July, 1908. 



American Hee Journal 



the passage of the law has done to re- 

 move the suspicion about adulteration in 

 honey. Well, it is little short of wonder- 

 ful. You can scarcely hear it mentioned 

 at present. VVc can readily understand 

 by this that the consumer will purchase 

 honey when he can feel he is getting just 

 what he pays for, and not have a lot of 

 "glucose nostrums" shoved on him. 



The passage of this law has done 

 more to remove this cry of adulteration 

 in honey than years of the most judi- 

 cious advertising. In fact, it looks now 

 as if it had accomplished all that could 

 be desired. 



Now, let us remember that all the 

 legislation in the world will not help 

 our business unless we do our part. The 

 law is now in force, and we must use 

 every effort to see that our product is 

 in keeping with it. See that your honey 

 is well ripened and sealed before remov- 

 ing from the hive, then dress it neatly, 

 and no trouble need be felt as to the 

 demand. 



New Methods vs. Old Ones. 



Are new methods ever an improvement 

 over old ones? I answer, yes. It has 

 been said that when desiring a new or 

 original method of any nature whatever, 

 set an inexperienced man at it and the 

 results will more than likely be all that 

 could be expected. The editor of one of 

 our leading magazines announces he will 

 give one thousand dollars for a new 

 story by a new author. The only condi- 

 tion of competition is that the writer 

 shall never before have written and pub- 

 lished a novel of standard length. The 

 idea is to induce those to write who have 

 not done so heretofore, in the hope of 

 drawing out new and original ideas. 



Our writers of reputation have become 

 inflexible or fixed in their manner of 

 work. The same can be said of bee- 

 keepers, and possibly men of all profes- 

 sions. We follow our steps year after 

 year until we become so grounded we 

 just think we can not leave it, or have 

 no desire to change. If we do not care 

 to adopt new methods, we should at least 

 not hestitate to improve the old ones. 

 Nisbet, Pa. 



What |are Untested. Select 



Untested, Tested, Select 



Tested, Breeder, and 



Select Breeder 



Queens ? 



BY RALPH P. FISHER. 



In calling attention to the general sys- 

 tem of classifying stock as practised by 

 many of our so-called reputable queen- 

 breeders in wording advertisements, I 

 do so with a view toward creating a lit- 

 tle disturbance among that fraternity as 

 a mutual benefit concerning such busi- 

 ness, and a desire to see a more con- 

 sistent system of filling orders oblige 

 those who buy but few queens. 



Instead of keeping the large number 

 of this class of buyers more and more 

 in suspense with words of double mean- 

 ing, it seems wise at this time to chal- 

 lenge measures that tend to mere incon- 

 sistency, and demand a more intelligent 



form of general advertising, so that "un- 

 tested" or "tested" stock can be rightly 

 understood. My experience, as well as 

 others within the rural districts, goes to 

 prove that queen-breeders have been and 

 are today very inadvertent in regard to 

 adhering to the right classification of all 

 queens intended for sale. 



The untested variety from almost any 

 yard are invariably a mysterious prob- 

 lem without a thing to recommend them 

 save the reputation of the breeder, and 

 whether from the east or west they have 

 no regularity of character, proving the 

 practical need of conservative classifi- 

 cation. 



In these days such things ought not 

 to continue with so much persistence, 

 but rather pursue a more strenuous ef- 

 fort to give full value for dollars re- 

 ceived, as experience in buying from 

 various breeders shows that almost any 

 queen is good enough to go for the 

 untested variety, and but little difference 

 is made between these and the tested 

 kind, save that the tested kind are 

 much older. 



I fully know that queens vary quite 

 materially in character and quality, and 

 I also know that the laws of creation 

 are ample, omnipotent, to rear better 

 queens rather than inferior ones while 

 under Nature's undivided supervision. 



It is naturally understood that queens 

 procured from an experienced breeder 

 should always prove superior to those in 

 a yard where home breeding is not prac- 

 tised, and it is somewhat discouraging 

 to state that the contrary is too often 

 the case where anything but the best 

 breeders are ordered. 



