SF

.,.I"?.nty~five

1924

Vears with bees.

003 425 240

ALBERT R. MANN

LIBRARY
NEW YORK STATE

COLLEGES

OF

AGRICULTURE AND HOME

ECONOMICS

AT
CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS

BEEKEEPING LIBRARY

Ijears
1171TH

BEES

JAY SMITH
ROUTE THREE

VINCENNES, INDIANA

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=*

i ami-- 1925

*=

marks my twenty-fifth year in the

Bee Business. I came to Vincennes in
1897 and taught
in the Vincennes
University for two years.
Then .1 started a
In 1900 I took as
Business College of my own.
part payment for tuition from one of my students,
two colonies of bees and two extra hives, old
with porticoes in front
fashioned Langstroths,
and bottom boards nailed fast to the hive bodies.
This was my start with bees.
1

O C
Q
s **J

go near them I was very happy

my new possessions, for I thought all I
had to do was to set the hives in the back
yard ' and1 the bees would make honey in abund
ance for me.
I inspected them carefully night
and morning from a distance. I grew enthusiastic
over the fine crop of honey they were to make for
me. when both colonies swarmed in my absence,
my wife's mother hived them in the two empty
hives. My wealth of bees was increasing.
So did
my enthusiasm, tho I still viewed them from con
I was
siderable distance. The summer passed.
sure the big supers on top must be full of honey.
Late in the Fall, when it was too cold >?or the
bees to fly out, I peeped into those supers. Noth
ing doing!
They were entirely empty!
So
vanished all my summer's hopes!

afraid to

Altho
with

came, I was surprised

to find
but one colony was alive. The others
had -starved to death, greatly to my as
Well, well, there must be more to
tonishment.
Beekeeping than I thought. I was undaunted. I
must inquire into the subject more thoroughly!

When
that

Spring

one colony built up rapidly and in May was

My strong
in bees. One fine Sunday morning

my wife said we
had intended going for
had become an expert
cuses, the church going

must go to church.
several Sundays; but
at inventing suitable
had been put off until

Twenty-five

Year,

JBeehejer

My First
Summer as a

The First

Winter

Sunday

We

as

ex
this

'. . "The last

a queen that

breeder you sent me could not be beaten. You know I wanted

will produce virgins yellow clear down and she surely does the
Have a lot of complimentary
letters of the queens I am turning out

work.
and the main part

is the breeder."

H. Peterman.

Lathrop, California.

3 ?

-* i9mi--i925

:fl
*=

I had offered several per

fectly good excuses that seemed to me ought to
carry conviction but they failed to pass inspection
by my wife. No sir-ee, I had side-stepped that
church going business long enough.
We were
going to church whether or no. I had shaved, put
on a clean shirt,
and was wishing something:
might happen when all at once it did! My "gum"
had swarmed, "by gum."
Of course I had to
take care of the swarm.
I could not go to
church! The day was saved! I hived the swarm
in an empty hive and next day, when I went to
examine them, I found it empty! They had
"plum vacated." Later I learned to call it "ab
sconded" but I did not know that term then. I
felt very bad over the loss of this colony; but
failed to get any sympathy from my wife.
She
said it served me right for not wanting to go to
church.
particular Sunday.

A Isconding,
A New
Experience

My

One

Colony

leefar

far Beekeeping had not 1been a paying

with me; but with the stubborn
ness born of mankind, I determined to stay
with those bees until they did make me some
honey. By careful nursing and feeding some
twenty or more pounds of sugar, the colony pro
duced about ten pounds of honey in the Fall.
This was from smartweed and goldenrod, not
much as to quality; but since it was our very
own product, it tasted mighty good.

Thus
proposition

was again kindled.

I decided
Mytoenthusiasm
go into the subject of Beekeeping more

deeply. I was told if a person wished to

keep bees he should go to some neighboring bee
I there
keeper of experience for information.
fore applied to a beekeeper of the vicinity, who
had kept bees long before I was born. At least
so he told me.
He received me kindly. "There
are not many flowers around here," he said, "and
my three colonies are cleaning up all the honey
Why, since you brought your gum
around here.

"The queen you sent ms is sure a dandy and her bees are so yellow and
gentle. We reared twelve queens from her and. they were fifte.
Your queens
are worth more than you ask for them,"
F. D. Williams, Coopsrstown,

North Dakota.

