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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



May be all right for the comb honey 

 producer with a 30-day flow; yet, I 

 doubt that very much; as I notice that 

 the majority of the worker bees bring in 

 Dollen principally for 1 or 12 days after 

 treatment. On the other hand, this 

 might be a good thing when brood 

 combs are pollen- clogged. I am sure 

 the plan will never be popular with the 

 bee keeper who expects a 30-, yes, 

 maybe a 20-day flow, or longer, after 

 treatment, where the swarming season 

 is long, as it is here in the South. it is 

 too expensive in bees — in larvae that 

 would be nurse-bees at the very time 

 they are needed to handle and ripen the 

 incoming nectar. 



Shallow E-xtracting Combs. 



A subscriber asks if there are any 

 advantages in shallow supers after the 

 weather has become warm, as in sum- 

 mer. He asks, especially, if the bees will 

 fill two, half-depth supers any sooner 

 than one full-depth super. I doubt it. 

 There is undoubtedly some advantage in 

 shallow supers at the opening of the 

 season, but when the colony has become 

 very populous, the weather warm, and 

 the honey flow good, I can see no ad- 

 vantage in the shallow super. 



This same subscriber asks about the 

 use of artificial heat in the spring to 

 secure the drawing out of foundation as 

 recommended by Simmins. I have never 

 tried it, but I believe that all attempts 

 at the use of artificial heat, in the spring, 

 in this country, have resulted in failure. 

 Early in the season it is best to make 

 haste slowly. 



Still further, my inquiring friend would 

 like to know if more honey would be 

 stored in an extracting super with the 

 frames filled with foundation, than in 

 sections filled with foundation. 1 think 

 so; simply because the bees can work 

 to better advantage when in a large 

 mass than when broken up into small 

 clusters as in a comb honey super. 



Improvement in Stock. 



The one apicultural field left nearly 

 untrodden is that of improvement of 

 stock. None holds out greater rewards 



for the efforts put forth. This is proven 

 by the wonderful yields secured by the 

 few enterprising men who have ventured 

 into this fertile realm. Seyeral times in 

 my life have I seriously considered the 

 idea of developing a superior strain of 

 bees. 1 know that it would require 

 years of careful, patient, persistent work 

 in the way of selection, crossing, testing, 

 etc., and there have always been too 

 many other irons in the fire — probably 

 always will be. A few months ago Mr. 

 M. V. Facey suggested, in the Review, 

 that some practical honey producer give 

 the different strains a thorough and 

 and extended trial, reporting upon their 

 various characteristics, and now comes 

 to me a letter from an old queen 

 breeder, one who has bred queens for 

 25 years, but is now out of the business, 

 suggesting a slightly different plan. He 

 said that I might publish what he wrote, 

 but he did not care to have me give his 

 name. 



He suggests that five, or more, honey 

 producers, each send their best queen, or, 

 at least one whose colony stored surplus 

 above the average, to some bee keeper 

 who could isolate this stock. He would 

 have queens shipped in nuclei. This 

 bee keeper is to be paid for rearing and 

 sending a certain number of queens to 

 each one furnishing the stock. No 

 outsider to be furnished queens until the 

 original members had received all that 

 they wished. Each member is again to 

 select the best, if any, out of the lot, and 

 return it as soon as possible for breeding. 

 The second season it would be possible 

 to select queens of exceptional merit 

 early enough in the season to have 

 queens reared from them and shipped in 

 September of the same year. 



The members would, of course, be 

 constantly on the watch for a queen good 

 enough to send in to this breeding station, 

 which would thus be constantly supplied 

 with only record-breaking stock, and 

 queens from this yard could not fail to 

 improve the stock of the apiary into 

 which they were introduced. 



