120 



THE BEE-KEEFERS' HKVIEW 



analogy in other lines, both in the animal 

 and vegetable world. Dr. J. P. Mardock 

 of Florida developed a strain of bees much 

 larger than the average. I believe he pro- 

 duced large drones by feeding them ( the 

 larvae ) with royal jelly. Then by selection 

 of the best, mated them with selected 

 queens. 



Although improved bees can be reared by 

 a selection of the best queens from colonies 

 possessing the best qualifications, still, with 

 the hap-hazard rearing of drones no real or 

 permanent improvement can be attained. 

 Dr. Murdock undoutedly worked in the 

 right direction by selecting the best males 

 as well as queens. 



I sometimes wish all my colonies were on 

 artificial combs; I could then limit the rear- 

 ing of drones to a few selected colonies. 

 The removal of drone comb from inferior 

 colonies, and substituting worker, is not sat- 

 isfactory. The result will be patches of 

 drones reared by cutting down worker cells 

 and diverging them to accommodate the 

 queen. Drone eggs cannot be laid in nor- 

 mal worker cells. The progeny from patch- 

 es of small cells is more or less dwarfed. 

 This method of restricting the number of 

 drones in inferior colonies is disastrous to 

 the improvement of the race. The better 

 plan is to allow a small portion of drone 

 comb to each colony, which will usually 

 satisfy them. The portions of drone comb 

 may be removed every three weeks, which 

 will be rebuilt from time to time. However, 

 too fussy for the most of us. I am waiting 

 for artificial comb. 



If any improvement is desirable, this is 

 the proper season to begin operations. We 

 know which were our best honey producing 

 colonies last season. Those should be se- 

 lected possessing the prime qualifications. 

 They possess prolific queens which is the 

 first qualification. The next point of con- 

 sideration shonld be wintering qualities. I 

 usually cull out those colonies in which the 

 greatest mortality occurs during the winter 

 season. In culling, I refer to the restriction 

 of swarming and production of drones. It 

 is very noticeable that the greatest mortality 

 occurs in colonies subject to bee paralysis; 

 also spring dwindling is usually coupled 

 with it, ( and I still believe the two are very 

 closely allied.) Let me again emphasize the 

 importance of thoroughly eliminating the 

 drones from all such colonies. But some one 



will recommend the drone trap. Although 

 such a plan will secure most of the drones, 

 it is accomplished at a loss — it is disturb- 

 ing and interferes with the working of the 

 colony; furthermore, the traps often become 

 smeared by excrement of the drones, as a re- 

 sult of confinement. Aside from being 

 filthy it is rather inhuman. I have already 

 referred to the removal of small patches of 

 drone brood once in three weeks, or previous 

 to maturity, which is no more trouble, and 

 leaves the colony unrestricted at the en- 

 trance. 



Aside from the elimination of drones the 

 increase from all inferior colonies should be 

 prevented. Here a perfect non-swarmer 

 will become an important factor. Already, 

 I find it much easier to maintain a higher 

 standard of purity and excellence, than with 

 swarming unrestrained. Another desirable 

 qualification is amiability. Those colonies 

 which are ill tempered, should be included 

 among the non swarmers. We now have four 

 requests of prime importance, the prolific- 

 ness of queens, honey gathering or working 

 qualifications, hardiness or wintering, and 

 temper. While I would maintain the Ital- 

 ians in all purity, I question the importance 

 of color. The yellow bees ( which doubt- 

 less contain an admixture of Cyprian 

 blood ) are less amiable than the leather 

 colored Italians, also less hardy. Still, in 

 the selection of queens, I invariably pre- 

 serve none but the light colored ones. 



In order to improve our stock the matter 

 of rearing queens should receive our care 

 and attention. They should be selected 

 colonies, combining the greatest number of 

 qualifications; and let us note that immu- 

 nity from disease is the foundation requsite 

 — in none but healthy colonies can the four 

 named desirable qualifications be found. 



As regards the rearing of queens all our 

 best queen breeders agree that the swarm- 

 ing impulse of strong colonies is the con- 

 dition for best results. I usually obtain 

 cells from a sufficient number of such col- 

 onies, which in turn are allowed to become 

 strong for rearing queens when tlie swarm- 

 ing season is ended. Such, however, should 

 be limited to a single comb of eggs and 

 larvae, which will not overtax their strength 

 in supplying the requsite amount of food to 

 produce good queens. This I usually ac- 

 complish in the following manner. After 

 testing the queens from the cells of swarm- 