=*

1900-1925 *

II
here, mine are getting just that much less.
you get another gum, our bees will all starve
unless we feed 'em." I felt bitterly chagrined
that I was inconveniencing him thus; but I was
out lor information, so I timidly asked how he
kept his swarms from getting away. He majes
tically pointed to a large tin dish pan that his
wife had evidently junked, as it had several holes
rusted in it. "Well," said he, "when a swarm
comes out, I take a club and pound that dish pan
The bees sort of
and make a noise like thunder.
get the notion it's going to rain, and they al
ways cluster."
I thought this o_ver carefully,
then I told him I had put a swarm into a hive but
they failed to stay "put." I asked him how he
made his stay.
He said, "Well, bees never leave
in the dark of the moon." I said, "Mine didn't.
Mine left in the light of the sun." Whereupon he
informed me I had made a dreadful mistake. 1
had failed to rub my hives with peach leaves.
That was why they had not stayed! I went home
to think matters over.
I
to try other sources c'f information.
began to look up and order books about Bees
and Beekeeping.
read all of these with avid*
ity. I subscribed to all of the Bee Journals then
I studied these carefully. I became
published.
more and more interested. There was so much to
the subject. I was amazed and fascinated.
decided

looking

back

We
Overstocking

information

Cettmq
*
Off
.^

Rigkt Fovt

am amused at the numerous

and wonder how I could have
been so ignorant; but in one particular I got
"off on the right foot," and that is in first read
ing and studying all the Bee Books and Maga
zines I could secure.

Inblunders I

made

second year the "bee fever" hit me hard.

bought ten beautiful new hives and proposed to put all of my recently acquired
knowledge into practice. I did; but found I had
quite a bit about the subject to learn yet. I pur-

TheI

"Your queens are the finest I ever got from four different
are the cheapest of any when you figure the results."

My

5e<m<2

Summer

breeders and

Roy E. Trunk, Worthington, Minnesota.

...

-chased several colonies ^from the -neighbors and

had some real bee experience in transferring them
to my new hives.; That Spring must have been
one of excessive swarming, or so at least it seem
All of my friends of course knew of
ed to me.
my interest in bees, (I suppose then as now I dis
'
cussed my hobbies enthusiastically) . so whenever

any of them saw or -heard of af 'swarm they call

ed me up.
'y.T

Swarms

Decoration Day, I remember^ a lady phoned

was a large swarm in a tree. I could
have it if I came after it.
was greatly
.-.
excited' over the prospect. T strapped a: hive to
the handle bars of my bicycle and started for the
swarm about a mile away. Tha hive made it drfficult to guide the bicycle and staggered all over
the road like a 'sailor- on shore leave.' I cut thru
the -Decoration Day Parade andi as they saw me
coming Occupying all of th-road, they willingly
got .out of the way allowing me to cut a wide
swath. The swarm was captured and at night we
carried it home in triumph. A neighbor boy helpme and the- way those bees crawled up our
^ed
shall
"tcouser legs and stung was just AWFUL.
was conveying
never 'forget another time when
a swarm home via my bicycle. It was just after
rain, and the road was muddy, so
took to the
sidewalk; when
came suddenly upon the "arm
of the law" in the- form of one of pur burliest
shall never forget how graciously
policemen.
he stepped out into the mud and gave me "right-

On
there
"

Swarm*

"'

And Mori

''

.,''.:

of-way."

" pace prevents me telling all of my ups and

downs in the Bee Business since then. Had
been a quitter,
could have found fifty rea
failures,
hard earned
sons for quitting crop
cash spent for sugar, winter losses in plenty; but
loved the bees.
The subject
had found that
became one of boundless interest .and enthusiasm
to me. We were living in town with neighbors on
three- sides of our bee lot.
saw the need of the

E. L. Stalcup,

Unionville, Missouri.

-.

got from

parties last year, but the one

,

"I got 15 queens from different

you beat all of them."

The Ufa
and Dawns

=*

1900-1925 *

gentlest bees possible. I began studying the sub

ject of Re-queening.
"Better Bees" became my
slogan.

"Better Beet"

from my own gentlest at first. Then

purchased numerous breeders of the best stock
I bought Imported Italian Queens
obtainable.
of good breeding. I purchased some of the A. I.
Root Red Clover Strain. I added a number of Mr.
Doolittle's best Breeders. Year by year, I did all
in my power to build up our bees into a splendid
The subject of
race of gentle, yellow Italians.
Queen Rearing especially fascinated me. I tried
every method I heard of.
We increased our
apiary to one hundred colonies, and requeened
everything religiously, producing my own queens
as much because we loved Queen Rearing as be
cause we wanted our apiary headed by the very
best queens we could possibly rear.

selected

Fall,

of our State Inspectors, Mr. D. W.

paid us a visit. I remember how
our bees
he stood for some time watching
at work, without saying a word. Finally he turn
ed to me and said, "Mr. Smith, these are the
finest lot of bees I have seen in many a day,
why don't you sell queens?
We certainly need
better bees in Indiana."

