ee- 



\eepeps' JieViecu. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tlqe Iqterests of Hoqey Producers, 



$L00 A YEAR, 



W. Z. HUTCHlJ^SOfl, EditoP & PPop. 



VOL, IV, 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, APRIL, 10, 1891. 



NO, 4, 



The speeial topic of this issue is 



" Introducing Queens. " 



That of the next issue cuill be 



"Adulteration of Honey," 



A Sermon on Introducing Queens. 



W. r. OLA EKE. 



^^ CALL this a "sermon," not because I 

 ^J am going to preach or "talk shop," 

 but because I wish to preface what I 

 have to say on the text with an " exordium," 

 after the manner of sermon- makers. A ser- 

 mon is supposed to require a vestibule, or 

 preface, like a modern railway car, or a 

 book. "By way of introduction," as 

 preachers are in the habit of remarking, I 

 want to express my admiration of your 

 method of "introducing" atopic. Itisone 

 of the features that have helped to make the 

 Review unique. True, you are apt to go 

 over all the ground, leaving others little else 

 to do but fulfil the injunction, " let all the 

 people say, ' Amen ! ' " A sermon is edify- 

 ing in proportion to the extent in which it 

 voices better than we can do it, our own 

 views. So is an editorial. The pulpit does 

 not so much mould the opinions of a con- 

 gregation, as express them. If a preacher 

 fails to do this, he will soon get his walking 

 ticket. He is the mouthpiece of the people. 

 So with a journal and an editor. I hope, 

 therefore, that you will not follow Mr. Hed= 



don's advice in last Review, and " simply 

 ask questions." Henry Ward Beecher used 

 to say, the true use of advice is to make us 

 more set in our own way. If Mr. Heddon's 

 advice Has this effect on you, I for one, shall 

 be glad. Personally, I dislike question 

 boxes and catechisms. 



You have given us a discourse on intro- 

 ducing queens, under two heads : the condi- 

 tion of the colony, and the condition of the 

 queen. It reminds one of a preacher who 

 once announced to his congregation three 

 divisions of the subject he was going to 

 treat : I. What I know, and you don't. II. 

 What you know, and I don't. III. What 

 neither you nor I know. You have told us 

 what you know about queen introduction, 

 and what certainly many bee-keepers do not 

 know. It will now be in order for Dr. Miller 

 to tell us what he does not know, and quite a 

 long article might be written on what none 

 of us know, for there are "mysteries in bee- 

 keeping" yet, that none of us know. I 

 would si)ecially emphasize what you say 

 about the condition of the queen. Almost 

 the only thing that justifies the retention of 

 the term "queen" for the mother-bee, is 

 the regal majesty with which she marches 

 over the combs. As the old Latin proverb 

 has it: ^' Ilia incedit rer/ina," — "she walks 

 a queen ! " Democratic as they are, the l)ee8 

 appear to admire this (]ueenly air. It is like 

 the reverence many Americans have for 

 foreign titles and aristocratic manners. 

 Now, as you say, if a queen behaves like a 

 common bee when she is introduced into a 



