July, 191 1. 



American l^e Jonrnall 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Improvement in Honey-Bees 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



The discussion between Mr. Byer 

 and Dr. C. C. Miller is very interesting. 

 As usual, the Doctor is on the right 

 side of the fence — and his opponent on 

 the other. 



In the first place, the assertion that 

 everything has been created just so 

 and can not be changed, and, if it 

 could be changed, dire results would 

 necessarily follow, is not correct. It 

 would be if the works of Nature were 

 inflexible, and arranged so as to dove- 

 tail rigidly one into the other. But 

 they are not so. They possess an 

 " elasticity," if that term can be used, 

 that permit them to vary and adjust 

 themselves to various conditions. The 

 changes that have occurred in plants 

 and animals through the geological 

 periods ; the difference between the 

 same species or strains according to 

 the climate under which they grow; 

 the still greater changes created in the 

 domesticated plants and animals, fur- 

 nish ample proof of it. 



The size of bees is not, or rather has 

 not always been, as uniform as Mr. 

 Byer_ seems to think. Turn to Che- 

 shire's works and you will see that the 

 weight of bees from different strains 

 varies from 14 to 20 grains for 10 bees. 

 The old European works state clearly 

 that there were some difference of size 

 between the different strains of black 

 bees, and that the Italians were notably 

 larger than the common run of blacks. 

 Some time ago a strain of dark bees 

 was accidentally found in France that 

 were decidedly larger than the usual 

 races. It may be remembered that 

 a Mr. Murdock. of Florida, suc- 

 ceeded in producing bees quite a bit 

 larger than the common stock. 



Nevertheless, these differences have 

 practically disappeared. This is due to 

 the general use of comb foundation of 

 uniform size. It is evident that a bee 

 can not grow any larger than the size 

 of the cell in which she is reared. And 

 if she were, she could not get in it later 

 on to do the work. 



Some attempts have been made to 

 increase the size of bees by increasing 

 the size of the cells. A too-large size 

 of cell given at once confuses the bees. 

 A moderate increase has usually failed 

 to give larger bees at once. This could 

 be expected. A larger cell is necessary, 

 of course, but a selection of the queens 

 producing the largest workers is also 

 indispensable to obtain a permanent 

 increase of size. In the experiments 

 made years ago in France, by Dr. Drory, 

 on giving only drone-comb foundation 

 to the bees, it was found that the ma- 

 jority of queens laid only drone-eggs, 

 but there were exceptions. A case oc- 

 curred in Germany with a queen that 

 lived 4 years, and during all that time 

 never laid a drone-egg, in spite of the 

 fact that several time* none but drone- 



comb was given her. to see what would 

 be the result, 



I think there would be a gain in in- 

 creasing the size of bees. A larger bee 

 would likely fly faster, at least to some 

 extent, for the reason that the resis- 

 tance of the air does not increase as 

 rapidly as the volume, and consequently 

 the strength of the moving object. 

 Furthermore, a larger bee, possessing 

 a larger tongue, might suck the nectar 

 out of the flowers more rapidly. One 

 point is certain, there would be a sav- 

 ing of time going to and coming from 

 the field, for it would take a less num- 

 ber of trips to bring in the same quan- 

 tity of nectar. ,. 



With a larger size there would be 

 also an increase in the length of the 

 tongue. The measurements made a 

 few years ago show unmistakably that 

 even in bees of the same size there, is 

 quite a difference in the length of the 

 tongue. With our present sources of 

 honey the matter is not very important, 

 but it will not be always so. In course 

 of time the woods, wild flowers, and 

 even the pastures filled with white 

 clover, will almost disappear, while the 

 cultivation of the red clover will in- 

 crease considerably. This is not merely 

 a wild prophecy, but is what has 

 already happened in the best cultivated 

 parts of Europe, and will eventually 

 happen here as well. When that time 

 comes a strain of bees capable to work 

 regularly on red clover will be inval- 

 uable. 



Will the swarming disposition ever 

 be eliminated? Well, " I don't know." 