Breeding
Queens

one

OneErbaugh,

Why Xot
Sell Queens?

him I would like nothing better than to

the Queen Business, but I had been led
to believe the market "over-stocked"
with
queens, and that it was difficult to sell queens at
a price that would pay. I remember how aston
ished he looked. "Sell them," he said, "Why of
course you can sell queens like those, and you
will not have to advertise. Only just let people
know you have them, and you can sell all you can
produce."

Itold
go into

A dvict
From an
Expert

if I would rear queens, he

gladly recommend them to people
wishing to improve their stock. I was not at
that time well acquainted with Mr. Erbaugh and
he told me

Then
would

"We have given your queens a trial and find them the best of any we
have ever used. Our Inspector, when he saw them said, 'This is the prettiest
bunch of bees I ever saw."
Van Cleave & Son, Blakesburg,

Iowa.

=*

I
^4

pm
"

n
-&'""

made the remark to my "Better-half" that may

be Mr. Erbaugh was just talking "thro his hat"
in order to "jolly" me a little. Maybe there really was no market for queens after all. However,
we ^e^ ^ cou^ do no harm to find out, so I reared several dozen extra queens and wrote Mr. Erbaugh I now had some queens on hand, and
he

if

hurting his
recommend them without
conscience or injuring his reputation for truthful
ness and honesty well, I would be mighty well
pleased for him to do so.
could

_,,

'

,,

Immediately I received a letter from him with a

1 check for $5 in payment for some queens for

'

fas own apiary. j said to my wife, "A man may

tell a yarn to "jolly" a fellow up; but say! a
$5.00 check don't lie!" That check was certainly
one of the most beautiful pieces of paper we ever
saw.

Cheek!

began my work as _a Commercial Queen

The following Spring we got out
our first catalogue, added more nuclei, put
some adds in the Bee Journals, and prepared for
our first summer as Commercial Queen Rearing.
To realize that we could sell our queens and real
ly go into the business of Queen Rearing which
we so loved made that summer a very happy one
indeed, and in looking over our letter files, nothjng gjves us more pleasure than to see among the
list of our present customers, the names of men
who ordered queens from us that first summer.
Do you wonder that we feel our customers to be
near and dear friends, and that my wife and T
feel a personal interest in every one of them?

Thus
Breeder.
Catalogue

Our Customers
Lite

Seem

Old Friends

Erbaugh was right about our selling all the

Mr.queens

Demand
Exceeds

Supply

the

we can produce, as he usually

is
about all he says concerning bee matters.
That first season we did not begin to supply the
demand, nor has there been a season yet when
we could not have sold more queens had we had
them.

"I cnn say that the queens that I got from you last year are the best
have ever seen in a'.l of my beekeeping experience."
A.

J.

Davis,

Flint, West Virginia.

=*

9fln-- 1925 *

found we must have more time to devote to

Consequently we sold the Business
College, and 1 began teaching Commercial
Work in the Vincennes High School, which gave
me Saturdays and the three months of summer.
This arrangement did fairly well for some time,
but the demand for queens increased. While in a
very poor locality for honey, since we have really
no heavy flow from any source, but several short
stimulative flows during the summer, we decided
to take up the package business in connection
with our Queen Business. This did not work out
as we expected, for we could not get package bees
out early, and moreover if we expected to produce
queens, we needed all of the bees to form nuclei
and for safe wintering, so we soon discontinued it.

We bees.

the
for our
As crease
and our apiary

continued to in
was enlarged, we found
. it necessary to move to the country, and in
1917 we purchased our present location, a twelve
acre plot, covered with magnificient
oak trees,
overlooking the city of Vincennes, an ideal spot
for a home as well as an apiary.
demand

queens

1918, Dr. E. P. Phillips, in charge of Bee Culture for the Government asked me to do Ex
tension Work in Beekeeping for the Govern
ment for the duration of the war. Like the rest,
I wanted to do my "bit" for our country, so resigning my position here in the High School. I
sent to California for six
accepted and was
months to 'teach "Better Beekeeping."
As far as
the educational value of my California trip is con
cerned, it was a success to me, at least, for I
learned a lot about beekeeping, especially abou
Bee Disease; but as to whether I taught the Cali
fornia Beekeepers anything why, that is another
story!
One big thing I also learned during that
six months is how thoroughly splendid and worth
while beekeepers as a class really are, and not
only in California but all over the States and
Canada, where I have since met them in Conven-

The Paclage
Business

W Move

to

The Country

Tn
1

Extension Work
/>

tne

\>par

"The queens
received from you last year were certainly fine ones.
This
year has been exceptionally bad for swarming,
but their was not a queen
cell started in any colony containing your queen."
Helen

Steiner,

Elma,

Washington.

