BEE MANUAL. 219 



drones flying from our apiary at this time, so that there would 

 be every likelihood of our queens mating as we desired. 



Sometimes quite a number of young queens will be lost 

 during their wedding trip, at other times very few. I have 

 never been able to satisfactorily account for this difference. 

 Whether it be that there are more bee-enemies about at one 

 time than another I cannot say, but of this I am certain, that 

 there are a less number lost when the nucleus hives are far 

 apart and located some little distance away from the main part 

 of the apiary. Mr. Alley says that the daughters of some 

 queens are more liable to be lost than others but cannot account 

 for it. In another place he says : " I bred from a queen last 

 season, not one in fifty of whose daughters were lost in mating." 

 Possibly some have a sense of locality better developed than 

 others, and are therefore less likely to miss their proper home 

 on their return from their first flight. At any rate it is a 

 matter worth giving attention to. 



When the young queens commence to lay, which they will 

 do in a few days after mating, they are ready to be made use of 

 unless we desire to test them, and when raising them for sale 

 they should always be tested for purity and laying qualities for 

 at least a month. By following up with cell building others 

 may be ready to place in the nuclei when the young laying 

 queens are removed, though there may not be the same chance 

 to have the second lot of queens mated by selected drones 

 unless it can be accomplished by the use of drone excluders, 

 the utility of which, as I have before remarked, I am rather 

 doubtful about. Even then no other bees should be near the 

 apiary. 



NECESSARY DISTANCE APART OF DIFFERENT RACES TO 

 ENSURE PURE MATING. 



This is a question upon which a considerable difference of 

 opinion exists. Mr. Alley thinks that half a mile is far enough, 

 while many other experienced apiarists consider that a mile, or 

 even two, is rather close. It is one of those still debatable 

 questions connected with apiculture which may be argued on 

 both sides for any length of time without being settled satis- 

 factorily one way or the other by actual proof. I am inclined 

 to think, however, that if we want to make sure of our queens 



