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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



To this Dr. Miller replied as follows : 

 " If Mr. Bellamy is correct in his theory 

 that there is a considerable difference in 

 the longevity of different colonies of bees, 

 it may help to answer the puzzling question 

 that so many have asked with little hope of 

 finding an answer. I mean the question, 

 ' Why is it that two colonies side by side, 

 apparently the same in all respects, should 

 produce such difierent results ? ' 



I confess I have not closely watched the 

 matter so as to observe the difference in 

 colonies of which he speaks. It may exist, 

 for all that, and it would be i teresting to 

 know whether others have noticed it. As I 

 understand him, two colonies having the 

 same amount of bees to start with, and the 

 same amount of comb constantly occupied 

 with brood, show a decided difierence in 

 population, and he reasons that in no way 

 can that difference of population be ex- 

 plained other than to say the workers of one 

 colony live longer than the other. If his 

 premises are correct, I see no rerson why 

 his conclusion is not correct. If so, it is 

 worth while to work for a strain of bees that 

 will live longer than the average, and if 

 there be only a difference of two or three 

 days, then that difference is worth gaining. 



The life of a worker in the busy season is 

 estimated at 42 days. What advantage will 

 there be in having it extended to 45 ? If a 

 bee commences to store when it is 10 days 

 old, then the bee that lives 42 days will have 

 27 storing days. If it has three more storing 

 days, then it will store 11 per cent. more. 

 Quite an item. If its life should be lengthen- 

 ed a week, then it would have a fourth more 

 than the usual number of storing days. 



With regard to rearing queens from an 

 old queen four or five years old, Mr. Bella- 

 my does not claim that a queen is better at 

 that advanced age than she is when younger, 

 only he is not sure at a younger age that she 

 possesses the longevity desired. If she has 

 lived to an old age, he expects her posterity, 

 both queen and worker, to be remarkable 

 for longevity. 



The matter is one of interest and im- 

 portance and possibly the attention of others 

 may be directed to it so as to gain more 

 light. " 



Mr. Chas. H. Thies had the following to 

 say on the subject, 



"In reading Mr. Bellamy's article on page 

 755 of the Bee Journal for 1893, I thought I 

 would give a little of my experience in re- 

 gard to longevity of bees. 



I noticed this a number of years ago. My 

 attention was first called to a colony that at 

 all times contained but little brood. At that 

 time I reared queens for my use only, con- 

 sequently I was not so particular in keeping 

 a record of their age. Of course I thought 

 she was failing, and my intention was to 

 soon replace her ; but as the honey-fiow was 

 poor, I lost a little interest in the bees for 

 the time being, consequently I neglected to 

 re-queen this colony. 



But when the time came to prepare them 

 for winter, this colony was the strongest in 

 my apiary of some 100 colonies. It had 



plenty of honey, more than any other col- 

 ony, yet as before but little brood. The 

 next season this colony was to be noticed 

 closely. 



They started in the same as before — when 

 other colonies had their hives well filled 

 with brood, this colony had perhaps enough 

 brood to well fill four or five frames ; but 

 when the honey-flow came, they were in 

 splendid condition — in fact, they stored 

 more honey than any other colony. 



I then decided to use this queen for breed- 

 ing purposes : while I had queens that pro- 

 duced better looking bees, yet I thought that 

 the other good qualities of this queen would 

 more than overbalance the looks, as large 

 crops of honey are usually wanted first, then 

 looks may be considered. 



Now while the bees of this queen lived 

 longer, they not only had from five to ten 

 days more to gather honey in, but all the 

 honey that was saved in rearing lees brood 

 than other colonies did, went in with the 

 surplus, which surely should be considered ; 

 besides, there were less bees required to stay 

 in the hive for feeding larvae, etc. 



Now, if these bees did not live longer, why 

 was it that they were at all times strong, 

 with but little brood at any time, and always 

 stored a surplus when any was to be had ? I 

 myself was satisfied that they lived longer, 

 before I ever read a word on this subject. " 



I think that this subject of longevity 

 among bees is a point that needs careful ex- 

 periment. It would, perhaps, explain why 

 one colony does so much better work than 

 another that is no more populous. Just 

 notice if the colonies that do not have so 

 very large quanties of brood, yet store the 

 most honey, have queens that live to an un- 

 usual age. If they do, here is a starting 

 point. It is a starting point anyway, to 

 breed from the queens of such colonies. 

 Perhaps we will soon have queens ofifered 

 for sale that are bred from " queens that 

 are five years old. " 



ThelHeddon Leaflet. 



Here is the Heddon leaflet to which I have 

 several times referred. It contains a good 

 many good things. In fact, all of it is good, 

 but what I fear is that it is so long that the 

 average person will toss it aside unread. 

 Will some one tell me what better be left 

 out or condensed ? If any one else has a 

 leaflet will they please send me a copy. I 

 want to publish all that I can find, and allow 

 criticism, and then try my own hand at 

 writing one, and have that criticised, and 

 then, when we get what is considered the 

 best, I will print some for sale. 



" The honey-bee is not a native of this 

 country, the first having been landed in 