In looking over the bee-papers of to- 

 day one cannot, no matter how hard he 

 tries, form a sensible idea as to what 

 kind of a queen to order for a given 

 purpose, having a list containing un- 

 tested, select untested, tested, select test- 

 ed, breeder, and select breeder queens to 

 choose from. 



Anything in the way of an advertise- 

 ment is very confusing indeed when the 

 words and the meaning of them are not 

 at once apparent, and what breeder ad- 

 vertising like the above can say with- 

 out blushing that such a list is a true 

 version of the stock usually sent out 

 from his yard? 



Unless a person deems it prudent to 

 purchase the best stock listed in the 

 various publications he can only guess 

 the result of such an investment, for to 

 order an untested queen or a tested 

 queen means but one more example in 

 lottery. 



From this it seems that to buy a 

 select tested queen, or something better, 

 is the only way to know you are nearly 

 right, and will get something near your 

 need, yet a good chance to guess if the 

 thing is really an average select tested 

 specimen. Inasmuch as honey-bees have 

 held their predominant environments 

 for a laps of several thousand years, and 

 being today of more material pro- 

 ductiveness than formerly, due to in- 

 telligent research, it appears most ob- 

 vious to be continually hampered with 

 so much stock of inferior variety. 



The yards of all breeders should con- 

 tain stock of superior characteristics as 

 the result of careful selection, rather 

 than to maintain hundreds of colo- 

 nies little better than nuclei for the 



express purpose of furnishing the larg- 

 est possible number of queens. This is 

 more often done than is good for the 

 general public to know about, and 

 one of the points needing immediate 

 adjustment. 



As the majority of queens are pur- 

 chased to offset fatal results due to 

 unfavorable weather conditions, and 

 sometimes to introduce new blood, it is 

 apparent that warranted stock should at 

 all times be sent out. Of the 20-odd 

 untested queens purchased since 1300 

 for these very reasons, only a small per- 

 cent of them proved to be truly mated 

 and up to standard, and the few ob- 

 tained to better our stock were short 

 of meeting expectations. 



Now, if it is true that the queen's 

 mating does not affect the drone prog- 

 eny, then no conscientious breeder can 

 be exciisable for any such variety as 

 appear in the papers now published. 



Unfortunately for the buyers of 

 queens many good breeders are located 

 in places where superior stock cannot 

 be reared in its purity, because sur- 

 rounding conditions hinder the desired 

 object; but even here there is no rea- 

 son for much variety in regard to 

 character or prolificness. 



Whether stock is pure or hybrid the 

 effect on prolificness is immaterial so 

 long as it is superior, as evidence shows 

 most buyers are only anxious to have 

 those queens that are large, robust 

 specirnens, capable of keeping rousing 

 colonies and full supers. Large, active 

 colonies are the fundamental acquisition 

 sought for regardless of any pronounced 

 species, and a breeding yard composed 

 of this predominent stock intelligently 

 handled, can produce only queens that 

 are superior, with good assurance that 

 a tested or untested specimen will de- 

 velop all the constituents. 



If it is quite necessary to ask the 

 legislature to regulate the general use 

 of true labels on honey packages, much 

 more infinitely are we in need of just 

 guarantees on queens consistently classi- 

 fied, that the breeder may at all times 

 reciprocate with a lenient contention of 

 doing justice. 



In the queen-business much is yet to 

 be improved upon in regard to breeding 

 superior stock, and as the publishers are 

 in the best position to dictate favorable 

 regulations, measures should at once as- 

 sume actuality and compel immediate ad- 

 justment of the details as cited above. 



Great Meadows, N. J. 



Spring vs. Fall Feeding 



BY L. E. C.\TELEY. 



The attitude of the various apicultural 

 papers on certain questions pertaining to 

 practical bee-culture, is at times quite 

 amusing to the man who has for any 

 time been engaged in the production of 

 honey. For instance, Mr. Hill says in 

 the April American Bee-Keeper : 



"While the Bee-Keeper does not rec- 

 ommend bee-keeping as a money-making 

 specialty, it believes that a vastly greater 

 number of colonies than is now kept 

 might be made profitable." 



How is that for a paper that stands 

 second to none in advancing and holding 

 out for the latest and most progressive 



