114 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May, 



CONTENTMENT, 



Rather Than Force of Numbers, De- 

 termines the Worth of a Colony 

 for Honey-Gathering. 



W. W. M NEAL. 



in the progeny of a queen. Prolific- 

 ness is a quality directly opposed to 

 the best results in surplus honey when 

 the ruling passion is a mania for 

 swarming. 



Whatever may be said about the 

 superiority of Italian bees, the black 



CONTENTM'ENT rather than bees have it on them in one particular 

 force of numbers is what de- —they are free from the fertile worker 

 termines the worth of a colony pest and are decidedly preferable for 

 for gathering honey. determining the amount of influence 



There is no striking difference in the nurse bees have over the egg and 

 the ability of the various strains of the larval bee. 



APIARY AND ORCHARD OF MR. GEO. B. HOWE IN WINTER GARB. 



bees to gather honey when the temper- 

 ament of each kind is sufficiently under- 

 stood to keep them in the mood to 

 work. 



It is vain to hope for uniform yields 

 of 'honey merely from having colonies 

 of uniform strength when said colonies 

 are headed by queens of widely varying 

 temperaments. 



The best queens are not necessarily 

 those that are the most prolific. A 

 disposition to work under trying cir- 

 cumstances is the most valuable trait 



If female life in the bee is due to the 

 instrumentalities of the drone at time 

 of mating, and male life is wholly in- 

 dependent of such influence, what pos- 

 sible bearing can the compression 

 theory have on the question of sex? 

 Fertilization by compression is illog- 

 ical and in no wise can the truth of the 

 matter be determined thereby. Were 

 it true that compression of the queen's 

 abdomen by the smaller cells of work- 

 er comb is what enables her to lay 

 eggs that develop into females, then 



