332 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW' 



for convenience, we will take 100 colo- 

 nies of bees; this number being easy to 

 figure on. These bees, one year ago, were 

 in a normal condition; that is, as Nature 

 would have them, as to age of queens. 

 Their queens would be, say, from 30 days 

 to three years old. One year from no n 

 there would be 33, old, aged queens dead; 

 supposing them all to winter. But it so 

 happens, here in the north, that we have 

 some winter losses each season; then 

 some queens are killed accidentally; so 1 

 think we can calculate on 17 more dying; 

 otherwise than natural deaths. This be- 

 ing the case, we will have, at the end of 

 the first year, 50 young queens, and 50 

 of unknown age. Now, this will repeat 

 itself each year; so at the opening of 

 spring, each year. 50 of our colonies, on 

 the let-alone plan, ought to have yearling 

 queens; the other 50 will have two and 

 three-year-old queens. Now, with this 

 natural process, of one-half of our colonies 

 providing themselves with young queens 

 each year, it's easy to figure that we will 

 not have very many queens that are 

 three years old; say a dozen, or so; one- 

 half of these will likely play out during 

 the heavy spring breeding, during April 

 and May; and are the ones that are no- 

 ticed most, as they do not breed up a col- 

 ony in time for the harvest. The others 

 are superseded later in the season, and 

 many times are not noticed, as these later 

 supersedures do not usually cut much of 

 a figure, in the amount of honey gathered, 

 and breed up into good colonies for win- 

 ter. These conclusions we have arrived 

 at, after several seasons observation, 

 along these lines, and I think will be found 

 about correct. 



OVERSTOCKING CAN BE AS EASILY DETERMINED 

 WITH ONE SYSTEM AS WITH ANOTHER. 



I'm now ready to answer your ques- 

 tion, viz.: "is he always sure that each 

 location is fully stocked ?" Just as sure 

 as those who requeen each year; for 

 when we decide that a given number of 

 colonico a^-*^ sufificient for a location, to 

 secure all the honey that is profitable, we 

 stop adding colonies to this yard. 



It's quite likely, were we to go to the 

 trouble to requeen each colony each year, 

 5 to 1 per cent, less colonies might do 

 the work; but, after a long experience 

 along this line, we have come to the con- 

 clusion that it does not pay. 



Another point: It seems to have be- 

 come an accepted fact, that all one has 

 to do to insure a populous colony for the 

 next season's harvest, is to put a young 

 queen into each colony, the previous fall, 

 and the harvest is insured. 



THERE WILL BE SOME "NO ACCOUNT" COLO- 

 NIES WITH ANY SYSTEM? 



Now, isn't it a fact, that a certain per 

 cent, of these young queens prove worth- 

 less. Then there are other troubles; so, 

 one must expect to have some colonies, 

 each season, that are not in honey gath- 

 ering condition, with any system we may 

 adopt; so if a man starts out with the ex- 

 pectation of having a// his colonies strong, 

 and in good condition for the honey flow, 

 every year, he is destined to disappoint- 

 ment; for with the best of care and pains, 

 there will be some colonies that will lag, 

 and be of no account, so far as surplus 

 honey is concerned. 



ARE YOUNG BEES ANY BETTER THAN OLD FOR 

 WINTERING ? 



Then one must bear in mind that col- 

 onies with young queens die in winter just 

 about as bad as those with old queens. 



This brings to mind an other point: 

 You say, friend Hutchinson, that your 

 bees, there at Flint, did not breed up 

 good last fall; or, in other words, you say 

 the bees went into winter quarters weak, 

 and came out weak this spring. If my 

 calculations are correct, that half our bees 

 re-queen themselves each year, your bees 

 should have had one-half young queens; 

 but you do not mention that half of them 

 came through strong, and the other half 

 weak, as they ought to, if the young 

 queens wintered, or bred up better during 

 spring, than old queens; you say the bees 

 went into winter quarters weak, and came 

 out in the same condition; so we conclude 

 by this, that those with young queens, as 

 well as those with old queens, suffered 



