814 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



putting this in Gleanings; and while you can 

 do as you liice about mentioning any names, 

 they ought to be shown that this matter has got 

 to be advertised if they continue this kind of 

 work. 



Toledo, O., April 30. 



[We have suppressed the names for this time, 

 but desire to warn the parties that if this kind 

 of work is repeated again we shall give the names 

 the prominence they deserve. The question 

 may arise, "How will the parties know they are 

 the ones referred to.-'" The "shoe will fit" 

 when it is tried on. If it doesn't, it won't need 

 to be worn. — Ed.] 



A NON-SWARMING RACE. 



What Can be Expected of Such a Bee ? 

 Some Statistics to Show the Percentage 

 of Swarms in Several Apiaries in Sw^it- 

 zerland. 



BY DR. BRUNNICH. 



On p. 1554 of Gleanings for 1907 Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, in speaking of our race of Swiss bees, 

 says, " If not more than two or three in a hun- 

 dred colonies are likely to swarm, I'd like a 

 queen of that stock, no matter how black." 



This note induces me to tell something about 

 swarming in our country, where the conditions 

 for the crop are, I think, not greatly diiTerent 

 from yours. Our principal crop lasts till the hay 

 harvest — middle of June; after that, but little 

 honey comes in except in localities where theie 

 are great forests. In earlier times, when bees 

 were kept in straw hives, and when sugar was too 

 dear for feeding, the colonies swarmed but very 

 seldom ; and when they did swarm it was not 

 later than the middle of May. This is account- 

 ed for by the process of selection and acclimatiz- 

 ation, because bees that swarmed much and late 

 would die and not propagate. So it was that our 

 grandfathers had a stock which began to breed 

 very late (end of March); but they would then 

 breed with great intensity to be ready when the 

 honey harvest began. After the harvest, the 

 brood began to diminish; and in August there 

 was but very little brood in the hives. This 

 bee, so well acclimatized, possessed a great lon- 

 gevity, and, in consequence, the hives were al- 

 ways full of bees, though there was but a small 

 amount of brood. 



Then the movable frame came to our, land, 

 and, soon after, a great many of our be§-men 

 were seized by a certain disease — the mania for 

 strange races of bees. They imported Cyprians, 

 Italians, and especially the gentle and productive 

 Carniolans. This disastrous blending of our 

 stock with strange blood generated, in most bee- 

 yards, a deterioration of the bee, and bee-keeping 

 in straw hives gave such poor results that they 

 began to diminish rapidly. The Carniolans 

 brought us a mania for breeding and swarming, 

 and the Italians destroyed the harmony of the 

 brood-nest by the changed conditions. Those 

 Italian hybrids began to breed very early in the 

 year, and hence had great losses in spring; fur- 

 ther, they were short-lived in our climate, so 

 that they were poor in numbers though rich in 

 i)rood. Many a bee-keeper " crossed " himself 



about the quickness of the stiletto and the clep- 

 tomania of the Italian bees. By the way, I can 

 not sufficiently emphasize the fact that our black 

 race, as well as the Italian and Carniolan, is very 

 gentle if purely bred; but nearly all hybrids are 

 very cross. 



When Mr. Kramer, and others later on, recog- 

 nized the superiority of our native stock it was, 

 fortunately, not too late. There still existed 

 many remote bee-yards where were found the 

 old home-bred bees with their noble qualities. 

 They were supported by the great hardiness of 

 the race, which tended, in spite of all intermin- 

 gling of foreign races, to hold its own against the 

 other races. By the aid of rational breeding, 

 thanks to our mating-stations, we now have in 

 many bee-yards a good number of queens — 

 enough to satisfy all reasonable demands. I 

 have some queens in my bee-yard which cause 

 the heart of the bee-man to leap at any time of 

 the year, particularly at harvest time — queens 

 whose genealogy is noted in my books for sever- 

 al generations back, including that of the drones 

 also. Their bees are exceedingly long-lived, as 



FIG. 1. — DR. BRUNNICH, OF OTTENBACH, SWIT- 

 ZERLAND, IN THE ACT OF HIVING A SWARM. 



