May. ]916. 



159 



American ^ec Journal j 



What Constitutes a 

 Queen 



BY C. M. nOOLlTTLE. 



Good 



DURING the past year or more there 

 has been a prize contest going on 

 regarding which kind of hens will 

 give the most eggs under the same 

 conditions as near as may be, the same 

 being reported in the Rural New- 

 Yorker. Many different breeds were 

 entered, breeds advertised to be the 

 very best, as well as those " show birds 

 bred to a feather." The Rural man 

 sent in the same number as the others 

 of what he picked from his farm stock 

 which he called "scrubs," and when I 

 last read in the matter these scrubs 

 were keeping well up toward the 

 'head," out-equalling many of the show 

 birds and others that were advertised 

 the "best in the world." 



With this vividly in my mind, I am 

 asked to say something about " What 

 constitutes a good queen." The breeder 

 of "five-banded bees" will tell you, like 

 the chicken man breeding "to a feather," 

 that any queen which does not give 

 four-fifths of five-banders is not worth 

 having. Now, don't all laugh. I have 

 been offered $50 for a queen that would 

 so give, and $500 for a queen that would 

 give every worker showing five golden 

 bands on the abdomen, the two to be 

 taken to some isolated — from other 

 bees — island, the one to be used for 

 rearing drones and the other for rear- 

 ing queens. 



This party desired "peaceful disposi- 

 tion " and " good honey-gathering 

 qualities," together with the "white 

 capping of section honey," if these 

 could accompany the five golden bands ; 

 but if the others were not consistent 

 with the bands, give him the bands and 

 he would look out for the other points. 

 Now, if he gets just what he wants 

 along the "bands " line, I mistrust that 

 some queen in an afterswarm in a box- 

 hive in some farmer's yard, should the 

 colony winter through, would be "way 

 up near the head" in a contest for 

 honey with anything that could be 

 picked from these " bred to a feather " 

 queens. 



The Editor tells me that a short arti- 

 cle is wanted, and here I have run on 

 and told nothing of value to the one 

 who is keeping bees for the dollars- 

 and-cents in honey production. But, 

 say, Mr. Editor, make sport of "bands" 

 as we may, there is more moqey for the 

 work in rearing "banded stock" for 

 the wealthy men who have a few colo- 

 nies and desire to run them for pleas- 

 ure and profit than there is in rearing 

 queens for the beekeeping specialist 

 who has only honey in sight. There- 

 fore, what constitutes a good queen 

 depends upon our standpoint of look- 

 ing. My aim in queen-rearing during 

 the past 35 years has been tiardi- 

 ness of bees to stand our northern 

 winters, for on this hangs the success 

 of summer, long-lived bees having lots 

 of energy and "vim " for rolling in the 

 honey, white capping of comb honey, 

 for this catches the eye of the con- 

 sumer; bees fairly gentle to handle, 

 and with a combination of these quali- 

 ties, the best-of-all quality, the laying 

 of a maximum number of eggs in time 

 for the bees from these eggs to come 

 on the stage of action when the flowers 



of our main surplus yield begin their 

 bloom. 



Now, the most of our queens come 

 up to these requirements in our home 

 apiary and outyards. However, some 

 single queen, after being taken from 

 her colony, and shipped from 1000 to 

 2000 miles away, may not prove, after 

 arriving, equal to what she was before 

 shipment, and thus an expectant pur- 

 chaser may be disappointed. Notwith- 

 standing the eggs and larv:e from such 

 queens will have just as good queens 

 in the purchaser's apiary as they would 

 before she was shipped. At least such 

 has been my experience. 



Marietta, N. Y. 



Italian Bees in Liguria 



BV v. OREGGIA. 



IN one of my former letters I prom- 

 ised to ascertain the exact confines 

 in which live the two races of bees, 

 in Italy. After a trip made for my 

 business, I am able to give these limits, 

 which coincide almost exactly with the 

 information already furnished. To suc- 

 ceed best in making one understand at 

 a glance the position of the places 

 mentioned, I send a railroad table of 

 the locality. On this I have marked 

 with black lines the places where the 

 common bees are found, with dots 

 where the hybrids exist and with cir- 

 cles where the yellow bees are. 



As a matter of course, eastward and 

 northward from the circles marked, 

 the bees are Italian and cannot be 

 otherwise. 



Our colleague, Mr. Edward Bertrand, 

 who for several years spent the winter 

 in Ospedaletti, in western Liguria. has 

 called my attention to the fact that the 

 entomologists were incorrect in nam- 

 ing the Italian bee Atis ligustica, for in 

 that part of Liguria he has found none 

 but common bees. However, although 

 this is true for that part of western 

 Liguria, it is different in the eastern 

 part, for at Genoa and at Spezia, on the 

 Genoa-Rome railroad line, I have never 

 found any but pure bees. 



In my tour, made especially for bee- 

 keeping operations, I had the leisure 



for thorough verification, for I not 

 only watched bees in the fields, but 

 visited rustic apiaries as well as those 

 with movable-frame hives. 



Proceeding eastward from San Remo, 

 the first Italian bees I found were at 

 Alassio, on the San Remo-Genoa line. 

 In this place, which is the first station 

 west of Albenga, I found, at the col- 

 lege " Del Salessiani," about 40 mov- 

 able-frame hives well stocked with 

 bees. Among them were six colonies 

 with yellow bees, in one about one- 

 fourth yellow, in the others less. At 

 Albenga, 7 kilometers farther, I found 

 no apiaries, but saw yellow bees on the 

 flowers. Proceeding towards Genoa, 

 the common bees diminished rapidly, 

 so that at Voltri. 14 kilometers. I saw 

 but a few common bees. At Pegli. 10 

 kilometers. I saw none but yellow bees. 

 Desirous of verifying around Genoa, I 

 found two apiaries, one east, the other 

 west of the city. The first was at Sam- 

 pierdarena (3 kilometers west), at the 

 college of Don Basco. The other was 

 at Quarto (8 kilometers east), at the 

 home of Signor Nicolo Ageno. After 

 having most carefully examined the 

 bees, I found not a single common bee 

 in either apiary. Similarly, in the con- 

 fines of Piedmont, at Novi, Ovada, 

 Acqui, only the pure yellow race can 

 be found. Going back towards Savona, 

 from the last named city, I found the 

 first common bees at Carlo-Monte- 

 notte. There I visited two numerous 

 apiaries, one belonging to Signor Carlo 

 Brondo, the other to the attorney 

 Rodino. The common bees were very 

 few. From there I went towards Ceva 

 and Bastia, where I again found the 

 pure race. 



On the line Turin-Modane, I found 

 black bees altogether at Bardonecchia, 

 but at the intermediate station of Bas- 

 soleno I visited two apiaries and did 

 not see a single common bee. 



I send a photo of our " honey-moon " 

 and of the box in which we put it up 

 for sale. I do not know whether it will 

 interest you, but thought it might please 

 your readers. As to the details of its 

 manufacture, the glass rings are put into 

 shallow frames, just like ordinary sec- 

 tion boxes. The frames are adapted to 

 fit them, and we use separators to 



LIGURIA IN ITALY 



