QtlEENS. 133 



ceeded in rearing fine Italian queens as late as October, 

 when the weather was very fair, which were fertilized hj 

 such selected drones. 



I think it wise, as a rule, not to attempt to rear any 

 great number of queens until June, when the interval of 

 scarcity after apple-blossoms has passed, and the subse- 

 quent flow of honey has commenced. The point which I 

 desire to impress is this, that queen-rearing should be 

 carried on, as far as possible, when the bees are gathering 

 honey most abundantly. There is probably no more 

 auspicious time than during the swarming period. I 

 would avail myself of every opportunity to preserve the 

 oldest and best developed queen cells, from suitable stock, 

 where preparations had been made for swarming. 



HOW TO KEAK QUEENS. 



I here give place to a paper by M. Quinby, which has 

 received the hearty approval of many of our most capable 

 bee-keepers. He says : 



" * * * I have studied well the conditions that 

 produce good queens, as well as inferior ones, and I have 

 never yet found a queen that will 

 duplicate herself on every occa- 

 sion, unless it is one of the com- 

 mon variety. I can count a few 

 dozen, perhaps, after which will 

 be some variation. I have settled 

 down pretty much on one system : 



" First, make a nucleus box, 

 five inches wide, seven inches 

 long, and six inches high, hold- ^ ^^ 



*=' , , ,, n //. Fig. 56.— KUCLEUS BOX. 



mg, at least, three combs (ng. 



56). These combs should contain honey enough to 

 last two or three days, or more. Now, go to the hive 

 from which you are breedmg, and obtain, a piece of 

 worker-brood comb, nearly three laches long and about 



