180 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



July 



She Bee Fakirs. 



BY PHILO. S. DILWORTH. 



In most live stock business, we find 

 breeders with a high standard. Such 

 breeders delight in showing their 

 stock, extolling their good points, 

 showing how much better stock theirs 

 is than somebody elses. They seem 

 to be constantly trying to improve. 



Bu't when we get into the class of 

 queen bee breeders we find a great 

 mass of "She Bee Fakirs. " Instead 

 of breeding for points, for great ex- 

 cellence, we find them catering to a 

 supposed " demand. " Any kind of 

 a she bee that will bring in dollars. 



At one time New York State could 

 boast of a high class of queen breed- 

 ers, but they joined the procession. 

 At one time they could get their own 

 prices for queens. Now I would not 

 give two dollars for the best queen 

 offered. Instead of continuing to try 

 to educate the people up to a high 

 standard, they joined the fakirs. 

 There is no reason why experienced 

 and high standard specialists should 

 try to cater to a manufactured de- 

 mand. 



A demand worked up by cranks, or 

 people with axes to grind. 



I have no sympathy for fakirs who 

 shout themselves hoarse in their ef- 

 forts to gull the public. I have no 

 kindred feeling for she bee fakirs, or 

 machine breeders who throw a comb 

 of eggs into a machine, give the crank 

 a few turns, and, "sip" advertise, 

 " Queens from imported mothers. " 



I doubt if many of those people 

 are willfully or intentionally dishon- 

 est. They have not been educated 

 to the higher plane. Perhaps some 

 of them occupy the low ground that 

 a queen is a queen, and a queen is 



worth a dollar. That principal is 

 rank fallicy. In my former writings I 

 attempted to sho\r that a poor queen 

 is worse than worthless. You dis- 

 cover their worthlessness by the loss 

 of a colony, or by the failure of that 

 colony to gather the honey or store 

 it properly. 



Queen breeders should give person- 

 al attention to each individual colony 

 and become personally acquainted 

 with all the good and bad character- 

 istics of each queen and colony. 

 Breed from none but those who have 

 proven themselves up to the standard. 

 I very much favor the plan for every 

 bee-keeper to have an imported queen 

 in his yard at all times. 



At the same time an imported 

 queen is no better than your own un- 

 less they can show some superior 

 qualities side by side with your own. 

 To argue that stock can be improved 

 by breeding from queens that are in- 

 ferior to or no better than your own, 

 just because that breeding stock is 

 pure, in my judgment shows ignor- 

 ance, or a species of dishonesty, that 

 wilfully indulges in false teaching 

 for the money there is in it. 



Ingram, Pa, 



Cuba and its Value. 



BY A RESIDENT. 



Lying here in the old Atlantic 

 bathed forever by its waters, fanned 

 almost constantly by cool coast breez- 

 es visited weekly by ships of all na- 

 tions, lies a gem of unknown value 

 held down by an iron grip which the 

 people have often tried to throw off 

 time and again but without success, 

 is an island whose name, Cuba is 

 known far and wide. It is a long 

 narrow island 700 miles long by 30 



