434 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



more beautiful if we can. We will proceed 

 to take up these points in the order of their 

 relative importance. 



1. To store more honey. A very simple 

 matter if this quality were alone to be con- 

 sidered. Simply select the colony that pro- 

 duced the most pounds of honey, and breed 

 queens from that alone. Select three or four 

 of the best colonies for producing drones, 

 and allow no other drones to fly. 



2. To cap whiter. The Italians can be se- 

 lected so they will cap as neatly as the blacks, 

 if care is taken in selecting colonies for 

 drones as well as queens. 



3. To swarm less. Some say it can not be 

 done, reasoning from a false analogy. They 

 say it is like the breeding instinct — it can not 

 be overcome; that it is a sign of energy, etc. 

 So is stinging a sign of energy, and the gath- 

 ering of large quantities of propolis. But in 

 all three cases it is energy misapplied. We 

 want bees that will turn their energies to our 

 profit. In this case we ai'e trying to get rid 

 of an instinct. It is exactly similar to the 

 sitting instinct in hens. We know that the 

 sitting instinct can be almost entirely bred 

 out of chickens, so we 



can produce bees that 

 do not swarm, if we 

 allow time enough. 

 How long will it take? 

 I don't know. Perhaps 

 fifty years, perhaps a 

 hundred. But we can 

 produce bees at once 

 that will swarm less 

 than their ancestors 

 did, simply by breeding 

 from those that swarm 

 the least. 



4. To sting less. I 

 think no one doubts 

 that gentleness can be 

 produced by selection. I 

 have seen a strain of 

 Italians so gentle that 

 they could hardly be 

 induced to sting, but 

 they were very p')or 

 workers. The trouble 

 was, ihey had been bred 

 for gentleness and beau- 

 ty, to the entire neglect 

 of more important qual- 

 ities. I would never 

 raise queens from a 

 very cross colony, no 

 matter how much hon- 

 ey they stored; nor would I use poor work- 

 ers to breed from, merely because they were 

 gentle. 



5. The constant temptation of the queen- 

 breeder is to breed for beauty alone, because 

 that is a quality that is at once apparent, 

 while for other qualities it takes time to de- 

 cide. But for the average bee-keeper, who 

 keeps bees for profit, beauty must be pushed 

 to the very end of the list of desirable quali- 

 ties. So i think we had better confine our 

 efforts in that direction to keeping three yel- 

 low bands. The more qualities we breed for, 



the less we shall get of each jyartirular quali- 

 ty; and it seems to me that beauty is the 

 least important of ail to the honey-producer. 



To sum up the whole matter, I would first 

 get a good strain of leather-colored Italians, 

 then continually breed for the best, choosing 

 one or two colonies that, all things consider- 

 ed, have given the largest net result with the 

 least care and labor. Raise queens from the 

 one or two best colonies only, but use sever- 

 al of the next best for raising drones. 



Newman, 111. 



BEE KEEPING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



A Honey-plant that is Supposed to be 

 Poisonous for Cattle. 



BY STEPHEN ANTHONY. 



The engraving shows a great honey-plant 

 in this locality. It is not exactly a tree, al- 

 though our government calls it that, and in- 

 cludes it in the family of Corncacece. It 

 grows in the bush or anywhere wild, on any 

 kind of soil; has a profusion of creamy flow- 



A NEW ZEALAND 



HONEY-PLANT BELONGING 

 OF CORNEACE^. 



TO THE FAMILY 



ers lasting pretty well through the season ac- 

 cording to situation (gulleys first), and the 

 bees are on it all the Lime. I think it gives 

 an especially fine flavor to honey. It grows 

 easily, but can be easily handled so as not to 

 become a nuisance. 



It is supposed to be poisonous to cattle 

 (it certainly is narcotic), but this statement 

 is modified in that it is so only when in 

 bloom, and only when taken on an empty 

 stomach. I have seen our cattle eat it many 

 times, and as a rule I never stop them. None 

 ever sufl'ered from its effects. Cattle do not 



