 three days. Not so with a cell. This 

 he says (our experience hardly sus- 

 tains iiim) may be introduced safely 

 immediately upon the removal of the 

 queen. 



The cell need not be fastened in a 

 comb, but held by slight pressure be- 

 tween two adjacent combs. Late 

 queens will ofteii fail to fly unless fed 

 a little euch day. Mr. Alley is surely 

 right, in saying that queens mate 

 only once. He tliinks a queen is al- 

 most sure to be purely mated if there 

 aro no impure bees within half a mile. 

 I wish we were sure of this. 



Caged queens. Mr. Alley says, will 

 not be so fed by the bees, and these 

 must be fed in the cage. Judge An- 

 drews, of Texas, says they will always 

 be fed. Bees in a nucleus, unless fed, 

 will frequently swarm out. Mr. Alley 

 secures his selected drones in this 

 wise : He places empty drone combs 

 in the midst of the brood nest of his 

 best colony. As soon as eggs are laid 

 in the cells, he gives these combs to 

 queenless colonies. Good queens lay 

 regularly in cells, and cut the caps 

 from the queen cells as they come 

 forth smoothly. aij»d do not leave a 

 ragged edge. He makes the strange 

 assertion, that Italians are not a dis- 

 tinct race, and, further, states that 

 they are poor nurses. M. Alley quotes 

 wrongly, I think, from our books. I 

 think all advise getting eggs of a 

 known date. It is stated that worker 

 bees never destroy a queen cell. In 

 handling queen cells, they must never 

 be over-heated. They will stand cold 

 better, but ought never to be chilled. 



