1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



19 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



DIFFERENCES IN COLONIES. 



" Mr. Doolittle, I believe 1 have the poorest 

 strain of bees in the world, and I want you to 

 tell me how to get rid of them and to get some 

 that are first class. Can you do this.'" 



" Certainly. Kill those you have and purchase 

 such as you would like." 



" But that is not just the answer I wanted. I 

 know that such a course would be all right; but 

 is there no way of changing from the poor strain 

 to one which is first class without killing those 

 I now have.' " 



" Ves. But why do you say you have the 

 poorest strain of bees in the world.' Have you 

 tried all the different strains which now exist.' 

 Have you tried all that exist in the United States, 

 even.' " 



" No, I have tried none but those I now have, 

 which came from a colony I purchased at an auc- 

 tion three years ago. Perhaps I was rash in my 

 expression; but the larger part of my colonies do 

 very little, while one, especially, has given me 

 good returns the past two years. Now, if I could 

 only have all my colonies equal to this good one 

 I should feel quite proud." 



" But the good one must have come from the 

 original colony you purchased at the auction, 

 and this shows that th2re is a marked difference 

 in bees as to their working qualities. But it 

 seems to me that your trouble is a case of selec- 

 tion rather than the adoption of an entirely dif- 

 ferent strain of bees." 



" But why should this colony show such a 

 marked difference from the other four.' I have 

 only five colonies in all, and this one gave me a 

 greater surplus than the other four combined." 



"The difference in the industry of certain col- 

 onies of bees has often been a surprise to their 

 owners; but during a careful investigation for 

 years, certain facts came to light which have en- 

 abled the careful and practical apiarist to over- 

 come this matter to a great extent." 



" Now you are getting at just what I want to 

 know. How can this difference be overcome?" 



"One of many great things having a bearing 

 on this matter is breeding. The importance of 

 breeding from our very best colonies is great, 

 and is becoming better understood as the years 

 go by; and the bee-keepers of America stand in 

 the foremost ranks of the world on this particular 

 ijuestion." 



"Yes; but how is it done.' Take my case with 

 one good colony and the four poor ones for an 

 illustration." 



" Next year you should rear all your queens 

 from the one which heads that best colony, and, 

 as opportunity offers, have every colony you pos- 

 sess headed by (jueens reared from her." 



"But do you think this colony as good as there 

 is in the world.'" 



" It should not be, if your first talk about your 

 bees had even a grain of truth in it. The one 

 colony in two years' time, with no attention paid 

 to breeding matters, could not be as good as some 

 colonies headed by queens from those who have 

 spent five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years in bring- 

 ing their best colonies up and up till they stand 



at the very head of the list in the United States, 

 or as nearly up to perfection as seems possible at 

 the present time. There are a score or two of 

 breeders in the United States to-day, who, in all 

 probability, have bees as much ahead of those 

 you have as yours are ahead of those found in 

 their native haunts, where the uplifting touch of 

 man has had nothing to do with them." 



" Then why do 1 not kill all of mine off, as 

 you at first suggested, and start anew.'" 



" Because it would be an unnecessary waste. 

 Buy a queen, or a colony of bees, from some one 

 of the breeders you have confidence in, and from 

 such a purchased queen rear queens next season 

 until you have one to head each of the colonies 

 you may have in the fall of 1909. Or, perhaps, 

 it might extend your vision and prove a benefit 

 to you to keep the queen in your best colony, rear- 

 ing one or two queens from her as well, and see 

 how they will compare with those reared from 

 your purchased queen." 



" I begin to see now, and I thank you very 

 much. But you spoke of certain facts which 

 had to do with this matter as though breeding 

 had not the whole to do with it. What are some 

 of the others.'" 



"A beginner, like yourself, is often impatient 

 for increase, and much increase means little hon- 

 ey, except, perhaps, from some first or prime 

 swarm, or from some colony which is made just 

 right, and at the right time in the season. All 

 of the others are crippled on account of a lack of 

 bees, or a lack of the proper number of bees in 

 just the right time to take advantage of the flow 

 of nectar which gives a surplus in your locality. 

 In such a case, the beginner, with the best bees 

 in the world (or even a man who has kept bees 

 for years, but paid no attention to these things), 

 would find himself in almost the same condition 

 you have been describing to me about your two 

 years' experience " 



"I begin to understand; for the colony which 

 has done so well for me was a prime or first swarni, 

 as I call them, a year ago last summer", and this 

 summer it did not swarm at all. " 



" Then in wet seasons bees generally get just 

 enough nectar to stimulate breeding, which gives 

 large numbers of bees, with hives crowded with 

 brood and very little if any honey in the sections, 

 except, perhaps, with some colony which comes 

 up to the harvest in just the right condition so it 

 does not incline to swarm, when, with only two 

 or three days of a good nectar-flow, such a colo- 

 ny or such colonies will give a surplus, while 

 those that incline to swarm will give none. Re- 

 sults in such cases devolve more largely on the 

 management of the apiarist than upon the strain 

 or quality of the bees. I admit that there are 

 poor bees, but I know that quite a few of our 

 most practical apiculturists of the present time 

 believe that there are lazy bees, or those which 

 have been bred so closely for color or some oth- 

 er desired point that their usefulness is very large- 

 ly crippled. However, we can show that the 

 fault is not altogether with the bees, when fifty 

 to five hundred colonies accoqiplish little or 

 nothing during any season, for close study will 

 tell us that the season is a poor one; that our lo- 

 cality is overstocked, or that we as apiarists are 

 not bringing every colony to the point where it 

 is ready to take advantage of one or more flows 

 of nectar when they come." 