=*

* i9mi--i925

*=

tions and Short Courses. Many times I have had

reason to congratulate myself in being associated
with such inspiring fellows as these, and I earn
estly hope I may be able to repay them in some
way for their help and encouragement.

this quarter of a century

have grown.
Since our start in Commercial Queen Rearing, no season has passed
when we could not have sold more queens had we
been able to produce them. This year with our
1.200 Jumbo nuclei, which after considerable expermenting, we devised, and which has given such
perfect satisfaction that we cannot imagine any
thing better, we hope to give prompt service,
something which owing to the demand for our
queens we have not always been able to do.

Thus
we

Antr
' '

.
iwenty-pvt

Ytari

Our

each year thro

are verv Proud f our present strain of bees.

\T/e
W Since we started breeding up our queens

Stock

many years ago we have carefully selected

from the many thousands of queens reared those
that showed the most desirable characteristics,
gentleness, prolificness, color, non swarming and
last but not least, honey-getting.
In fact we have
endeavored to produce queens of the very highest
quality regardless of expense in labor, feed and
equipment to rear the very best queens we know
how to produce.

carefully selected our own

Queens from those that are largest
and most prolific.
After these queens have
plenty of bees emerging we select as our Breeder
the one which shows good yellow color, whose
bees are gentle, and of course the one which is
most prolific, which means her colony will produce large yields of honey, since she is the means
of making it a populous colony. Whenever we
find a queen that is any improvement over the one
:or years

F breeding
How We
Stltct Our
Own

SntJing
'

we have

am well satisfied with the queen I received from you last spring.
are the gentlest of any I have in' my yard."

"I
bees

Alfred E. Thomas.

Secor,

Illinois.

Her

=*

1900-1925

*=

use, our entire yard is requeened from her so

that all drones are of good breeding.

in

much attention should not be paid to color

it is at the expense of other qualities.
However, we all like beautiful, light colored
bees. After exhaustive tests by many beekeepers,
the Italian Bee has come to be recognized as best
for America.
It is hardy, gentle, swarms less,
winters well, works unceasingly and is the best
In fact
bee at eradicating European Foulbrood.
the two men who worked out the cure for this
disease, E. W. Alexander and S. D. House, state
that the principle feature in eradicating this dis
ease is to have each colony headed with a good
young Italian Queen. Moreover the Italian bees
are very beautiful. If bees are yellow you are cer>tain they have no black blood in them. Practical
bee men universally agree that the Black Bee is
inferior to the Italian. Yellow bees of pure Ital
ian stock, bred for yellow color BY SELECTION,
Cyprian
and not made yellow by introducing
blood, which gives a vicious disposition, are an in
spiration to any bee man. We have by the pur
chase of Breeding
queens
of the best Italian
Stock, careful selection for required characteris
tics, allowing no Black, Cyprian or other race to
creep in, succeeded in producing an excellent
strain of bees. Our bees show considerably more
yellow than the regular Three Banded Stock.
Therefore we do not class our strain as either
Goldens, Leather Colored or Three Banded but
speak of them as an extra yellow Strain of Ital-

Tooif

appreciate gentle bees. The professional bee

as the amateur does not like to
receive unnecessary stings.
For years we
carefully weeded out any that were not as gentle
as we wished until now we never have to discard

Allkeeper as well

Colo

Italian See
Best

For

America

Black Bee

Inferior

'Extra
Yeffow
Italians

Genthness

Splendid

Characteristic

"A flriend of mine has one of your queens that has kept the best part of
twenty frames filled with brood.
She is doing practically the same thing this
year in spite of the wet weather."
J. C. Swift, Clifton Station, Virginia.

=*

iann-1925 *

Many people visiting

a queen for this reason.
our apiary speak of the kindly disposition of our
bees even under unusual circumstances.
The bees
from our Breeding Queens are so gentle that
frequently when the hive is opened to get larvae
for grafting, neither smoke nor veil is used. The
bees are brushed from the combs and display no
signs of stinging.
Prolific
Queen*

continually selecting the

Byprolific
queens for breeders

largest and most

and by requeening
the entire apiary from such, the size and prolificness of our queens have been materially in
It is a recognized fact that prolific
creased.
queens produce strong colonies and of course we
know that the strong colonies are those that get
the big crops of honey.
is little doubt that queens that live long
and yet are prolific are superior to those
whose lives are shorter.
It is difficult to
breed for all good qualities in queens, yet I be
lieve that in breeding for prolificness and vigor,
our queens are very long lived. Except in case of
a breeder, it is not generally desirable to keep a
queen more than three years, but we have re
ports from many saying our queens have kept the
hive crowded with brood after their third, fourth,
fifth and in a few cases sixth and even eighth
year. These latter are very exceptional cases,
however. One of our customers has for a num
ber of years been keeping us informed concern
ing the performance of what we consider the most
wonderful queen on record. He purchased this
queen of us in May, 1917. At the present writing
March 1st, 1925, she is still alive and hearty with
her hive full of bees and honey. Last season, her
eighth year, she produced a large crop of fine
white comb honey besides filling her hive and
putting forty pounds in a food chamber.
We
hope she may live one more season that we may
use her as a breeder. A detailed account of this
phenominal queen and her marvelous record will
be published later.

