ILrLrlNOIS STATE BEE- KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



139 



1 had a yard of 38. in double -walled 

 hives, full of honey; I was down here 

 to this convention; we had a snow- 

 storm after the convention; they stayed 

 out all winter; out of 38 I had 14 last 

 spring. 



Mr. Wheeler — Miss Candler has 

 something along that line, about pro- 

 tected hives covered with snow-drifts. 



Miss Candler — I protect my hives 

 with black paper — tar-paper — and the 

 snow, of course, warms that paper 

 through to the hive thoroughly; but 

 the snow was so deep that it simply 

 covered the Whole hives so that they 

 could not be seen, and in the spring 

 I lost 40 that were simply covered with 

 ice, so of course they died; they smoth- 

 ered. 



Long-Lived Queen-Bees. 



"What about long-lived queens? 

 What is the longest life of an active 

 queen you have known?" 



Mr. Wilcox — Queen Victoria! 

 (Laughter.) 

 Mr. Niver — One queen I had 5 years. 



Pres. York — How many have had 

 queens that were active at the age of 

 5 years? Raise your hands. [Two.] 



Mr. Anderson — I have "one" that has 

 been active 52 years! 



Mr. Wheeler — I suppose the life of 

 a queen depends upon the amount of 

 labor she has to perform. If we have 

 a succession of poor seasons that 

 queen w^ill live longer than though we 

 have a good honey-flow; so it is pretty 

 difficult to tell what the life of the 

 queen will be. The queen might be 

 conidered like a plank road — it wears 

 out. A queen that does good work, I 

 don't believe will live much over 2% 

 years, the average of a good queen. 



Mr. Anderson — We have a gentleman 

 here who has a queen 7 years old, and 

 she did good T^ork the past year. 



Mr. Duff — I have a queen, at the 

 present time, 7 years old^ — in a 10- 

 frame hive — and I think that colony is 

 in as good condition as any in the 

 yard. Last spring there was a 

 man in the yard who examined 

 the colony, in June; he found it 

 to be the best in the yard. I got it 

 from Mr. York, about 5 or 6 years 

 ago; I got 2 breeding queens; I left it 

 in his hands to select the best stock, 

 and he got me the two breeding 

 queens; I clipped the wings of those 

 queens, the only ones I ever clipped. 



Mr. Smith examined theni last y-ear 

 and he can testify, it was at least 5Q 

 per cent better than any other colony 

 in the yard, and she is there today; 

 the other queen was no good from the 

 time I got her. 



Mr. Wheeler — As to that on© particu- 

 lar colony. Do that queen'si queens 

 do as good work? Were their colonies 

 built up as sitrong? 



Mr. Duff — Yes, without exception, 

 every year. 



Mr. Wheeler — Then I think you ought 

 to breed queens. 



Mr. Duff — I have done so; every year 

 her colony has been better than any 

 other colony. The past year," when I 

 didn't get any surplus honey to speak 

 of, I got surplus honey from that col- 

 ony. 



Mr. Wheeler — I had a letter from a 

 gentleman about a certain queen. I 

 wrote to him to re-queen his entire 

 apiary from that queen; she was the 

 best queen he had; her hive was over- 

 flowing all the time; he said, "I have 

 50 colonies, and she is the greatest 

 hustler you ever saw." 



I would breed from that queen if I" 

 were in your place, Mr. Duff. 



Mr. Arnd — ^How many queens did 

 you rear for your own use from that 

 t(ueen, Mr. Duff? 



Mr. Duff— About 40; that is all I ever 

 reared in one year. 



Mr. Smith — I believe most of the 

 members present will give me credit 

 for making an investigation if I go 

 after it. I believe an investigation 

 .that would satisfy me would satisfy 

 most of them — an investigation as to 

 facts. I discovered this queen, and 

 Mr. Duff told me about what her rec- 

 ord was, and he asked me to see our 

 worthy President to verify her age. 

 Between the two gentlemen, they sat- 

 isfied me that the queen is 7 years old 

 this year. I wanted to buy the queen; 

 I could not buy her; the best I could 

 do was to arrange to get larvae to 

 rear queens from. I made that ar- 

 rangement, because, for me, I would 

 rather paj^ $100.00 for that queen to 

 breed from than to have a man send 

 me 50 other queens^ for nothing, that 

 I didn't know anything about. I went 

 through every colony to see what the 

 condition of this colony was, with re- 

 lation to the other colonies in the yard 

 that had had the same treatment ap- 

 parently. All of the colonies were put 

 up for the winter. She had received 



