THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



193 



still others will store all the waj- between 

 the two extremes? 



Do the best colonies fly farther and 

 gather sweets from fields unexplored by 

 their neijjjnbors? Do they work earlier 

 and later and make more trips in a tjiven 

 time? Do the}' carry heavier loads? Do 

 they work on flowers that other bees pass 

 by because their probocis is not long 

 enough to reach the nectar? Or do they 

 just work and work, while many of the 

 other colonies hang around the hive? 

 Probably no one will answer these ques- 

 tions; but the fact remains that some 

 colonies are far ahead of others; and this, 

 in my humble opinion, goes to prove that 

 there is vast room for improvement in 

 the strain of bees we are keeping. 



If every colony were equal to the best, 

 what a vast difference there would be in 

 our pocket books after the crop is sold. 



Do I hear some one say, "Oh, that is 

 nonsense; my colonies never vary that 

 much." Perhaps they do not, you may 

 have brought your bees up to a higher 

 standard, nearer to thoroughbreds, but I 

 am speaking of apiaries of all kinds, 

 inclusive. 



Evidently, there is plenty of room for 

 a strain of thoroughbred bees; and the 

 question arises, how shall we produce 

 them? 



Probably we shall never find a better 

 strain of bees than those that come from 

 Italy. That is, we shall find none which 

 offer us better stock to commence with, 

 and continue to improve until we have 

 reached as near perfection as we can get. 



There is some difference of opinion 

 among those that we may consider good 

 authoritv as to whether the Italians are a 

 distinct variety, but let that be as it may, 

 they possess typical characteristics suffi- 

 cient for our purpose, hence we will take 

 the imported Italians as a foundation on 

 which to build. 



Now, let us go back to our 100 colonies. 

 We will suppose that ordinary care has 

 been exercised in their breeding, and 

 that itnported queens have been intro- 

 duced from time to time. The best 



queens have always been used for breed- 

 ers, still we have colonies each year that 

 do not come up to our ideas of a standard. 

 What is the remedy? Let us see. Let 

 us pick out ten of the best; and then out 

 of the ten let us take five of the very best. 

 Now, I mean the best in every way; not 

 necessarily the ones having the most yel- 

 low bands. I think we should be satis- 

 fied with three, and not chase after 

 golden bands at the expense of some 

 more substantial quality. 



We want, first, bees that gather more 

 honey than their neighbors; second, 

 queens that will fill a hive full of brood 

 in a short time, and put a host of work- 

 ers on the field of action just when most 

 needed. Third, gentle workers; fourth, 

 markings or color. 



Having picked out such colonies, let 

 us use them for breeders. Let us breed 

 as many queens from them as we wish, 

 and all of the drones we will need. Not 

 a drone should be allowed to fly from the 

 other colonies; they should be gotten rid 

 of as far as possible b\' excluding drone 

 comb; but to make sure, they should all 

 be trapped and destroyed, or the colonies 

 moved to another yard. 



W^e should see to it that not one in- 

 ferior drone is allowed to fly within a 

 mile or more of our breeding yard. 



Here is where we have made a mistake, 

 we have been doing too much one-sided 

 breeding. We have reared queens with 

 all possible care from select mothers, and 

 allowed them to fly out and probably 

 meet a drone from one of the poorest 

 colonies. This queen, after her workers 

 have hatched and show up certain mark- 

 ings, is sent to some one as a tested 

 queen. 



Tested as to what, pray tell! 



Tested only to the markings of the 

 workers she produces. 



What would we think of a stockman 

 who had spent time, labor and money in 

 improving his stock, and should then 

 turn his herd of graded cows on the com- 

 mons to meet with any stray, scrub-bull 

 that might be roaming about? 



