112 THE BEE-KEEPBR'S guide, 



demonstration on the natal day of her ladyship the queen, or 

 extra respect paid her as a virgin. When queens are started 

 from worker-larvae they will issue as imagoes in ten or twelve 

 days from the date of their new prospects. Mr. Doolittle 

 writes me that he has known them to issue in eight and one- 

 half days. My own observations sustain the assertion of Mr. 

 P. J-,. Viallon, that the minimum time is nine and one-half 

 days. 



As the queen's development is probably due to superior 

 quality and increased quantity of food, it would stand to 

 reason that queens started from eggs, or larvae just hatched, 

 are preferable ; the more so as, under normal circumstances, 

 I believe they are almost always thus started. The best 

 experience sustains this position. As the proper food and 

 temperature can best be secured in a full colony — and here 

 again the natural economy of the hive adds to our argument — 

 we should infer that the best queens would be reared in strong 

 colonies, or at least kept in such colonies till the cells were 

 capped. Experience also confirms this view. As the quantity 

 and quality of food and the general activity of the bees are 

 directly connected with the full nourishment of the queen- 

 larva, and as these are only at the maximum in times of 

 active gathering — the time when queen-rearing is naturally 

 started by the bees — we should also conclude that queens 

 reared at such seasons are superior. My experience — and I 

 have carefully observed in this connection — most emphatically 

 sustains this view. 



Five or six days after issuing from the cell — Neighbour 

 says the third day — if the day is pleasant the queen goes forth 

 on her " marriage flight ;" otherwise she will improve the first 

 pleasant day thereafter for this purpose. Mr. Doolittle says 

 that mid-summer queens fly out in from four to nine days, 

 while early spring and fall queens may not mate for from two 

 to four weeks. Rev. Mr. Mahin has noticed, as have many of 

 us, that the 5'oung queens fly out several times simply to exer- 

 cise, and then he thinks they often go from two to five miles to 

 mate; while Mr. Alley thinks the mating is performed within 

 one-half mile of the hive. I have known queens to be out on 

 their mating tour for thirty-five minutes, in which case it 



