THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



201 



we will get now and then one that will 

 cap their honey thin. 1 had to kill all 

 such queens at that time, but now, with 

 out-yards to take them to, I can save 

 them, but 1 would not have them in my 

 breeding yard at any price. If you had 

 fought this one trait as I have, you would 

 not blame me. 



Now, as I was breeding for honey, 

 paying no attention to color, only as I 

 want a breeder whose bees show three 

 bands, I will use no other — a pure mother 

 every time; I do not care how dark they 

 are. 



BIG YIELDS OFTEN COME FROM "SPORTS." 



For a few years I bred from the queen 

 that gave the largest yield of honey, but 

 I found that was not a good rule to go 

 by, as some of those very best queens 

 proved to be poor breeders. In fact, 1 

 test every one, and have been often dis- 

 appointed in them. But, when you do 

 get one of those high flyers that is a 

 good breeder you have got a prize. My 

 best breeders are always above the 

 average on honey gathering, and are 

 queens that winter perfectly, build up 

 fast in the spring, are very prolific, and, 

 also are good to keep their hives full of 

 brood and bees, not stopping all brood 

 rearing if the honey flow is poor, as the 

 average Italians do. 



It was about in 1900 that I got a queen 

 with Gleanings in Bee Culture, as a 

 premium. This red clover queen was 

 one of the best breeding queens that ever 

 lived. Had the ones that made fun of 

 the long tongues and all sorts of com- 

 ments, taken one of the daughters of 

 that famous queen, and done a little 

 selecting and breeding, we would have 

 far more superior colonies at the present 

 time. I reared queens from the Root 

 queen and mated them to the Robey 

 queen's drones. I got a great vai'iation 

 as to color, traits and characteristics. 

 The next season I used a Robey queen, 

 mating the young queens to the red 

 clover queen's drones. I got so many 

 good queens from this queen that I used 

 her three seasons as a breeder, discard- 



ing all the Root, except a few of the 

 best ones, each season culling all inferior 

 queens, only keeping the best, replacing 

 all poor queens with a daughter of the 

 breeder. 1 called this queen Pride, and 

 she was well-named, for in her fourth 

 season she produced 168 boxes of comb 

 honey, and nearly every one of those 

 boxes was extra fancy honey. During 

 her four seasons she was one of the 

 best, producing over 200 boxes of comb 

 honey for two of those seasons. 



don't FEAR INBREEDING. 



I thought I was inbreeding most too 

 much, so I used a red clover queen, as a 

 breeder. I got some wonderful queens 

 from this queen, but they did not average 

 up to the others. I had tested three or 

 four of the best Robey queens for breed- 

 ers, using the one for a breeder whose 

 daughters gave the largest average — 

 not one queen, but all of them. I want 

 a queen for a breeder that will reproduce 

 herself, so strong in all good points that 

 her daughters are very even in honey 

 production. 



What main points are we to look for 

 in a breeding queen? A queen whose 

 colony winters perfectly, the bees must 

 be extra honey gatherers; she must be 

 prolific and haye her brood very compact, 

 literally filling about every cell in the 

 comb; not using six combs for brood 

 when it would not fill four combs, filling 

 the combs not only to the bottom bar but 

 to the top bar as well. I look well to this 

 trait. I am talking about the regular L. 

 frame. But they will fill the Jumbo just 

 the same way, maybe not crowding the 

 top bar so close as in the regular frame. 



I never use a queen whose colony 

 daubs up every thing with propolis. Did 

 you ever stop to think how much this 

 trait costs the comb honey producer in 

 cleaning his boxes and supers? I find 

 that by careful selecting and breeding 

 this can be reduced one-half. 



BITING OF CAPPINGS MAY BE BRED OUT. 



Biting the cappings and combs when 

 disturbed can be reduced by breeding. 



