ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 79 



Fci^i ij^eeii Meaffiiii 



I OMMERCIAL queen rearing: is most decidedly a distinct 

 branch of apiculture; as different from honey production 

 as one profession is from another. Time isamost important 

 factor in the rearing of queens; hence it is only in the 

 South, where the seasons are long, that the business can be carried 

 on at the greatest protit. It has been almost entirely abandoned in 

 Northern States, as a man with a good location for honey can make 

 more money producing honey than he can rearing queens. He 

 might make more money per colony rearing queens than in honey 

 production, but he can care for so many more colonies when they 

 are worked for honey, that there is no comparison between the two 

 in the short seasons of the North. A resident of the North occupy- 

 ing a location affording a light but continuous flow of honey through- 

 out the season, might be justified in rearing queens instead of pro- 

 ducing honey, but he could never rear the number of queens that he 

 might rear in the South, simply because the seasons are not long 

 enough. 



The income from queen rearing is more of a certainty than that 

 from honey production. If the blossoms yield sparingly, no surplus 

 can be secured, but nearly, or quite, as many queens can be reared. 

 Although a steady, moderate flow of honey is the most desirable for 

 queen rearing, yet queens can be reared at a profit by feeding the 

 bees. 



In no branch of apiculture has there been such decided changes 

 and improvements, in the last few years, as in that of queen rearing. 

 Instead of scattering clusters of queen cells built upon some irregu- 

 larity of the comb, artificially made cells are attached in a long row 



