902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



Syrian, Cyprian, etc. ; but for the masses 

 of hone\'-producers to adopt the same stand- 

 ard would be quite another thing-." 



"Why so?" 



"Because the workers from different 

 queens of the same color and general ap- 

 pearance show a vast difference as to work- 

 ing qualities; at least, such is m}' experi- 

 ence. ' ' 



"Oh I Then j'ou think the hone_y-produc- 

 er should breed from his queen that gives 

 workers proving the most valuable in bring- 

 ing in nectar froni the fields, rather than 

 for those of the most uniform markings or 

 purity ? ' ' 



"That has been my idea all through the 

 past 30 years, since I tried for better work- 

 ing stock." 



"Thirty j-ears ! That is a good while. 

 And do 3'ou think you have better bees to- 

 da}' than when 3'ou first commenced — better 

 bees regarding their honej'-gathering qual- 

 ities?" 



"Well, I do not know that I secure a 

 larger yield from single colonies now than 

 I did then; but the average yield of the 

 whole apiary is very much better as com- 

 pared with the best colonj- than it was 

 then." 



"Please explain." 



"When I first began work along this line 

 of improvement of stoclv I would have some 

 single colony in the yard that would pro- 

 duce a large yield of honey, while at the 

 same time it would take a dozen of the poor- 

 er ones to give as much surplus as did this 

 one, quite a few often giving scarcely a sin- 

 gle pound of surplus." 



"That is just the way I find it with my 

 bees. Do you think that such a state of 

 affairs can be remedied?" 



"Perhaps a bit of experience will best 

 help you to understand what I mean. In 

 1877 I had one colony in the yard, which 

 had not swarmed when all the other colo- 

 nies, or nearly all, had got through swarm- 

 ing. Thinking it a little strange that such 

 was the case I went to it and found that it 

 had 60 pounds of comb honey nearly ready 

 to come off. About a week later this colony 

 gave a fine swarm, which was hived; and, 

 although the parent colony had none of its 

 queen-cells cut, it never offered to swarm 

 again ; and the result, at the end of the sea- 

 son, was, according to an old diary bear- 

 ing that date, 195 pounds of box honey from 

 the parent, and 114 lbs. from the swarm, or 

 309 lbs. from the old colony in the spring, 

 all told. And that same year I had other 

 colonies that did very little." 



"Whew! Of course you raised queens 

 from the mother of those bees which did so 

 well?" 



"Yes. I reared nearly all of my queens 

 from this one as long as she lived, and 

 found many of them giving good workers 

 which were long-lived, and great honey- 

 gatherers, I always raising from the best 

 and superseding the poorest. After the old 

 queen died I began to secure queens from 

 other parties who reported good yields of 



honey through the bee-papers; but as many 

 of these did not prove equal to those I had, 

 these were superseded as soon as I found 

 out that such was the case." 



"Did 3'Ou use any of those obtained from 

 others as breeders?" 



"Yes. Some of them proved very good 

 indeed, and these were used, in connection 

 with those I have told you about, although 

 I have kept the first very largely in the 

 majority ever since, till to-day the yield 

 from all colonies is more nearly equal each 

 year, unless it is from colonies from queens 

 which I have procured from other apiaries. 

 Working in this wav' I have bred up a 

 strain of bees which please me; and from 

 the mauA' queens I receive from other par- 

 ties, by way of exchange and by purchase, 

 I am led to believe that anj' one taking this 

 course can breed up a race of bees second 

 to none as to honey-gathering qualities. 

 But I am free to confess that, for purity 

 and 3'ellow bands, there are bees in the 

 United States which far excel those bred 

 in this wa3^" 



"And I suppose you think that j^our bees 

 thus bred are ver\' near or quite perfect?" 



"No. All I claim is that a great im- 

 provement has been made, for I am still 

 striving to advance my bees further along 

 the honev'-gathering line, so each year finds 

 me procuring queens from the most ap- 

 proved sources, although it is seldom I find 

 one I care to use in connection with mj' own 

 for breeding purposes; but as this 'seldom 

 one' is of great value, I consider myself 

 well paid for all trouble." 



"But h.'Ave you not got tired of sticking to 

 this one thing for so long a time?" 



"No, not by any means. There is no- 

 thing in all the realm of bee-keeping that 

 gives me more pleasure than does this im- 

 provement of stock for its honej'-gathering 

 qualities; and as we have several of our 

 most prominent apiarists at work along this 

 same line, I believe the day is not far dis- 

 tant, if it has not already come, when the 

 bees of America will be considered and con- 

 ceded to be the best in the world." 



"This, probably, is only your own 

 thought. I suppose each nation might 

 think the same of its bees." 



"I may have been a little egotistical re- 

 garding our American bees; but the send- 

 ing here for queens from nearly everj' bee- 

 keeping nation in the world would show 

 that I could not be far wrong in my con- 

 clusions. If I am correct, The A. I. Root 

 Co. has had orders for queens from many 

 of the nations of the Old World, and from 

 the islands of the sea. And I have sent 

 queens to fully fourteen difl'erent countries 

 besides our own. It may not seem so to 

 you, but I do not consider it an unpardon- 

 able sin to have a feeling of pride over the 

 achievements brought about in our Ameri- 

 can bees through the untiring energy and 

 well-directed efforts of our apiarists to 

 bring about the results in the honey-gath- 

 ering qualities of our bees which we now 

 enjoy." 



