. The American bee keeper. Bee culture; Honey. Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. Vol. XII AUGUST 1902 No. 8 THE QUEEN. Rules To Be Observed in Her Selection—Intro- duction, Clipping, Etc. (Arthur C. Miller.) THE QUEEN, the center of the bee universe offers the most fas- cinating field for study to be found in all apiculture. Notwithstand- ing the volumes that have been written on the subject, it is comparatively a vir- gin soil. To the beginner the queen is an almost mythical creature, and when found is to be gazed upon with awe and reverence- Truly she is wonderful and the bett
. The American bee keeper. Bee culture; Honey. Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. Vol. XII AUGUST 1902 No. 8 THE QUEEN. Rules To Be Observed in Her Selection—Intro- duction, Clipping, Etc. (Arthur C. Miller.) THE QUEEN, the center of the bee universe offers the most fas- cinating field for study to be found in all apiculture. Notwithstand- ing the volumes that have been written on the subject, it is comparatively a vir- gin soil. To the beginner the queen is an almost mythical creature, and when found is to be gazed upon with awe and reverence- Truly she is wonderful and the better she is known the more wonderful she will become, and as the traits and habits are learned the field broadens and queen rearing becomes the chief part of bee-keeping, at least to the amateur. As size, color and shape of queens naturally first engage the attention it may perhaps be best to first consider those factors. Size is the most decep- tive of all attributes; the large queen today is small next week and even in- significant at some seasons. The large bright "Virgin'' becomes a "Whopper" as she begins to lay, only to shrink to normal soon after. It is somewhat the same with color; at one tinTe a queen looks bright, at another time much darker. These variations are seemin^g- ly great because we judge of a queen almost solely by the color and size of her abdomen. According as this is con- tracted or shrunken, or is distended with eggs, so varies size and shade of color of the queen. But a dark queen will never be light or vice versa; each will retain her original markings, some being like rich, mottled mahogany, and others golden yellow, almost to the very tip. But color and size of abdomen are of little value in selecting queens. For fine queens select those with a large thorax, long wings and legs, and who stand high, or as a fancier of game fowl would say who have a fine "sta- ; Such queens will necessarily be long in abdomen, even though
Size: 2536px × 985px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbeeculture, bookyear1
