NOVKMBKR, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



GCl 



^^Ihe^eld'ofexpeH^ence 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



A Discussion of What Can be Done to Improve 

 the Stock of Bees 



"Probably no other branch of rural in- 

 dustry will show so large a number of im- 

 provements connected with it as will bee- 

 keejiing, but the improvement in stock, with 

 the bees, has not kept up with that in other 

 lines of the animal kingdom. Are the great 

 mass of bees today any better for honey- 

 gathering than in the days of Samson, Virgil, 

 or Aristotle? By improvement I mean not 

 simply jJurity of breed, or color, or gentle- 

 ness, but rather the ability and disposition 

 to gather the largest possible amount of 

 honey, and store it in the whitest combs free 

 from dirt or propolis, or the largest amount 

 of well-ripened honey for the extractor, with 

 the power to transmit these qualities with a 

 good degree of certainty to the next genera- 

 tion." 



Well, really, you go back so far that I 

 have little authority or knowledge to help 

 me- in answering your question. Just how 

 big that swarm was that went into the 

 ' ' strange hive ' ' of Samson, how much he 

 obtained at the end of the harvest, or what 

 disposition he made of the major portion of 

 the product, the Bible does not dwell upon. 

 Neither does it tell us as to the whiteness of 

 the combs, nor how well the honey was 

 ripened; and I find nothing in the Bible ac- 

 count of the honey-extractor. To tell the 

 truth, I am still more ignorant as to the 

 bees of Virgil and Aristotle. But I do 

 know that the black bees of 50 years ago 

 were not to be compared with my Italians 

 of today. And I speak this from the knowl- 

 edge I have gained in working with both 

 all along down thru the past half century. I 

 am in perfect accord with all those who are 

 striving to improve the bees we now have, 

 and who have done much planning along 

 this line. However, there is a reason why 

 bees cannot be improved as rapidly as can 

 other stock upon the farm. With other farm 

 stock the male can be controlled, but we 

 beekeepers have the control of only the fe- 

 male. When it comes to the control of the 

 male, which is the major part in breeding 

 all animals for an improvement, we are al- 

 most entirely handicapped, as any effort to 

 control the drones similar to other stock 

 has proved abortive. I am aware that the 

 attention of beekeepers has been more large- 

 ly taken up with hives, implements, meth- 

 ods of manipulation, and discussions of dif- 

 ferent races or breeds of bees, supposed to 

 already be nearly perfect, like the Italian 

 bees and queens of a direct importation 

 from Italy; but the one who reads the ad- 

 vertising pages of Gleanings will see that 



there are many who believe they are making 

 advancement along the line of improvement 

 of the bees in the United States and Can- 

 ada. The way is still open for a still greater 

 advancement all along the line, by each bee- 

 keeper bringing the average of his bees up 

 to that of his very best colonies. If he finds 

 during the surplus honey harvest two to 

 four of his colonies which give a maximum 

 yield of honey, let him prepare the way for 

 this improvement and advancement, by se- 

 lecting out for a queen mother the one giv- 

 ing the highest yield, and one equally good, 

 if possible, for a drone mother. By begin- 

 ning with the drone colony a little l)efore 

 the ending of the main flow of nectar, thru 

 giving a large amount of drone comb for the 

 queen to fill with eggs, and then keeping 

 this colony well supplied with stores, so 

 that all these eggs for drones will be ma- 

 tured and held ready for use as soon as most 

 of the drones are killed off, and having the 

 young queens of mating age when wanted 

 for these drones, quite a share of the moth- 

 ers of our colonies the next year will show 

 an advancement over that of the previous 

 years. Then, following out these lines for a 

 term of years, we shall notice that there is 

 not so much difference between the yields 

 as there was formerly, and that all will come 

 up well toward what was given by the very 

 best of a decade before. It is hardly to be 

 expected that all the honey secreted by the 

 flowers will ever be gathered, even by the 

 best of bees; nor will the best or most pro- 

 ductive bees it is possible for man to pro- 

 duce, ever gather nectar where none is to be 

 had. However, if we breed from the most 

 productive colonies till 50 or 75 will gather 

 what 100 have been gathering during the 

 immediate past, we shall save at leastwhat is 

 required to keep the extra number of colonies. 

 It is estimated that it requires from 65 to 90 

 pounds of honey to get the average colony 

 thru a year; and where any field is limited 

 as to flora or the nectar yield, with colonies 

 which will give double the amount which 

 was done in the past, this saving will give 

 as much in surplus as was required by the 

 extra number of colonies we formerly had 

 to keep. If in addition to bringing our 

 bees up to perfection along this honey-pro- 

 ducing line, we can breed so as to give us 

 such as have the least disposition to swarm, 

 we can gain another point; for, when work- 

 ing for comb honey, if our best bees are 

 much inclined to swarm, and swarms issue 

 during the first half of our surplus nectar 

 yield, our prospects of a good honey crop are 

 materially lessened, as with the prime 

 swarm go the laborers which should do the 

 work in the sections. And if we return the 

 swarm, it generally leads to the contraction 

 of the swarming fever, which, when fidly 