There
est

Long Lived fltea

and Quetn

TJu Most
Wonderful
Qultn
On Record

"I have those bees I got from you seven years ago pure as the day I got
them. My sister got a big crop from them last summer.
Beat my other bees
all to pieces. Your bees are very easy to handle and are great honey gath
erers."
W. G. Standbridge, East Kildonan, Manitoba.

10

* 1900--1925

*=

have reports from nearly every state in the

from, many parts of Canada and a
number of foreign countries, stating that
our bees have produced much more honey than
any other bees in the same apiary and many have
stated that when given a chance right beside
others in the same apiary, our have yielded
from twenty-five, to fifty percent more honey
some of our customers reporting an average of
over five hundred pounds per colony. From these
reports I feel encouraged in the belief that our
bees are making good as honey getters.
We are
doing our best to improve them each year. Our
entire apiary is usually requeened each season,
excepting the colonies which have queens of ex
ceptional worth.
If any queen does not come up
to our standard, we replace her. In this manner
all of our drones are of the best stock and the-re
is no chance of mismating.

We Union,

rear the very best of queens, the smallest

must be used.
Those just out of the
egg are preferable.
This gives the nurse
bees a longer period in which to feed them, which
is a very necessary feature where the finest of
queens are to be produced. Only colonies of great
strength are used in cell building.
These colonies
are well fed at all times either by gathering
nectar from the fields or by being fed sugar
syrup when no nectar is coming in. The cells are
left with strong colonies for incubation until
ready to hatch when they are placed directly into
strong nuclei which are kept in such a condition
that they readily accept the ripe cells and do not
tear them down.

To larvae

this is done, too, without any cell protector

nursery cage which . I have found detrimental to the proper development of the
young queen.
(How we rear our queens is given
in detail in my book, "Queen Rearing Simplified.")

All or

Our

At

*Beei

Honey

Gettirt

How Our
Queens

Art

'Reared

C' 77
_
"Protector

>/

U'"*

"I now have a number of colonies headed by queens reared from one of
your breeding queens and I like them very much.
The thirty queens I am
now ordering will make my entire yard headed by queens of your stock."
W. E. Fry, Aubry, Texas.

11

=*

19iTO--1925

*=

Mating Nuclei are placed in rows

C>\ar Queen
V-' running thru the apiary of full Jumbo colonies, which contain pure-bred drones. When
a virgin from a nucleus flies out on her mating
flight, she has to run the gauntlet of thousands
of drones, so she Is mated immediately without
being obliged to leave our yard. I have observed
mating within a few feet of the nucleus from
which the queen came.

'

Matmg

SfminJ

queen is reared by me personally

Every
my direct supervision.

"
tn

D*"
n
Our
Rearing

flH"n*

Personal

Intenst In..
Each Quitn

work are all trained carefully, and each

Queen Rearing is done with the most
painstaking care. Every condition for producing
kee
gtgp in

the highest grade of queens is brought as nearly

If in any stage of de
as possible to perfection.
velopment any queen seems even slightly inferior,
After a queen
she is culled out and destroyed.
has mated and gives every appearance of being
an excellent queen, we leave her at least three
days in her nucleus; then if her egg laying proves
entirely satisfactory, she is ready to be put into
the mailing cage; and as I tuck her in ready to
be sent out to do her bit in the world, do you
wonder that I feel a PERSONAL interest in her
and in the man or woman who is to receive her ?

will
r PRODUCE."
"THE BEST
KNOW
In
earlier
Ft

Oni yrad*
of
Qutmt

or under

My assistants in the

be noted that we offer but one grade

WE

queens

HOW

of
TO

experience when we
our
were not able to rear as high grade queens as at
At
present, we produced all grades of queens.
that time we offered the best as "select" and the
poorer grade as just "ordinary" queens; but with
improved methods, the number of the lower grade
is less and we cull them out entirely, and now
offer only the very best, formerly called "select."
As stated before, if for any reason a queen does
not measure up to our high standard in every par
ticular, she is discarded; for as you know it is
false economy to have any but the very best
queen at the head of a colony.

"Your queens tare all doing fine. I am using one as a breeder and am
willing to wager that her daughters are equal to any you send out. That is

saying

somsthing."

LeRoy V. Alwin, Mound, Minnesota.

