46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



derstood by the average reader as affect- 

 ing the reputation of Colorado bee-keep- 

 ers and their product. An association was 

 also referred to; and, as the association I 

 represent is the only honey marketing 

 organization in Colorado which has sold 

 any honey to S. T. Fish & Co. during 

 the past season, I have been instructed 

 by its board of directors to present a 

 brief account of those dealings. 



The Colorado Honey Producers Asso- 

 ciation sold, during the past season, two 

 carloads of comb honey to S. T. Fish & 

 Co. ; all being of first quality, except 126, 

 which was second grade and sold as such. 

 Every case of our honey zvast>lai)ily mark- 

 ed, either with stencil, or otherwise, so it 

 could be readily identified, and a bill ac- 

 companied each car giving ihe number of 

 cases, and the markings and weights of 

 each separate lot. The firtn's buyer, Mr. 

 Lee, examined each lot of honey in our 

 store at Denver before accepting it. He 

 has expressed himself at different places 

 that the honey he bought of our associa- 

 tion was very fine, and we have so far not 

 received one word of complaint from 

 said firm. The loading of our honey, as 

 well as the bracing, was not done by car- 

 penters, but by members of our associa- 

 tion, and at our own expense. 



The claim of Colorado honey being in- 

 fested with moths, is amusing; as there 

 are no wax moths in existence in this 

 State. 



We believe we have good reasons to 

 be proud of our Colorado Alfalfa honey, 

 and, therefore, we don't relish the idea of 

 having it palmed off as white clover hon- 

 ey, basswood honey, or what else (see 

 page 364, second column); we therefore 

 7iot only ivant our names on the cases, but 

 also the addresses, so that people will know 

 where the honey has been produced. 11 e 

 recognize that this is the only way to es- 

 tablish a reputation for our product. 



Denver, Col. Jan. 12, 1900. 



MPROVEMENT IN BEES— SOME 

 OF THE FIRST STEPS TO BE 

 TAKEN. BY L. A. ASPINWALL. 



In the December Review, Mr. J. 

 E. Crane touches a responsive chord in 

 my field of progressive bee culture. I 

 have been work- 

 ing steadily the 

 past six years to 

 improve my stock 

 of Italian bees; 

 and, although 

 having believed 

 a decade would 

 show but little 

 improvement, I 

 find, however, 

 some progress has 

 been made. 

 Most bee-keepers know how abscond- 

 ing swarms are frequently attracted by 

 the busy hum of an aggregation of colo- 

 nies, causing them to discontinue their 

 flight and cluster. I have had several 

 such become citizens with my bees. 

 While the majority have been brown 

 bees, and seemingly quite small, the past 

 season brought me a swarm of pure Ital- 

 ians, which are exceedingly gentle. At 

 first supposing them to have issued from 

 one of my colonies, I caged the queen, 

 hoping they would return to the parent 

 colony. To my surprise they proved to 

 bean absconding swarm; no attempt be- 

 ing made to enter any of the hives. But 

 what impressed me most, was the com- 

 parative difference in size between those 

 bees and mine; and, although I realized 

 that a slight improvement had been made 

 by careful selection and breeding, I now 

 know it is greater than I first supposed. 

 For the benefit of all interested I will 

 state my method of procedure. As 

 friend Crane '-einarked, queens having a 

 pedigree are the least subject to atavism, 

 or recurrence to an ancestral type; so 

 those colonies having made the best re- 

 cord for a succession of years, were sel- 

 ected to breed from. However, many 