 Considering what has been done with 

 other domesticated animals, and the 

 fact that there is a wide difference be- 

 tween the different strains of bees in 

 regard to that disposition, one is justi- 

 fied in saying at once, "Yes, certainly." 



But there are two other things con- 

 nected with the swarming disposition. 

 One is the instinct of building queen- 

 cells or rearing queens, and the other 

 the animosity between queens. One of 

 the two, or both, would disappear with 

 the swarming disposition. Left to 

 themselves, the bees losing these dis- 

 positions, would speedily die out. In 

 the hands of the apiarist, it might be 

 different. He could always control the 

 number of queens, and he might rear 

 the queens by giving the necessary 

 eggs or young larvae to another strain 

 of bees just like we give Leghorn eggs 

 to a hen of another race to hatch. But 

 we haven't got there yet. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



How to Rear Our Queen-Bees 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I think every one will be ready to ad- 

 mit that as good queens can be reared 

 by the bees under the swarming im- 

 pulse as by any other plan. This was 

 the way under which queens were 

 reared mostly during all the centuries 



which have passed, down to about hal' 

 a century ago, and the way by which 

 the bees survived all the perils through 

 which they went, so that when they 

 came to our day they were apparently 

 as hardy and vigorous as they were in 

 the early morn of that day when the 

 Creator of all things pronounced them 

 very good. And the only reason that 

 queens by natural swarming do not 

 now obtain, as in the past, is that 

 queen-bees have, at the present time, 

 become an article of commerce, there- 

 fore queens by natural-swarming cells 

 can not keep up with the demand. For 

 this reason some quicker methods of 

 rearing thousands to where tens were 

 once reared has been brought about. 



And from this has come the desire 

 to rear queens out of season to meet 

 the demand for queens early in the 

 spring, and a cheaper class late in the 

 fall ; those desiring to do this often 

 failing to comprehend that ffood queens 

 can not be reared in the spring until 

 enough young bees have emerged 

 from their cells to make quite a com- 

 fortable showing in the hive ; neither 

 can g-ood queens be reared in the fall 

 after brood-rearing has mainly ceased. 



It needs plenty of young bees and a 

 good supply of brood in the hive to 

 rear first-class queens. Without this, 

 no one should undertake to rear queens 

 at all. With this as a foundation, we 

 can supply the lack of pasturage from 

 the fields by feeding. Then, if we can 

 find any colony which shows by its- 

 building queen-cells outside of the 

 swarming season that the bees are 

 about to supersede their queen, we car» 

 rear as good queens from such a col- 

 ony, during the time that the old queen 

 lives, as can be reared under the 

 swarming impulse. If the colony thus 

 trying to supersede their queen does 

 not have your best breeding queen 

 with them, and you do not care to rear 

 a large number of cells at that time, all 

 that need be done is to get a piece of 

 comb from the best queen's colony, the 

 same having larvae in it from 36 to 48 

 hours old, when you can do what is 

 known as "grafting the queen-cells," 

 which is simply transferring larvae over 

 from this piece of comb into the royal 

 jelly in the queen-cells the bees have 

 started, after first removing the larvse 

 that you found floating in this royal 

 jelly. In this way the bees, all uncon- 

 sciously, go on and perfect a queen 

 from the substituted larva, the same as 

 they would have perfected their own, 

 the same being better cared for, if pos- 

 sible, as it is cradled in a cell rich with 

 royal jelly the instant you put it in. 



To make sure that the bees do not 

 " steal a march " on you by tearing 

 down some of these grafted cells and 

 starting others from the queen or brood 

 they have, a 1 '4 -inch slim wire-nail can 

 be stuck through the comb immediately 

 over the grafted cell, when, if anything 

 of the kind happens, you will know all 

 about it. Then, if you wish to secure 

 as many queens from this colony as 

 possible while the old queen lives, the 

 hive can be opened twice a week and 

 graft all the cells having royal jelly in 

 them at each time of opening, and 

 later, at each opening take out the ripe 

 cells before any queen emerges. In 

 this way, I have taken from 50 to 20O 

 queens from such a colony, each of 



