THIv BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



iir 



son. It will surprise many to know that 

 ten days, or even five, on a bee's life 

 means many dollars in the bee-keepers' 

 pocket. Don't think that if your bees 

 winter perfectly that they have this trait. 

 Test it in the working- season. It is the 

 only sure test. Be sure that every queen- 

 mother has this trait. Also your drone 

 mothers. 



HEREDITY. 



Here hangs our success or failure in 

 selecting a breeding queen. Never use a 

 queen just because she is a wonderful 

 honey-producer. Test her to know that 

 she produces her desirable traits in her 

 daughters. Not every queen is a breed- 

 er; very few, in fact, that are what they 

 should be; but I find that in being led by 

 facts, and not by any theory I am gain- 

 ing in getting more good queens. I put 

 great stress on my breeding queens, 

 whose bees show vitality to fly in the rain 

 and when it is cool. Also they should 

 have long wings. Some Italian bees carry 

 as much as a third more honey than the 

 black bees. Bear in mind these trivial 

 things, — as they will look to many bee- 

 keepers.— for they are of vital importance, 

 and should not be overlooked. 



Remember, any bee will gather and 

 store honey when there is an abundance 

 of nectar in the flowers, but in selecting 

 my breeders I prefer a poor season. 

 Then we surely know that when they 

 store a good surplus in such season she is 

 worth the price. Any one can easily tell 

 when bees have the most desirable traits, 

 with a little patience. Longevity you all 

 know. Certain colonies will have as 

 many bees in the hives as other colonies, 

 that have a third more brood. Further- 

 more, those same colonies keep their 

 numbers steadily increasing, while the 

 other colonies come to a standstill. If 

 you will take a frame of brood from these 

 best bees, and put it into a colony of 

 black bees, keeping a careful record when 

 the last bees hatch, and when the last 

 bees disappear, of these bees that you 

 are testing, you will surely know, if in the 

 working season, that you are right. 



Prolificness is all right, and all breed- 

 ing queens should be prolific, but without 

 the other traits to go with it, it counts for 

 nothing, and I think we have been mis- 

 led by some writers advocating it so 

 strongly. 



We must watch our bees to learn their 

 range of flight. It will surprise some to 

 know that some colonies in the same 

 apiary fly less than half the distance that 

 other colonies do. These are facts, and I 

 will say that the trait of long range in our 

 yellow bees is in this direction. I think 



we, as a whole, have been led too much 

 by color alone, losinj; sight of traits that 

 great honey-producers must have. I find 

 that my best colonies winter perfectly, 

 and unless they do, we should not use 

 them as breeders in this northern coun- 

 try, at least. 



This trait of longevity is separate from 

 hardiness, and should not be confounded 

 v/ith It. And if bees do not show length 

 of life in the working seasons over other 

 colonies, we will not know they possess 

 this most valuable trait. I bring this up 

 to be sure that you understand it. No 

 race of bees shows the traitor character- 

 istic of hardiness like the black or Ger- 

 man bee. to my knowledge. But there 

 are too many poor colonies of this race. 

 So stick to the dark Italians, every time, 

 if your bread and butter depends upon 

 honey as a business. 



The drone has been sadly neglected 

 and unless we select our drone-mothers 

 as persistently, and know that they pos- 

 sess all the desirable traits of our queen- 

 mothers, we will never succeed in pro- 

 ducing the very best honey-gatherers. 



HONLY BOARDS AND BURR COMBS. 



If the Former are Used, the Latter Need 

 Never be Cleaned Off. 



Every little while some bee keeper tells 

 about scraping burr combs off the top 

 bars, and, a while ago, I said I had never 

 done this, and saw no necessity for so doing. 

 Dr. Miller flew to the rescue, and said 

 that unless these burr combs were 

 cleaned off, they would be extended and 

 attached to the sections. I replied that I 

 had no such troubles, as I always used 

 honey boards, and would not think of 

 producing comb honey without their use. 

 In reply to this the Doctor has the follow- 

 ing in Gleanings: 



Editor Hutchinson says, Review, p. 25, 

 that he would never think of producing 

 comb honey without honey-boards. I 

 used them for years; and for years, with 

 thick top-bars, I have done without them, 

 and I wouldn't think of going back to 

 them. It is true that some comb will be 

 built between top-bars and sections; and it 

 is true, as he says, that "cleaning off the 

 burr combs in the spring does not pre- 

 vent the bees from building another set." 

 But if cleaned off every year, or even 



