April 1913. 



131 



American Vee Journal 



their opinion and their experience. 

 The following have replied kindly to 

 our request, for which we express our 

 thanks: J. A.Simmons, J. P.Moore, 

 Grant Anderson, W. J. Littlefield, A. B. 

 Marchant, Frank F. France, Quirin- 

 the Queen-breeder, J. M. Davis, T. S. 

 Hall, and J. J. Wilder. It would take 

 too much room to give all the replies 

 in full, so we will summarize them and 

 quote only extracts. 



All agree that a queen gets darker as 

 she grows older, but not one thinks 

 that the daughters of a young queen 

 will be lighter colored than those of 

 an old queen. 



J. A. Simmons says : " '1 he inexperi- 

 enced will often be surprised at having 

 produced both light and dark queens 

 from eggs from a evenly-marked queen. 



"A queen is darker as she grows 

 older, I am free to admit. But I have 

 had such a liking for some good breed- 

 ers that I continued to use them as 

 such, after they had become so poor as 

 to egg laying that they required brood 

 from other colonies to maintain their 

 colonies' normal condition, but the 

 last queens reared from them were 

 just as prolific and as light as the ones 

 first reared." 



Frank F. France says: "I have no- 

 ticed that a queen just hatched from a 

 cell that has been chilled has a darker 

 tip to the abdomen." 



Likewise Quirin writes: "A light 

 or dark cell, light or dark honey, light 

 or dark pollen have influence towards 

 producing either lighter or darker 

 queens, yet said influence is so ex- 

 tremely light as not to be noticed for 

 several generations. Temperature has 

 a far greater bearing on the color prop- 

 osition than either food or color of 

 the comb. Queens hatched in a low 

 temperature may be good sized, etc., 

 but will be darker than if hatched at a 

 higher degree." 



As to the effect of the soil upon the 

 color of the bees and of the honey, 

 France thinks it may affect the honey 

 but not the color of the bees. Mar- 

 chant says: "I believe that queens 

 reared in'the North are brighter than 

 those reared in the South, and possibly 

 it is the soil that causes this, as the 

 lands in the North have more potash 

 than those of the South." 



W. J. Littlefield says: "The soil 

 may or may not influence the color of 

 the honey, but I am sure the honey has 

 nothing to do with the color of the 

 •queens; if it did, in early spring when 

 we feed back to the bees the dark 

 honey that is not fit to put on the mar- 

 I ket, we would get very dark queens; 

 : then when we feed white sugar syrup 

 we would get much lighter-colored 

 queens. The color of the honey, how- 

 ever, has quite a little to do with the 

 color of the wax, the darker the honey 

 the darker the wax will be." (This 

 last proposition, which is out of the 

 present subject, deserves a special dis- 

 ' cussion.) 



Grant Anderson has " kept bees on 

 many kinds of soils, and has never no- 



ticed any change in the color of the 

 bees." 



J. A. Simmons says: "As my queen- 

 re'aring experience has been conlined 

 to soils of a like nature, I cannot deny 

 Dr. Kramer's statement. This is more 

 chemistry than I have applied to queen- 

 rearing. But would not this difference, 

 if correct, also affect the color of per- 

 sons eating this honey? Ladies, be 

 careful or you may change your color, 

 or be sure to get the kind of honey 

 that will produce the desired effect. 

 Queens alike in color and size may be 

 produced from either light or dark 

 cells under favorable conditions. It 

 will be noticed that, very early or late 

 in the season, when there is but little 

 honey coming in, colonies made queen- 

 less and compelled to rear queens pro- 

 duce smaller and darker queens, in 

 cells started from dark cell-cups about 

 the combs, as if they were made from 

 bits of wax gathered from the combs 

 already built, and not of their own 

 secretion. Therefore, it is my opinion 

 that the season, rather than the color 

 of the cells, makes the difference in 

 the color of queens." 



T. S. Hall says in part: " There is a 

 marked difference in the color of some 

 queens, when the cells are allowed to 

 get cliilled or the temperature goes be- 

 low the normal. This we know, for we 

 have left cells out all night and put 

 them the ne.xt morning where the bees 

 could impart the necessary heat, for 

 the hatching of the queen. The differ- 

 ent colors of pollen also show in the 

 golden bees and queens. Pollen gath- 

 ered from sumac gives the light bees 

 and queens a golden rich color." 



