112 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



country, and from time to time import 

 directly from Italy, and I can say truly that 

 the queens (and the youn^' (lueens reared 

 from them) procured from men like Doolit- 

 tle, and Alley, who have j^iven years of study, 

 thought and experiment to the subject of 

 rearing good queens, have uniformly proven 

 to he the best, and have given the best re- 

 sults in wintering, in longevity, in rcprodu- 

 ciiKj tJu'Diselvcs, in honey gathering — in sliort 

 in dollars and cents. And when such men 

 give their methods to the public, methods 

 that if carefully followed would work won- 

 derful results, we should honor them for it 

 and uphold them, and speak a good word 

 for them, instead of casting a doubt on the 

 merits of their methods, or intimating that 

 almost any kind of (jueen will do, so she 

 fills a medium sized hive with bees at the 

 proper season. I have for years used a 

 modification of Alley's methods of queen 

 rearing, and with excellent results. In re- 

 gard to Doolittle's method as given in 

 '* Scientific (^ueen Hearing," I think it more 

 suitable to the specialist or large honey pro- 

 ducer and queen breeder, as there is too 

 much " machinery " about it for the average 

 bee keeper who would prefer to buy his 

 queens from one who does raise them as 

 they should be rearetl, than to make so much 

 effort for the few he may need, and then 

 l)robably not succeed to his satisfaction. 

 One more j)oiut in my experience and I am 

 done. It is not tlie size, or color, of the 

 queen that makes quality. A very large 

 (lueen has seldom, with me, jiroven to be 

 sujier-excelleut, and were I to be giver my 

 choice from a hundred queens, a medium 

 sized one would be chosen every time. 

 Bellevii^le, Ills., June 1st, 188'.). 



It will be seen that the above was written 

 before the June number was out, and it is 

 but justice to say that, upon its receipt, Bro. 

 F. sent a postal saying that, had he waited 

 until he had read our introductory editoral 

 upon queens, he would have written a little 

 differently, but lack of time would prevent 

 his preparing anotlier article. 



Good Qaeens vs, Poor Queens. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



""ELL, what do you mean l)y a good 

 /i' ipieen ? I do not know wliat 

 definition many of our a[)iarists 

 would give of a good queen, but 

 what I consider a good queen is one having 

 all that is re<iuisite to queen nature, and one 

 that is susceptible of being brought up to her 

 full powers of egg laying <(t anij lime when 

 desired by the apiarist. What is meant by a 

 poor (lueen ? One that is not fully developed 

 in all her parts, so that she is not suscei)til>le 

 of being used by tlie a[)iarist to bring al)out 

 the results which lie wishes brought about. 

 I am well aware that hives, combs, location, 

 etc., have much to do with our success in bee 

 culture, but when any one claims that tliey 

 ve as much to do with honey production 



as has the queen, I cannot help thinking that 

 the matter has not been fully considered. 

 We could have no bee-keeping without tlie 

 queen. As well talk al)out having milk 

 without mammals of some kind to produce 

 it. Milk comes from llie mamnuil which 

 produces it, and bees come from the (lueeu 

 which lays the eggs for those bees ; wliile 

 the bees gather the honey. Mow, what is the 

 difference between one of the scrub cows of 

 our fathers as to milk production, and one 

 of the thoroughbred Sliort Horns of to-day ? 

 Simply the difference between profit and 

 loss. How came this to be brouglit about ? 

 Was it simply by selecting a certain strain 

 of cattle ? Not by any means. Who ever 

 heard of any great improvement of stock 

 being brought about by simply selecting a 

 certain strain and then letting it take care of 

 itself V No stock producer of any reputation 

 will work in that way. ( )u the contrary, 

 after selecting the strain he wishes to breed 

 from, he gives these animals all the care and 

 all tlie feed possible, to push them speedily 

 forward io the end designed. What is the 

 difference between Iho bees of to-day and 

 those kept by our fathers of 100 years ago ? 

 I listen ; do I hear any one say " not any i* " 

 If any one says so, then 1 say that we as 

 apiarists of the nineteenth century have not 

 been as wise as oar brothers wlio are raising- 

 cattle. Jutlging the present by the past i 

 am willing to go on record as sajing lliat 

 any <me can take fi " strain of bees lliat are 

 poor honey gatherers " and by "jugglery," 

 (the same kind which stockmen use, such as 

 feed, currycomb, selection, etc., ) bring them 

 up to a perfection, as honey gathereis, 

 scarcely equaled by any of the strains ot 

 bees of the present. Yet a man would be 

 unwise to start with such an inferior sti;iiu 

 when he could just as well have a belter one 

 to start with. No, friend Hxitchinsoii, llie 

 difference is not in " the strain ol bees " 

 entirely, and i>y saying so you go against all 

 the history of the past as to rreihods useil lu 

 perfecting a more valuable race tliau we 

 a' ready have, be that "race" bee.s or ani- 

 mals, and give approval to a carelessness as 

 regards important matters not admissable 

 for an editor. 



There must be used all the requisites which 

 tend toward a full development of all the 

 parts of the (pieen, i( we would succeed; 

 and the bees must be carrying out then- 

 natural instinct to its fullest extent, in oi-tler 

 to give us the greatest < nertiy, and develoji 

 an activity in our (juee-iis which can be so 

 moulded by the apiarist as to give hiui the 

 bees just at the right tune so that tliey can 

 accomplish the most usefulness while Ihey 

 l|ve. Do any object? Let me ipiote from 

 one of the best of books, " Hutchinson on 

 Comb Honej-. " (hi page ;?_' we I'uul these 

 words from Samuel Cushiuan ami endorsed 

 by W. Z. H, " When bees hang in festooiis, 

 secrete wax and build natural combs, 

 they are carrying out a natural instinct. 

 Its gratification stimulates their taiergy and 

 a colony so managetl will gather more honey 

 than if not allowed to build natural combs. 

 The sui)pressioii of this instinct, in a measure 

 lessens energy, or prevents development of 

 activity, and affects the future usefulness of 



