THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



15 



No, the Review won't be nef,^lected. 

 There isn't space to mention all of the 

 schemes that I havethoug^ht out to keep 

 it up to the top notch while I amenio}-- 

 in^ this work; besides, I shall be able 

 to bring to my editorial work a fresh- 

 ness and reality that can come only 

 from actual work in the apiary. 



Some mornings, as I go down town, 

 I see some of our tire department teams 

 out for exercise. How the horses do 

 prance, and nrch their necks I They 

 are so full of vim and vitality, that is 

 only with difficulty that the driver 

 kteps Ihem under control. I feel iust 

 like those horses regarding my work cf 

 building up a series of out-apiaries. 



Queen Breeders' Catalogue. 



Inquiries frequentl}' come to this 

 office for the names of queen breeders 

 of various races and strains of bees 

 and, in order that reliable information 

 ma3' be given, I am preparing, in co- 

 operation with the American Breeders' 

 Association, a catalogue of queen 

 breeders. 



There is a catalogue of considerable 

 size in this office, but, in order that no 

 queen breeder of any importance be 

 omitted, I would respectfully request 

 all breeders having one hu dred or 

 more queens for sale annually to the 

 general public, who see this notice, to 

 send me the following information as 

 accurately as possible: Kaces bred. 

 Annual output of each race and num- 

 ber of mating yards. For my personal 

 information I should be glad to learn 

 tbe method of queen rearing used, the 

 number of breeding queens of each 

 race used and the number of colonies 

 in each yiird from which drones are 

 allowed to fly. 



Hereafter all persons requesting in- 

 fer nation concerning dealers in any 

 strain will be gi\en the names of the 

 fo ir dealers nearest to the address of 

 t'pe inquirer. This will, I believe, be a 

 fair way of giving the information wit.i- 



out favoring any breeders, and will re- 

 pay the breeders for their trouble in 

 answering these questions. 



Respectfully yours, K. F. Philips, 

 Acting in Charge of Apiculture. 



Washington, D. C, 



•^*" *^ir«^**« 



Improvement of Stock. 



This is something that has been sad- 

 ly neglected by the average bee-keeper, 

 yes, and by most of the specialists, and 

 at the same time, there are few things 

 that could be followed at greater profit. 

 Many bee-keepers bu3' a few queens of 

 this man, and then a few of that, and 

 so on. No permanent improvement will 

 ever be brought about by such a course. 

 Mr. F. B. Simpson, of Cuba, N. Y., 

 who has made a life-study of the laws 

 of breeding, told us this years ago, in 

 the Revew. He said we must select 

 the best we can secure, and then, by 

 continuec' selection, improve the stock 

 that we hi.ve. The introduction of new 

 blood iright undo the work of years. 



Prof. E. F. Phillips, who is now at 

 the head of the apicultural department 

 at Washingt>^ n, told us practically the 

 same thing at the Chicago convention. 

 He said choose a pure variety, like the 

 Italian, fo/ instance, get the best speci- 

 mens to breed from, and then by con- 

 tinued selection, both on the queen 

 side and that of the drone, breed only 

 from the best, and let the desirability 

 of the stock be determined by the scales 

 — by the amounts of honej' produced. 



He mentioned two bee-keepers in the 

 northern part of New York. One had 

 98 col )nies, and the other had 200. The 

 one with 98 colonies had tried for j'ears 

 to improve his stock by selection and 

 in breeding. The one with 200 colonies 

 was continuallj' buying queens from 

 all over the United States. Last year 

 these two bee-keepers, who live only 

 two miles apart, and hjive pTvctically 

 the same pasture, had i/ie saute auiount 

 of honey in the aggregate. 



When the professor was telling of 

 this I could not help thinking of our 



