Iiiiic, 1i)13. 



American Vee Journal 



^=^^1^^^ 



the good work she would have con- 

 tinued doing had she never been mo- 

 lested. 



I remember of a man coming to my 

 apiary some years ago, and after care- 

 fully looking over 5 or (I of the colo- 

 nies containing my best queens, he 

 selected one which both he and I con- 

 sidered as good as there was in the 

 yard. This was in August. The next 

 spring he complained that the queen 

 was " no good," and it was with much 

 difficulty that I persuaded him to give 

 the queen a further trial, especially by 

 the way of her daughters. The result 

 was, that I sold him more queens from 

 this same strain of stock than I did to 

 any other person. 



If the minds of bee-keepers could, 

 with proper understanding, grasp the 

 thought of valuing a purcliased queen 

 for the stock that can be secured from 

 her eggs, rather than for what s/ic may 

 do herself, a greater advantage would 

 accrue to the bee-keeping world. As 

 long as any purchaser is willing to 

 test only the individual queen he buys, 

 for the amount of honey /u-r worker 

 progeny produces, there will be little 

 advance along the line of improvement 

 of stock. And this comes home to me 

 with the more force, as it was a matter 

 I had to learn many years ago. 



I bought many queens in the latter 

 '70's and early '80's, but, like others, 

 thought no further than that these 

 queens bought must of themselves give 

 better results than was given from the 

 stock I already had, if th«;y were to be 

 of use to me. Finally, I had a queen 

 sent to me by a noted breeder, saying 

 she was of the best stock in the world. 

 I tested her by giving her every advan- 

 tage possible, but when fall came she 

 had not sufficient bees for wintering. I 

 was about to kill her, when the thought 

 came to me to try her another year. So 

 I gave her brood and honey from other 

 colonies so that her colony came 

 through the ne.xt spring in fine shape. 

 But she did no better than the year 

 before. 



Getting exasperated, along the latter 

 part of June, I went to her hive with 

 the resolve to kill her, as nearly all my 

 other colonies were doing good work 

 in the sections, while her colony had 

 not bees enough to cover the brood- 

 combs, to say nothing about the sec- 

 tions. As I was about to end her "mor- 

 tal career," the thought arrested me 

 that this noted breeder would not send 

 me a queen that he did not consider 

 good enough to breed from. And if 

 she was good enough for him, she 

 should be good enough for me. So, 

 instead of killing her, I started a batch 

 of queen-cells from her young larva; 

 which were scattered about the combs 

 to such an extent that I hesitated in 

 the matter, even after I had begun. 

 But before any of the young queens 

 showed what they would be and do, the 

 old queen died, and so I very nearly 

 lost the use of a queen from the best 

 stock I ever had in my apiary. In 

 other words, had I killed this queen 

 at either of the two times when I re- 

 solved to do so, I would hare killed 

 "the goose that laid the golden egg." 



Allow me to let the reader see what 

 this "golden egg" was. One of these 

 queens was the mother of the colony 

 which gave me 5(16 pounds of honey 



the next year. This honey was sold as 

 follows: 4t)(i pounds at ^0 cents, and 

 1(X) pounds at 15 cents. Result, $108.»). 

 I never had a queen that centered 

 her eggs any better than this one, nor 

 one that put her brood in a more com- 

 pact form when laying. And the others 

 from the same batch of cells did good 

 work, giving a better average than did 

 the best queens I had before. I could 



In the above, I have given the readers 

 of the American Bee Journal my ideas 

 of how to judge queens reared in their 

 own apiaries, and how the judging 

 should be done of those procured from 

 the dilTerent breeders of queens, and 

 from the different apiarists throughout 

 the world. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



S. A. NivER Picking Himalaya Blackber- 

 ries AT W. A. Pryal's in California. 



hardly forgive myself for not breeding 

 from the old queen during the whole 

 time she was with me. However, this 

 lesson made a more lasting impression 

 on my mind than if it had been other- 

 wise. And I gained enough by that 

 one batch of queen-cells from her 

 brood to give nie far more profit than 

 was received from all the honey sold 

 from the whole apiary that year; for 

 these queens, and especially this best 

 one, were used to lay the foundation 

 for my apiary, used all the way up to 

 the present time. 



Recognition of Bee-Keeping in 

 Agricultural Colleges 



BY L. v. FRANCE. 



/iV,/(/ bi'l'ore the weetiiiu of the Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Association Feb. 20. 1QI2. 



Last fall I entered the University in- 

 tending to put in about a year and a 

 half of other necessary work before be- 

 ing ready for much work in bees and 

 bee-keeping. .\ little investigation 

 showed that apiculture might be recog- 

 nized at the Wisconsin Agricultural 

 College some time in the future. 



Soon after entering, in my visits to a 

 number of bee-keepers in and about 

 Madison, I learned that there were a 

 couple of colonies of bees in the Uni- 

 versity orchard, and that some men- 

 tion was made in an entomological 

 course, of the anatomy of the honey- 

 bee. I investigated and found two, not 

 up-to-date, but nevertheless colonies of 

 bees, each with one super, in one cor- 

 ner of the orchard. These two colo- 

 nies were under the care of the Horti- 

 cultural Department, and I found out 

 little concerning them. 



Just before Thanksgiving, and a num- 

 ber of times since, I have conferred 

 with our economic entomologist, Prof. 

 Sanders, who would have charge of 

 any apicultural work when given, and 

 I find that he is most an.xious to intro- 

 duce work with bees. Prof. Sanders 

 has probably done his /'«// share so far, 

 in working for recognition of such 

 work, and the State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will find in him one of the 

 greatest, if not the greatest, helper in 

 securing apicultural recognition by the 

 Wisconsin College of Agriculture. 

 When recognition is accomplished — 

 and the earliest work that would be 

 offered would be given the last quarter 

 of the ne.\t University year, probably 

 from the middle of April to June, 1913, 

 unless present conditions change — the 

 instruction and apiary work will be 

 along the line of practical essentials of 

 the best Wisconsin bee-keeping. 



A number of students have inquired 

 about work with bees, both this year 

 and last. If a course in bee-keeping 

 were offered, without doubt it would be 

 well received, and would grow in popu- 

 larity and strength. One result of Uni- 

 versity recognition of apiculture that 

 would directly benefit the bee-keepers 

 of today, would be the publication of 

 valuable material free for the asking. 



In addition, the University would be 

 working with you in the study of the 

 correct management and problems of 

 Wisconsin bee-keeping. 



The association could hold its meet- 

 ings in one of the Agricultural build- 

 ings, where excellent accommodations 

 are present for room, seating, lantern 

 at any time, etc., and the College would 

 gladly welcome you. About 3 weeks 

 ago, during a period of about 2 weeks, 



