158 



May, 1916. 



American ~Ree Journal 



FIG. 3._CARDO. THE GIANT THISTLE OF CHILE 



Lafitte, and called "El Apicultor 

 Chileno." But, alas ! This, like so 

 many of her sister journals, died a nat- 

 ural death. In 1892 Echeverria Gazette 

 put out a comprehensive treatise on 

 bees, entitled, "Colmenas y Colmen- 

 ares." Later a similar but smaller work, 

 "Tratado de Apicultura," by F. Bala- 

 guer appeared. The latest book on 

 beekeeping, however, is by a Swiss, 

 Juan Brunner. It is "Curso de Apicul- 

 tura," and the writer understands that 

 Senor Brunner is connected in some 

 way with the Institute Agronomico at 

 Santiago, where there is now an ex- 

 perimental apiary and where courses 

 in beekeeping are also given. 



The only apiary of Langstroth hives 

 that the writer found was that of Mr. 

 John A. Wolflfsohn. In fact, Mr. WolfT- 

 sohn has been the only beekeeper that 

 has been successful with the American 

 hive, although prior to 1912 there were 

 some 800 or 900 of our hives in use in 

 Chile. The failures were due solely to 

 the fact that those employing our make 

 lacked knowledge of the rudimentary 

 principles of beekeeping. As an ex- 

 porter, Mr. Wolffsohn, at one time han- 

 dled one-half of the entire amount of 

 honey that was shipped out of Chile. 

 He is today not only the best informed 

 man on apicultural matters, but is also 

 doing more than any other to advance 

 our industry in Chile. 



The future of beekeeping in Chile is 

 exceptionally bright. Th : climate is 

 like that of California, and the honey- 

 producing flora is not only rich but 

 practically limitless. Splendid loca- 

 tions abound from the northern Prov- 

 ince of Atacama to the southern Prov- 

 ince of Llanquihue. The uppermost 

 provinces are comparable with the Im- 

 perial Valley of California, and, where 

 there is irrigation, good crops of alfalfa 

 honey are produced. 



The central provinces are not unlike 

 the big valleys of California, with the 

 exception, of course, that they are not 

 nearly as large. Of the trees, the best 

 honey flora in these regions are euca- 

 lypti (several species), willow, locust, 

 acacia, fruits (all the common varie- 

 ties), pepper, quillay, and corontillo. 

 The latter two have no English names, 

 and are, by far, the two best honey- 

 producing trees of the central part of 

 the country. The honey-producing 

 plants in this section are: filare, wild 

 mustard, wild turnip, wild radish, pha- 

 celia, white clover, red clover, alfalfa, 

 the various vegetables and melons. 

 Mayweed, horehound, sweet fennel, 

 cardo, peppermint and sunflower. Cardo 

 (Fig. Ill) is the well known giant this- 

 tle of Chile, and is a regular producer 



in large quantities of a finely flavored 

 white honey. 



The southern provinces are famous 

 for their honey-producing trees, most 

 of which yield an excellent white honey. 

 They are theulmo, quillay, maiten (Fig. 

 IV.), maqui, coigue, and piche. White 

 and red clover and Palo Santo are also 

 good honey producers. 

 • San Francisco, Calif. 



[To be continued]. 



What Constitutes a Good 

 Queen 



BY J. P. MOORE. 



ALTHOUGH there are queens and 

 queens of all varieties and colors, 

 very few buyers state just what 

 they want in them, and very few breed- 

 ers take the care that they should in 

 rearing them. .4 good queen is two 

 words with a big meaning, for she must 

 be good in many more respects than 

 one. Her pedigree must be looked up 

 well. 



I consider the three-banded Italian 

 queens superior for all purposes, and 

 this article treats of that strain only. 



Many beekeepers never stop to think 

 of what they want in their bees, look- 

 ing only to the one quality, namely, 

 " honey gathering," but if they would 

 dernand in their queens all the points 

 which are listed below, beekeeping 

 would become established on a higher 



plane and would improve faster than it 

 does. Every beekeeper, whether large 

 or small, should be a subscriber to at 

 least one beekeeper's magazine. 



The queen-breeder must rear his 

 queens from mothers who nave made 

 an extra good record for honey pro- 

 ductiveness, for non-swarming (under 

 trying conditions), for gentleness, for 

 prolificness, for hardiness, for purity, 

 and for size. Next, these daughters 

 must be mated with drones whose 

 mothers have been selected with the 

 same care as the queens. This should 

 produce a strain of bees that will not 

 only bring in the honey fast but with- 

 stand severe weather, be gentle to 

 handle, and disease resistant as well. 



It is safe to say that if our queens 

 are reared and mated with the above 

 points carefully kept in mind, they will 

 resist almost any disease known to 

 bees unless through ignorance or neg- 

 lect the disease is actually thrust upon 

 them. 



We take great care in the breeding 

 and rearing of our fine stock, such as 

 horses, cattle, etc., why not put this in 

 practice with our bees also ? 



Hardiness in bees develops the honey 

 gathering qualities. I have often seen 

 bees out at work just as dawn was 

 breaking and almost at dark in the 

 evening on cool days. This means 

 good workers that will withstand some 

 of our severe winters, and it takes the 

 right kind of queen to produce these 

 workers; therefore, I make hardiness 

 one big point. 



I do not place much stress on color, 

 as I have had dark queens in my apiary 

 that produced as much honey as did 

 some of my best breeders or even more. 

 Large yellow queens are desired by 

 many for the reason that they are 

 easier found when examining the col- 

 ony. These queens become darker 

 and more leather colored as they grow 

 older. 



Never under any circumstances breed 

 from a queen whose workers are in- 

 clined to swarm. Let us try to get rid 

 of this kind. In the interest of bee- 

 keeping always demand the best in 

 your queens. 

 Morgan, Ky. 



^: 





FIG. 4.-MAITEN— THIS IS BUT ONE OF THE MANY KINDS OF TREES THAT 

 PRODUCE GREAT QUANTITIES OF NECTAR 