12

* 1900-1925

*=

the exception of our Breeding Queens, we

no "tested" queens.
In our earlier ex
perience, some of our queens were mismated.
Therefore we kept some in nuclei for a month or
more until we could see that their worker bees
were purely mated and sold these for "tested."
At present with our colonies well supplied with
purebred drones and no bees of other than our
own stock within a large area, we leave the young
queens in their nuclei at least three days after
mating and have not seen a hybrid bee in our
yards for several seasons.
Consequently we are
able to guarantee pure mating, with no need to
keep a queen a month to ascertain this fact.

Withoffer

can readily see therefore that when you

our regular untested queens, you re
ceive the value of a "Select Tested Queen,"
as they are of the highest quality and guaranteed
purely mated. Yes, and you receive more than
this, for a queen, as our regular untested, just
beginning to lay nicely, will stand the trip thru
the mail much better than a queen that has been
laying a month and is heavy with eggs, for as
you know this sudden stopping of egg laying is
frequently very injurious to a queen.

No

Tested
Queens

Youpurchase

rearing hundreds of queens, occasionally there

In is one of exceptional size and remarkably pleas
ing general appearance. When we find such a
queen she is left to be tested as a breeder. She is
usually kept in the nucleus, about one month. If
by that time, all indications point to her as an ex
ceptional queen, very prolific, her bees of gentle
disposition, well marked and of good color, she is
By having
ready to go out as a Breeding Queen.
been selected for generations for these especial
characteristics, our Breeding Queens invariably
give the best of satisfaction; and by sending them
out so soon after their bees emerge, our custom
ers receive them at their very best, in their full
prime, thus getting the benefit of them for the
longest possible period. As many of our breed-

Big Value

In Our
Queens

Our
^Breeding
Queens

A)J
Breeding
Queens

Clifaed

"Please send us another of your fine breeders and oblige.

We have been
very much pleased with your past service."
Kochner Bros., Stockton, Calif.

13

iann-1925

ing

queens are kept in

queens are clipped.

*=

full colonies, all breeding

Breeding

Our
Service

Guarantee on
Breeding gueens

_wo -,et , oda,

of Introduction
Required

for

Breeding
Qu een
^""."
oervtct

(food Queens

Necessary to
Success

Queens have given universal

to those who have purchased
them and our sales are annually increasing.
We feel sure many more would avail themselves
of the opportunity to introduce our strain of bees
by. getting a Breeding Queen from us and rearing
their own queens, but hesitate to put ten dollars
into a single bee, realizing the many accidents
which might befall her during introduction o*'
from opening the hive repeatedly when grafting.
We therefore assume all risk and when a bee
keeper gets one of our Breeding Queens, we guar
antee service irom the queen for one season. How
ever in order to be entitled to the replacement of
a Breeding Queen when lost thru introduction, we
require that either one of the the two methods
we consider safe be used.
These are the Emerging Brood Method, description of which we will
be glad to furnish you or introduction with the
Jay Smith Push-in-the-Comb
Cage. If one of
these methods are followed, we will gladly replace any breeding queen lost in any manner
during the season in which she is purchased. In
other words, we sell you Breeding Queen Service
for the season for $10. With care however, the
breeder should live for two or three seasons
especially if kept in a small nuclei so she does not
lay too freely.

O
Jursatisfaction

itho all of our best authorities have called attention to the importance of having vigorous
young queens at the head of all colonies if
the best results are to be obtained, yet it is doubt
ful if beekeepers generally realize just what an
important part the queen really plays in profit
One may employ a perfect
able beekeeping.
system of management in every respect except
having good young queens and yet only negative
results will be obtained. No matter how good the
hive, how well winter packing is done, how much
1

/v

"The three queens I received from you have given most excellent, satisfac
tion.
Their bees are gentle and great honey getters. Please send the Dame
variety to me this time."
C. D. Forney, Lawndale, North Carolina.

14

* iann-1925

stores are in the hive, or how

*=

good the honey

flow, little or no profit can be made unless the

As you know a
queen of the colony is prolific.
large force of bees is required to make a surplus,
and a large number of bees cannot be secured
without a young, prolific, vigorous queen.
a beekeeper is so situated that he can rear his
queens, it is usually both interesting and

If own

He should secure the best breeding

profitable.
stock possible, either by getting a Breeding
Queen or by securing several untested queens
from which he can select a breeder. We have
furnished such breeding stock to many of the
most successful and best known beekeepers in the
world, and invariably these queens have given the
If a beekeeper can take time
best of satisfaction.
to test out queens the purchase of ten or more
If how
of our queens has proved satisfactory.
ever, he wishes to begin his queen rearing im
mediately and cannot wait to test out the queens,
one of our Breeding Queens is to be preferred.

connection with the subject of rearing your

queens, we believe our book, "Queen Rearing Simplified," will be helpful. At the request
of a member of the A. I. Root Company, who
stated that more information was needed on this
all important branch of Beekeeping, I wrote this,
describing in detail how our queens are produced,
how to get newly grafted cells accepted by the
bees and how to have cells finished in the best pos
sible manner, so they will contain the maximum
amount of royal jelly. Methods are described of
getting the colony or nucleus in condition so the
cells will be accepted without the aid of any cell
protector or other mechanical device.
The honey
producer is told how to rear his own queens with
the smallest expenditure for equipment and labor.
The process of making bee candy of the best type
without the use of honey is also described. Many
other subjects relating to Queen Rearing are dis
Every effort was made to produce a helpcussed.

