JULY 1, 1913 



417 lbs.; 275 lbs.; 257 lbs.; 235 lbs.; total 

 for 4 colonies, 1184 lbs. 



All these are leather-colored Italians. 

 Mr. Gidley finds the leather-colored ahead 

 of the golden every time. 



Christchurch, N. Z. 



ADVERTISING UNTIL THE CUSTOMERS COME 

 TO THE HOUSE 



BY GEORGE SHIBER 



Continued from page 446. 



veil or gloves on;" or "Why, I have seen 

 Shiber pick u}) bees by the handful and not 

 get a sting'," etc. 



But what of that? I don't care a cent 

 about the wonder expressed hy people to 

 t! ink I can handle bees. But I do want 

 Ihem to know I have first-class honey for 

 sale. And when the public knows it, the 

 honey-producer will have a little co-opera- 

 tion of one member, and will be profiting 

 by it until the larger co-operation comes 

 along'. But don't think I am throwing rocks 

 at the co-operative plan. 



Another thing we used to do, and that 

 was to retail it from the tank — that is, sell 

 one, two, or as many pounds as a customer 

 wanted. It did not pay. Another reason, 

 honey does not keep its fine flavor long, as 

 there is a large space for air at the top of 

 the honej^; and it hurts the flavor, even 

 tliough you have a tight cover on. 



Randolph, N. Y., Oct. 5. 



LONGEVITY MEANS A SHORTER PERIOD, REL- 

 ATIVELY, OF NON-PRODUCTIVENESS 



BY LEWIS P. TANTON 



In a recent issue you invite opinion upon 

 Mr. Doolittle's suggestion as to the impor- 

 tance of bees being long-lived. I submit 

 that there is no Cjuality in the bee of to-day 

 more desirable to select and cultivate than 

 hardihood coupled with length of life. From 

 the egg to maturity, 21 days, the bee is a 

 consumer. Fourteen days further it works 

 witliin the hive, still consuming — a total of 

 35 days a non-producer. Deducting for 

 bad weather, intermissions in the honey- 

 flow, and a decimation of numbers by birds 

 and accident, it is safe to estimate that the 

 average working days of the bee (in the 

 honey-flow season) will not exceed 30. 

 "Within that period this little worker must 

 produce food to supply its successor during 

 the 35 days of its incubation and develop- 

 ment, food for its own maintenance, pro- 

 vide sufficient stores to last at least six 

 months in winter, and to contribute Avhat 

 every beekeeper is looking for — a generous 



surplus. From these facts I argue that 

 every hour we can add to the working pe- 

 riod of a bee's existence is a positive and 

 untaxed profit. To illustrate this: 



I imported a beautiful j-ellow queen and 

 introduced her to a three-frame nucleus. 

 As a producer of handsome and busy yel- 

 low workers slie eclipsed any thing I ever 

 witnessed. The frames filled from top to bot- 

 tom and to the oaiter edge with healthy 

 brood. I allowed her to increase until three 

 body supers were full of brood and bees. 

 I christened her my " thousand-dollar 

 queen," and the only difficulty ahead was 

 how to get soi many bees into a compass 

 small enough to winter. At the close of the 

 season I reduced my aj^preciation of her 

 value down to fifty cents, and she was worth 

 that ai^praisement only for the lesson she 

 taught. There was scarcely any honey in 

 the hive. All had been consumed in brood- 

 rearing, and there were not enough bees to 

 fill one super fairly. I fed them; but in 

 spring all were dead. The bees were good 

 workers, quiet and healthy, yet short-lived, 

 and, as a result, their whole period of field 

 activity was insufficient to produce the sur- 

 plus of stores, and what I would call the 

 surplus life necessary to maintain the 

 healthy existence of the colony. 



This view of the question revives inquiry 

 as to( which is the best race of bees. The 

 Italian, because of its adaptability to the 

 largest area, the uniformity of its character 

 for docility, and its reputation for industry, 

 coequal with that of any other race, has 

 won for itself the largest number of admir- 

 ers. The great Creator in liis infinite wis- 

 dom had the same just measure of the 

 world's requirements in shaping the bee as 

 in the other countless forms of life, and 

 each of their varied forms and characters 

 was destined for a work which the oth.ei 

 was not adapted for. 



Place my beautiful yellow prolific queen 

 in an ecjuable southern temj^erature with an 

 abundance of nectar near at hand, and con- 

 fine her brood-chamber to one or at the most 

 twio supers, and her value would not have 

 met such a sweeping and spontaneous dis- 

 count. In rugged mountainous localities 

 where the bee is up against hardship and 

 every variety of weather and climate, the 

 Italian does not boast of so many friends. 

 In the northern portions of Maine, in all 

 the colder sections of Canada and the North- 

 ern States, the black bee or its crosses ai'e 

 the most in favor. Even in places of mod- 

 erate temperature the three-handed and the 

 leather-colored are recognized as the most 

 profitable and reliable. 



Now, why is it that the German bees 

 succeed in certain localities so much better 