J. J. Wilder says : " I am inclined to 

 take side with Dr. Kramer as to the 

 color of queens and their progeny be- 

 ing affected by the soil, or even by the 

 atmospheric condition of a country. I 

 believe this will explain also why a 

 queen and her progeny gradually 

 darken in color as they grow older. 

 This only applies to our rich colored 

 Italian stock which is bred up for 

 color. My opinion is based on experi- 

 ence from the high mountainous sec- 

 tion of Georgia to the low sea level 

 section of Florida. I have always no- 

 ticed that a bright colored Italian queen 

 and her progeny gradually darken in 

 color, but never thought of bringing 

 the matter up for discussion. 



" The color of our Italian stock is 

 far more easily maintained on the high 

 and dry ridgy sections of Florida and 

 the mountainous sections of our coun- 

 try. This land is rich in potash. Our 

 principal honey plant in the high sec- 

 tion is the partridge pea, and it grows 

 prolific and yields nectar only on land 

 rich in potash. On the other hand, 

 on the low, level land of middle 

 Georgia, where my bee-business is 

 located, and the soil is rich in lime, 

 we cannot maintain the color of the 

 Italian stock. In fact, it is astonish- 

 ing how fast the color darkens. The 

 same conditions prevail along the low, 

 flat, sea level land of Florida, where 

 the atmosphere is very heavy and salty. 



There the yellow bands of the Italians 

 are so dull in color that they can 

 hardly be detected. 



"My apiaries on the high land of 

 Florida are stocked with very beauti- 

 ful colored Italians. I found this 

 stock there, and it has reproduced 

 itself up to the present. Very often a 

 queen and her progeny come out away 

 ahead of the others in color. My api- 

 arist calls them our $20 queens, and 

 points them out to me as we go over 

 the apiaries. When I return a few 

 months later, and ask about these ex- 

 tra-fine colored queens and bees, the 

 apiarist remarks that they have fallen 

 off some in color. But they never 

 change to dark-colored Italians. They 

 are always bright, and only lose a little 

 of their extra brightness. 



" In conclusion, letme say that this is 

 a very important question, and if solved 

 will prove a great help to our industry." 



We insert Wilder's letter in full be- 

 cause it brings out a point worth con- 

 sidering. The bees of a bright $20- 

 queen darken in color at different 

 times. Is not the honey contained in 

 their honey-sac at the time responsible 

 in part for this ? Years ago both A. I. 

 Root and the elder Dadant called at- 

 tention to the fact that the yellow 

 bands of the Italian bees are more or 

 less transparent, and that the color of 

 the honey harvested by them influences 

 their appearance without changing 

 their color. 



The sum of the replies indicates that 

 queens are possibly darker when 

 reared in unfavorable seasons. That 

 is probably why darker cells have been 

 thought to produce darker queens. 



As to the unanimous agreement that 

 queens get darker as they grow older, 

 is it not possible that this darker ap- 

 pearance is due to the loss of the 

 downy hairs of youth and not to an 

 actual change of color? Very old 

 queens are always hairless and shiny, 

 looking therefore much darker than 

 the young ones. 



We believe this question is worth 

 discussing on account of the all but 

 unanimous desire to secure bright 

 queens as well as prolific ones. 



Later. — Here is an additional con- 

 tril)Ution to the same subject which 

 gives new ideas. Mr. Frohliger uses 

 some very plain, common-sense talk. 

 We already know that honey from dif- 

 ferent localities is of different colors, 

 sometimes coming from the same kind 

 of plant. 



" The color question has always 

 been one that bee-keepers would, as it 

 were, go mad about. Personally, I 

 have never been a stickler for color, 

 and have had some of the goldens that 

 were really a picture to look at and 

 admire ; but, oh ! how they could use 

 their sting ; with more than a ven- 

 geance, too, and I was very glad to get 

 rid of them without any extra charge. 



" I firmly believe that climate, soil, 

 location and surroundings have a won- 

 derful effect upon the color, disposi- 

 tion, and general contour of our bees 

 as well as upon the human family and 



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