Inown

<Rearmg

Your Own
Queens

Our
Boot

Methods of
Queen Rearing
Described

"Please send me two more queens. If they are as good as the last Italian
queens I received from you, they will be all right."
S. E. Mighton, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

15

* 1900-1925

+=

ful, interesting and practical treatise on the sub

ject. We can supply you with this book, or it can
be secured from the publishers, A. I. Root Com
pany, Medina, Ohio, or their agencies.
provisioning the mailing cages, in which our
are shipped, we use no honey, but use
the queen cage candy mentioned above, which is
made from pure cane sugar, and after much ex
perimenting, we have found greatly superior.
With cages thus provisioned, disease cannot be
transmitted.
It is a well known fact that Amer
ican Foulbrood has been scattered all over the
United States and Canada thru bee cage candy
made with honey containing the spores of disease.
Some of these cages bore health certificates, so as
a safeguard, every beekeeper should insist that in
all shipments of bees and queens, no honey what
ever be used in the cage candy. However, we
have no bee disease in our apiary, nor in this
neighborhood. A certificate of Health, issued by
our State Bee Inspector, is sent with every ship
ment we make.

In queens
Provision ing
The Queen

Mailing

Cage

Certificate

of Health
WitJl Every
Shipment We
Make

A
Introducing
New Stock

Curing
European
Foulbrood

"I

large number who have used our queens as

Breeders have written us stating that by
crossing our yellow bees with their darker
ones most excellent results are obtained. By cross
ing our strain with other Italians, with Hybrids,
or even with Blacks, a strain is given that is un
Many extensive
surpassed for honey getting.
honey producers find it profitable to rear their
own queens and requeen by giving a ripe cell to
the colony to be requeened, especially in the cure
of European Foulbrood. It is well known that the
strong colony of pure Italian bees is the one that
Many of our customers
cleans up this disease.
report that our prolific queens have completely
eradicated this disease in short order from their
apiaries.
To all these therefore our breeding
stock has proved a great benefit, since either GUI'
untested queens or our Breeders are equally suc
cessful.

received the queen from you last September and she came through the
She looks good and her bees are the yellowest I ever saw."
A. N. Barnum, Columbia Falls, Montana.

winter all right.

Id

=*

Onein

190H--1925

*=

of the most trying feature's in Beekeeping

general is the problem of wintering.

When the bees are wintered out of doors in

cold countries, strong vitality in the bees to gen
In cellar
erate the necessary heat is required.
wintering, great vigor is also required to stand
the long confinement and yet live thru the trying
period of spring to gather nectar during cold
windy weather and carry on necessary brood
rearing.
From the many reports we receive from
those using our stock in Manitoba, the Dakotas
and other northern localities, it is plain that our
stock is excellent for the North.
breeding queens can be shipped at any time
weather is suitable from early April
to the first of November; while our untested
Queens can usually be sent from about the middle
of May to the first of November, depending of
course on the length of our season.

Ourthe

virgin queens; nor can we sup

or bees in packages, as all of ur
time and attention is given to the rearing
and development of our strain of Queens.
do not sell

We ply nuclei

of our untested

shipped to points in
the United States and Canada are mailed in
our long distance cage, well supplied with
proper food. Air Breeding Queens and all ship
ments made to foreign countries are sent in our
Not only is it essential that a
export cage.
queen arrives alive, but she should be in full vigor
We take
and in no way injured by her journey.
pride in our record of successful shipment of
queens, the loss in the United States and Canada
averaging a little less than one-half of one per
cent, with a comparatively small loss in foreign
shipments.

All

'Sees

Winter

Length of

Our

Season

.No Virgin
Queens, Nuclei
or Package Bees

for

Sale

Queens,

orders are filled in rotation. We recommend

all wh6 wish to secure our queens antici
pate their wants as early as possible, and'
place the order far enough in advance that it may

All that

How Our

Small Sniping
Loss

BooJcmg

Orders

"My apiarist is much impressed with the work of the daughters of the
They are
Breeder I purchased of you two years ago, so I want some more.
the handsomest bees I ever had."
Dr. C. R. Myrick, Uvalde, Texas.

*=

Dates

be shipped at the desired time.

