OCTOBER 15. 1912 



663 



have ill their favor. T 

 go strictly on utility. 

 I have had queen- 

 buyers come to the 

 yard and pick out a 

 golden and take it 

 away, against my ad- 

 vice to take a leather- 

 colored queen that 

 was really worth twice 

 as much. It was the 

 appearance and color 

 that got them. They 

 could not resist the 

 looks. When 1 was 

 a young fellow the 

 Black Spanish fowl 

 was the finest egg- 

 layer one could get ; 

 but the fanciers start- 

 ed to breed "for feather," and they bred all 

 the ability out of it, so that now as a breed 

 it is completely ruined. My fixed opinion 

 is that the same has been done for bees. 

 It has been color, color, color, all along, 

 and the business side has been lost sight 

 of. 



I was through the ajjiary some years 

 ago of (I believe) the best queen-breeder 

 in Australia, and he showed me 26 hives 

 of his very choicest and best-bred bees. 

 They were as gentle as so many flies; they 

 were as golden as sovereigns; all the bees 

 were evenly marked; but they were the 

 laziest bees and the poorest honey-getters m 

 the whole yard. He bred for color, and got 

 his bees into the condition I told him he 

 would, some years earlier. He had bred 

 all the utility out in trying to breed color 

 in. 



You have something to say in the issue 

 of June 1, p. 327, on five-banded stock. 

 Of course, your remarks are right, to the 

 extent that, if a man advertises five-banded 

 stock, he should not send out four; but why 

 do the people want five-banded stock? 

 Would a ten-banded bee be any better than 

 the old three-banded bees of the old Liigxi- 

 rian strain? My experience is that they are 

 not half as good. I notice the gentleman 

 eulogizes his golden drones. I never had 

 any bee disease, or much, in my aj^iaries 

 until I got golden drones. I have never 

 had such big crops as before I got them. 

 I believe the American breeders have done 

 the industry a lot of harm, weakened the 

 race of bees, and made them more liable 

 to disease, and destroyed their honey- 

 gathering qualities by the craze for color. 

 The trouble is not irreparable. Go back to 

 scratch and start fresh. Breed for the big 

 dark tkree-banded fellows we used to have 



Ison's nursery and iutroduciug-frame. 



before the yellow craze came along, and 

 all will be well. 



Mororo, N. S. Wales, Australia. 



[It is hardly necessary for us to state 

 that Major Shallard almost echoes our ex- 

 perience. Some day the craze for color 

 will give place to honey-gathering qual- 

 ities. — Ed.] 



^-•--•^ 



A COMBINED NURSERY AND INTRODUCING 

 FRAME 



BY W. H. WILSON 



The photo shows my queen nursery, 

 which I find very useful in saving young 

 queens. I also use it as an introducing 

 medium. The young queens hatch out in 

 the different apartments, where they find 

 plenty of candy; and when I want to in- 

 troduce one I simply open the port open- 

 ing into the desired queen, and let the bees 

 eat out the honey and release her. 



Byesville, 0. 



[Queen nurseries are very convenient to 

 have, especially if a lot of cells are ripe at 

 the same time and there are not enough 

 nuclei to go around. Under such circum- 

 stances the nursery acts as an overflow re- 

 ceiitacle. — Ed.] 



«— •— • 



WHY DID THE EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD 

 DISAPPEAR? 



Did the Change of Feed Cure the Disease ? 



BY CHAS. S. SHARP 



Late last summer I opened three of my 

 hives with a hive-tool that I had used the 

 day before in inspecting several colonies 

 that were afflicted with European foul 

 brood. I did not use the same hive-tool 

 through ignorance, but through thought- 

 lessness. Two weeks later I thought I de- 



