1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



627 



season, drones from siveral three-banded colo- 

 nies, and no others, f raise about 15 queens 

 from my five-banded stock, and again only 

 three-banded workers appear from their proge- 

 ny, as in 1892. Later I trapped off the drones 

 and allow only the golden drones to fly from a 

 single colony as in 18".t2; and out of over sixty 

 queens bred from the same mother there are 

 only two that do not produce a large per cent of 

 five-banded bees — a much larger per cent than 

 in 1892. The two remaining queens produce 

 some black bees, but mostly three-banded. 



There are about a dozen colonies of black 

 bees in very large box hives about six miles 

 from here, and there is a good colony of drones 

 in each one — that is, if the amount could be 

 counted as a colony, and undoubtedly a thou- 

 sand drones to my one. 



I mention this to show you that queens do 

 not mate to any great extent five or six miles 

 away. There were a few colonies of black bees 

 within a mile of me ten years ago, when I first 

 began rearing queens. I had more trouble with 

 them than I do wiih this horde of drones now, 

 six miles away, aihough at that time I had a 

 plenty of drones in nearly 40 hives. I might 

 give many more facts that I have observed 

 along' this line, but I think I have shown that 

 queens may be mated with selected drones from 

 any desired colony, provided you are located far 

 enough away from other bee-keepers. I could 

 not give these facts had it not been for the five- 

 banded bees. I will give them credit for giving 

 new light on this subject, if nothing more. 



North Prescott, Mass., Aug. 1. 



[I have obtained permission to use a portion 

 of a private letter accompanying this, that con- 

 firms, among many other letters that I am not 

 at liberty to use. my position on the five-band- 

 ed queens. Here it is.— Ed.] 



THE REARING OF FIVE-BANDERS DISCONTINUED, 

 AND WHY. 



I have given up breeding the golden queens to 

 any extent. You may be surprised, after the 

 letter of recommendation I sent you from a cus- 

 tomer in Canada. I have since called for re- 

 ports from my customers who had purchased 

 large numbers of me: also some of our best 

 honey -producers. In substance, here is what 

 one very successful honey-producer in Florida 

 says: 



"The 54 queens are beautiful, and produce 

 handsomer bees than any others I have. I pur- 

 chased several of Doolittle and Case last sea- 

 son. Your bees are very gentle, and, as a rule, 

 good workers; but the two three-banded queens 

 beat them all. The five-banders are bad about 

 robbing, and I want no more of them. I dislike 

 to say any thing against your bees, but I know 

 you want the truth. D. R. Keyes. 



" Wewahitchka, Fla." 



You see. friend Root, that the two three-band- 

 ed queens gave better satisfaction than any of 



the other .52 golden queens. Last year your cry 

 against them was, " They were cross." I nev- 

 er had any complaint on that score. I have al- 

 ways used gentle stock for breeding both drones 

 and queens. This is the only complaint I have 

 that they are robbers. But Mr. Keyes pro- 

 duces a great deal of extracted honey. I can 

 see no difference in them in any respect in my 

 locality, with the exception that they may not 

 winter quite as well; but of this last I am not 

 sure, as I have had some colonies winter splen- 

 didly. Mr. Keyes further said he would buy of 

 me if I would breed three-banded bees. Cus- 

 tomers in the North think they do not come out 

 as strong in the spring as other bees. J. W. 



HEDDON HIVE THE BEST SOLUTION OF THE 

 HIVE QUESTION. 



no trouble about the queen laying in 

 two hive-sections at a time; why mc- 

 intyre's double brood-chambers 

 were not a success. 



By J. E. Hand. 



Mr. Root:— I see by the July 15th number of 

 Gleanings the hive discussion has taken a 

 new departure. Heretofore, I believe, the dis- 

 cussion has been confined chiefly to the Lang- 

 stroth frame; and the difference in opinion has 

 been about the number of such frames to be 

 used in a hive to give the best results; and as I 

 firmly believe the size and shape of brood- 

 frame has even more to do with our success or 

 failure in the production of surplus honey than 

 the number of frames u.sed, this question is of 

 more importance to the honey-producer than 

 the other. I believe that much good will result 

 from this interchanging of ideas so long as the 

 right spirit prevails; and as long as these dis- 

 cussions are carried on by practical honey- 

 producers whose opinions are unbiased by any 

 pecuniary interests, and who are desirous only 

 of arriving at the size and shape of frame best 

 adapted to the successful production of surplus 

 honey, there can be no danger in this direction; 

 and while I believe it has been pretty fully 

 demonstrated that the size of brood-chamber 

 can be governed only by the location, time, and 

 duration of the honey-flow. I am not so ready 

 to admit that location has any bearing on this 

 question of the shape of said brood-chamber. 



I believe it is a fact generally acknowledged, 

 that, other things being equal, a swarm of bees 

 will store as much honey in one hive as in any 

 other; but it is not so readily conceded that all 

 hives are equally well adapted to the success- 

 ful storage of .mrphis honey in the very best 

 shape for market; and more especially is this 

 true in the production of comb honey. 



Friend Dayton struck the key-note of the 

 whole business on page 550, July 15, when he 

 said the measurements of the Gallup hive were 

 found exceedingly unsuitable for the adoption 

 of the standard section. I was compelled to 