We try to book
conservatively on the basis of ordinary weather
If the weather is exceptionally good,
conditions.
we may be able to ship before the time desig
nated, if desired; but if the weather is excep1tionally unfavorable, we will, of course, be pat
behind accordingly. We assure you, however, that
everything in our power will be done to get your
order to you at the time specified. Usually we
have orders booked ahead until June first; but
after that date, we hope to fill all orders immedi
ately upon receipt of same.

of

"IV/hile cash is not required when booking

an

order, remittance must be made before the

queens are sent.
Please do riot ask us to
send queens before we receive the money, since
we keep no open accounts.
a

_. _.
Shipment*

'bee

keeper needs a queen immedi-

Frequently
r.ately and telegraphs or telephones us an order.
We most certainly wish to accomodate such

customers, and when ever possible such orders

will be filled immediately.
In all such cases
shipments will be sent C. O. D. for the price of
the queen plus 12 cents, the charge made by the
postoffice for all C. 0. D. shipments.' This ap
plies to the United States only. The postal regu
lations do not provide for C. 0. D. Shipments to
Canada, therefore in case our Canadian friends
Vvish a rush order, the money should be tele
graphed.
can be sent from here by

aeroplane to
short time.
They are mailed at our local postoffice at ten
o'clock in the morning and arrive in San Franjisco at five o'clock the afternoon of the day fol
lowing.
Prom San Francisco, they are carried
by the regular mail to their destination.
Last
season we shipped a number of untested as well'
as breeders by aeroplane with the best of results.
When queens are desired Sent by aeroplane, add
the West Coast is remarkably
Queens

'"Hie Breeding Queen you sent by aeroplane September fifth, arrived here
safely September seventh. We have reared a number of queens from her and
they are beauties."
Mrs. L. A. Birch, Durham,

California.

=*

iann-1925

*=

fifteen cents per queen, which is the extra postage

required.
may be made by check, draft or
as is most convenient to you.
Please do not send bills or silver, unless your
letter containing them is registered.
Amounts
for less than one dollar both in the United States
and Canada may .be sent in two cent stamps. Re
mittances from Canada and England should be
postoffice money orders, since there is no ex
change to be figured.

Remittance
money order

How To Remit

not remove the old queen from the hive to

requeened until the new queen arrives, for
she might not arrive at the time you expect
ed her, and the loss of the colony thru laying
workers might result.

Removing Your

Do be

cannot make good the loss of a queen thru

(except breeding queens) no
If the queen
matter what method is used.
arrives in good condition, she should be immedi
ately introduced. If she does not, write us, and
we will replace her. However, if she dies in the
mailing cage during introduction, of course we
cannot be held responsible.
Queens arriving thru
the mail are much smaller than when laying
nicely, so do not judge the size of the queen,
until she has been laying for a week or more.

We introduction,

clip the wings of your queen free of charge

requested to do so.

We when

guarantee our queens to be first class in

respect and that they are purely
mated. In case one should prove otherwise,
we will replace her free of charge upon request.
We guarantee safe arrival in the United States
proper and in Canada. While we do not guaran
tee safe arrival in the United States Possessions
or in Foreign Countries all such shipments receive
our greatest care in every respect.

Old Quttn

Introducing
Queens

Oiling

We every

Or Guarantee

"I am well pleased with the queen I got from you last year. She did well.
Have a daughter of hers that is the beat of any that I have ever had."
C. F. Smith,

I'J

Alta Vista. Iowa.

* 1900-1925

Let

U,
You

*=

there is any information concerning bees that

am able to give that you desire, do not hesi
tate to write and I shall be only too glad to
help you. Moreover, if at any time you have the
opportunity of visiting Vihcennes, I shall be
pleased to show you thru our apiary and answer
any questions concerning our queens.

If I

The following are our prices for this year:

Pricet

For

This Year

UNTESTED QUEENS BEFORE JULY

1.

One to four inclusive

Five to nine inclusive

$2.00 each
$1.95 each

Ten or more

$1.90 each

UNTESTED QUEENS AFTER JULY,

One to four inclusive
Five to nine inclusive
Ten to twenty-four inclusive
Twenty-five to forty-nine inclusive
Fifty to seventy-four inclusive
Seventy-five to ninety-nine inclusive..
One hundred or more

QUEENS, which

BREEDING

$1.50 each
$1.45 each
$1.40 each
$1.35 each
$1.30 each
..$1.25 each
$1.20 each

means

guaranteed service for the season

Our Book, "Queen Rearing

postpaid.

Jay Smith

Push-in

1.

..$10.00

Simplified"

Introducing

Cage,

$1.25
35c

postpaid.
Address

all communications to:

JAY SMITH

ROUTE THREE.

VINCENNES, INDIANA.

"The queens I bought of you last year have produced to August first, 100
pounds of section honey per colony, which, is about 40 pounds more per
colony, than the other thirty colonies."
V. N. Asbury, New Port, Ind.