1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



53 



post, instead of being allowed to roam 

 the streets and fields with other boys 

 Df my age. 



About this time father concluded to 

 :ry to get his surplus honey by placing 

 arge boxes holding from twelve to fif- 

 :een pounds of honey on the hives. 

 5ome of these were placed on top of 

 ;he hive and others at the sides, ac- 

 lording as he thought best. I remem- 

 )er as distinctly as though it were yes- 

 erday of his hiving two swarms that 

 dustered together in one hive and then 

 )lacing two of these large boxes at the 

 ides and one on top. To place them at 

 he sides, the hive was raised on half- 

 nch blocks, the same as some are 

 ecommending today, and a slot was 

 ut in the bottom of the boxes one-half 

 nch deep, next the side toward the 

 live, thus making a passage for the 

 lees. The result was that he took 

 ,bout eighty pounds of "box" honey 

 rom this hive, fully two-thirds of 

 vrhich was taken from the sides. Soon 

 ifter this, one morning when father 

 vas leaving home on business, a small 

 econd swarm came out, and as he did 

 n(i|iot consider it worth the time he 

 nust spend in hiving it, he told me 1 

 Qight have it as my own if I would se- 

 ure it. Up to this time I had never 

 lived a swarm, and it took some little 

 ourage for an 8-year-old boy to climb 

 o the top of a tree to get a swarm of 

 ees for the first time; so I thought, at 

 east. I finally got them hived and be- 

 ame so interested in them that 1 

 Qust go to see them every day, and 

 Th.Qi\ the cool weather of fall came on, 

 would go and tap on the hive for the 

 good morning" answer, which was al- 

 ways granted me. In a few days there 

 ame a morning when I tapped on the 

 ive as usual, but without an answer, 

 nd there was a strange hollow sound 

 iven off so different from what I had 

 een accustomed to, I carefully tipped 

 p the hive and peered in to be greeted 

 nly with an empty box, for during the 

 ight some one had taken the hive to 

 be woods, killed the bees with fire, 



and taken the honey, as the charred 

 and combless hive conclusively proved. 

 I was very much grieved over this 

 part of the matter, but as we could not 

 trace out the thief, I had to pocket the 

 insult and make the best of it. At 

 about this time foul brood appeared in 

 the apiary, and in two years father 

 lost all his bees from this disease, and 

 my bee-keeping came to an end for a 

 period. Fourteen years now elapsed, 

 when I started in bee-keeping on the 

 improved plan, of which I will try and 

 tell a little later on. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Importance of Breeding from Good 

 Stock. 



Wvittea for the American Bee-Keeper, 



BY J. B. CASE. 



OST bee-keepers, no doubt, 

 think that it is a good plan to 

 breed from good stock, i.e. good 

 queens; but I believe that few realize 

 how important it is to breed from the 

 very best. 



Stock breeders know that to breed 

 the best type they must use breeders 

 that excel in the points they wish to 

 perpetuate; and they devote years in 

 breeding to fix certain desirable traits, 

 so that those traits will be transmitted, 

 almost without fail, thus oDtaining a 

 breed that is very desirable in the 

 traits wished for. 



I believe it is fully as important to 

 breed bees for the traits we desire as 

 it is to breed cattle for milking, or beef 

 qualities; though, to be sure, we do not 

 have the control in mating bees that 

 we have with stock. Yet we can rear 

 the mothers from the stock having the 

 qualities which we desire, and by con- 

 tinuing this course, curtailing the pro- 

 duction of drones from inferior queens, 

 and crossing with other desirable 

 strains, bees may be bred up to average 

 better and thus prove more profitable 

 to their owner. Perhaps a little ex- 

 perience will help to illustrate this 

 point. 

 When I commenced bee-keeping I 



