THE AMERICAN APlCULTUHISr. 



for imxliii'ious j'ields ; but Brothers Alley 

 and Pratt have iireatcoiilidcnce in the su- 

 periority of this strain over all others. 



Will say to Brother " Rambler" that 

 Wenham is a much better ])lace to test 

 the working t[ualities of bees than he 

 has an idea of. So far as we liave been 

 able to judge, more honey was taken 

 in the Bay State apiary in the season of 

 1890 than in any other locality east of 

 the Mississippi river. H. Alley. 



NOTES ON QUEEN BEES. 

 By E. L. Pkatt. 



First-class queenbreeders rear their 

 queens from the egg, according to na- 

 ture. If you want large, prolific and 

 long-lived queens, procure them from 

 those who start them from eggs. 



\Ve are constantly making improve- 

 ments in our ways and means of breed- 

 ing, and can assure you that you will get 

 none but first-class bees and cjueens from 

 us. We spare no paitis nor expense to 

 produce stock that you can exiiibit to 

 your friends with pride. 



There has been confusion over the 

 word "beauty." A bee may be beauti- 

 ful and not be highly colored. Color 

 is not necessarily beatity. There are 

 two classes of Italian bees ; the beauti- 

 ful and the bright. The bright Italians 

 are not beautiful ; they are shining, 

 brassy, flashy yellow ; while the beautiful 

 Italians have the assemblage of graces 

 that please the eye. 



There are great advantages in having 

 good bees : — bees that were born 

 workers. Like hiunan beings some work 

 all the time while others sliirk all they 

 can. 



Bees, from queens bred in a hap- 

 hazard way, are generally of the latter 

 class. In order to produce first-class 

 queens in every respect, one must give 

 his entire attention to it. He mtist also 

 have experience in this particular branch 

 of apiculture, (iood queens cannot be 

 obtained by tiie methods advocated by 

 one-half the writers on bee matters. 



We use a shipping cage having all the 



requirements. It is a little more ex])en- 

 sive than the ordinary cage, but it pos- 

 sesses all the desirable points. It is an 

 easy cage to handle, safe shipi)er, safe 

 introducer and so simple that the novice 

 can introduce queens with assurance of 

 success. There is no need of coiling 

 up bits of wire cloth, whittling plugs and 

 the like. Simply follow the directions 

 and yourcpieen will be safely introduced 

 without the least bother. All the lead- 

 ing breeders will use this cage as soon 

 as they learn of its value. We could 

 almost guarantee safe introduction when 

 this cage is used. It never fails in 

 shipping to customers. 



Very few persons seem to understand 

 the term "inbreeding." Inbred queens 

 are those that are mated to the drones 

 of a certain stock, generation after gen- 

 eration, or 7'ice versa. Where brother 

 and sister or daughter and father are 

 constantly brought together in forni- 

 cation it is considered rank inbreeding. 



It is in this manner that high colors 

 are fixed. ¥ox instance : here is a lay- 

 ing queen, No. i. She begets Q- and 

 D~ ; they mate and Q-^ and D^ are be- 

 got and mated, and so on and on. 



Or if I)- or D-"^ are used constantly 

 in mating with the queens from Q' the 

 result is inbred stock. To mate in oc- 

 casionally will do no harm, but to fol- 

 low up the practice will ruin the bees. 



Cases of inbred stock have been 

 known where the drones were born 

 white eyed and stone blind. 



If you want good stock there is a way 

 of getting it and keeping it after it is 

 obtained. Send to two reliable breed- 

 ers and obtain from each, one or more 

 good queens and introduce them to your 

 colonies. Select from the ones pur- 

 chased giving the best results in honey 

 gathering, temper, wintering, etc., and 

 set them apart as your "best stocks." 



At swarming time adjust traps to all 

 other colonies and allow no drones to 

 fly but those from the "select colonies." 



Better results will be obtained by shut- 

 ting off all drones but the yellowest 

 from one of the colonies selected. 



