192 riFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



queen-cells started. I don't know why. Perhaps the bees have 

 been frightened because of their spell of queenlessness, and 

 want to provide against its happening again. At any rate, 

 when these cells are killed they are not replaced. Possibly the 

 bees would destroy them themselves after finding that the 

 queen was settled to work. 



Some think it best, when a queen arrives at a certain age, 

 to replace her with a young queen. It is held by some that a 

 queen does her best work in her first year, and that no queen 

 should be allowed to do a second year's work, because there 

 will always be a gain by replacing her with a younger queen. 

 Some of the men that hold such views, and practice according- 

 ly, are such successful beekeepers that I dare not say they are 

 wrong. Whether it be a difference in bees, in locality, manage- 

 ment, or what not, I do not believe that such practice would 

 be best for me. 



I am pretty sure that many of my queens do as good work 

 in the second as in the first year, possibly better. But it is not 

 altogether a question as to whether a queen does as well or 

 better in her second year, comparing it with the first. The 

 question is rather as to what she will do in her second or third 

 year as compared with what would be done by the average 

 young queen that would replace her. However it may be else- 

 where, the rule with my bees is that a queen which distinguishes 

 herself by a good crop of honey in her first year, wUl keep 

 above the average as long as she lives. And I- can count on 

 the bees superseding her at the close of harvest whenever she 

 reaches an age when it would seem profitable for me to re- 

 place her with a younger queen. 



Another thing may be worth considering. It is claimed, 

 and with some show of reason, that longevity in bees is an im- 

 portant factor. One colony will be stronger in bees and. 

 brood than another beside it, while the latter will store more 

 honey. The explanation given is that the bees in the second 

 colony are longer-lived. It may not be unreasonable to suppose 

 that if one has a strain of bees with queens which live to an 

 unusual age, that the workers will also live to unusual age. So 

 it may be the part of wisdom to encourage those queens which . 

 show a disposition to live beyond the usual spaa. 



