VOL, 11, 



FLINT, MICMAN, JDLY 10, 1869, 



NO. 7, 



How Much May Depend Upon the Queen T 



DK. C. G. MILIiEB. 



IfVi^^lf? UGH depends on the way you look at 

 (J V|/ [3 it. lu a year of entire failure of the 

 (JCilfJ^ honey crop, a man is very ai>t to say 

 "All depends on the season. My 

 colonies all alike faileel. and a chanjre of 

 queens would have made ~no difference." 

 Anotlier year when the harvest is 4;ood, he 

 lii ds that a few colonies have far out-strip- 

 ped the others, these few colonies having? 

 had triven to them queens of fine blood, 

 wliile the balance of his stock is rather poor. 

 He is very likely to say " It all depends on 

 the queen." Tlien, wlien my only depend- 

 ence, white clover, has fulled, and some one 

 else has a tine crop from linden, I have felt 

 like sayint^ "All depends on the locality." 



Doolittle says: "Beekeeping all centers 

 ui)on the queen." Hutchinson says : " I 

 have sometimes felt like sayinjir, other things 

 beiuy e»iual, one ([ueen is as <^ood as another." 

 The two men have their different ways of 

 puttin<r it, but at bottom I doubt if there 's 

 nmch difference in their views. Locjk at 

 their practice. Does Doolittle take all the 

 pains ill the world to raise «ood queens and 

 then pay no attention to the rest of his 

 mauayeinent 'i He would be the last one to 

 claim anythinfj of the kind, and his teachings 

 constantly show that he lays ^reat stress on 

 other things as well. Does Hutchinson 

 think the (]ueen of no consequence 'i Who is 

 it that sells tested queens at a very low price 

 just because he thinks it so important to 

 change his queens V 



But says one. " The difference is in the 

 strain of bees, and not in the manner in 

 which the queens were reared." ^\'ell, my 

 friend, no one said that bee keeping centers 

 on the way (jueens are reared but on the 

 queen, and the strain is in the queen, and to 

 ; ret tlie strain we must get a cpieen of that 

 strain, and to increase and perpetuate that 

 strain we must know enough of ((ueen-rear- 

 iug to rear queens of that strain. And now 

 1 think I hear the editor turn on me and 

 say, "Look here, friend Miller, do you go 

 llirough all that fussing that D lolittle tells 

 about, for every queen you raise ?" No, I 

 don't. I let the bees do a good deal their 

 own way. Still I might be better off if I 

 look the matter in my own hands a little 

 more, and it's a good thing to have a book 

 like Doolittle's to stir me up. By the way. 



that book is worth several times its price to 

 me, not only for its teachings about queens, 

 but for settling some things "along the line" 

 of my own experinienfing. Moreover, if I 

 were making a business of rearing queens to 

 sell, I think it would pay me well, and be 

 economy of time, to follow out all of Doo- 

 little's "fussing." 



On the whole it's a pretty good thing to 

 get specially interested in different topics so 

 as to bring them prominently to the front. 

 One time it is hives, another time supers, 

 then control of swarming, and so on. For 

 the time being we get stirred u[i about the 

 one thing, and givi' it special pronijnence, 

 whereas, in reality there are many other 

 things of equal or greater importance. I 

 don't believe a man with the best (jueeus in 

 the world would secure a good crop of honey 

 without having several other factors in the 

 problem. I'm not sure but I'd agree to 

 give up queen rearing entii-ely to tlie bees 

 if I could have a satisfactory answer to the 

 question, "How can I prevent the desire to 

 swarm without interfering with the crop of 

 comb honey?" ( hi the other hand I recall 

 a queen I once raised which laid, if I remem- 

 ber rightly, just three eggs and then gave 

 out. \Vheu T think of that and that the dif- 

 ference was entirely attributable to the man- 

 ner of raising, anti that the difference in 

 queens may nuike all the difference between 

 success and failure, I feel sure that the 

 (lueen, both as to the strain of blood she 

 possesses and as to the manner of her rear- 

 ing, is a very important personage. 



Maeengo, III., June 5, 188!J. 



Good Queens, Why ? 



PEOF. A. J. COOK. 



IRIEND HUTCHINSON, it may seem 

 and doubtless will seem to many, very 

 i^ifk^c presumptions in me to offer a word of 

 criticism regarding your position on 

 this question of quality in queens. You 

 have doubtless reared a score of queens to 

 my one. You have watched your queens as 

 carefully as was possible. Are you not then 

 much more likely to be right than one of so 

 much less experience ? Yet I do differ 

 with you. I would emphasize the impor- 

 tance of a good breed or strain as strongly 

 as you. I would al^o bear equally on the 

 importance of the proper care. I believe all 

 animals are much the same. In all animals 



