THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



61 



As to possibilities, I am quite 

 certain that I could move some 

 colonies of li3i)rids to some iso- 

 lated place, out of tlie reach of 

 other bees, and by making close 

 selection to develop any peculiar- 

 ity I might see, as an outcropping 

 in the process of breeding, in way 

 of peculiar mai-kin^s, color of plum- 

 age or general color, and by per- 

 sistent in-and-in breeding, succeed 

 in establishing a sti'ain of hybrids 

 that could be known from other 

 hybrids, but likelj^ they would not 

 be of much service when it was 

 done. It is a well-established fact 

 that Avhen it comes to working 

 quality in bees, as pertains to hy- 

 brids, the first crosses give the 

 best bees, and this warns us 

 against any attempts to establish 

 strains of hybrids. 



Very many good beekeepers pre- 

 fer hybrids for honey gatherers. 

 This is vei'y natural, because of 

 the persistent labor and care nec- 

 essary to rear and preserve any 

 pure race of Vjees in this country, 

 where different varieties of bees 

 are so common. In a practical 

 way, the reader is now prepared to 

 see that I would answer the query 

 in the negative. 



ANSWER BY J. E. POND. 



It is ntterl}' impossible so to do, 

 in the present state of our knowl- 

 edge of breeding rules and our 

 power of selection, both of males 

 and of females in cohabitation. It 

 has often been said, and with ap- 

 parent correctness at first thought, 

 that so man}^ generations of bees 

 can be raised in a single season, 

 that it is easier to produce a strain 

 by cross-mating, than in our work 

 in the same direction, as horses, 

 cattle or sheep. This is incorrect, 

 however, in practice, the fact being 

 that we can i>ot control the drones 

 at all, while with our farm stock 

 we can select both parents with 

 certainty, and so secure the best 



individual specimens to be found. 

 Till we can do this with our bees, 

 no positive and absolute duplica- 

 tion can be warranted. 



ANSWER BY C. W. DAYTON. 



•It might be possible to produce 

 such a strain but the producer 

 would be likely to work for noth- 

 ins;. 



TIERINGUP. 



Query Wo. 13. What is the differ- 

 ence, if any, between tlie tierins'-np of 

 hives from four to five iuciies hiijh, and 

 those that are from ten to twelve? 



W. F. 



ANSWER BY DR. TINKER. 



There is considerable difference 

 in the amount of labor. But the 

 querist probably has reference to 

 the work of the queens and bees. 

 The queen will lay as many eggs 

 in a shallow sectional hive as in a 

 deep frame sectional hive of equal 

 space and equal condition, but the 

 queen is not apt to laj' as many 

 eggs in the latter part of the sea- 

 son in the former as in .the latter. 

 Bee-spaces between brood cases are 

 no hindrance to the queen going 

 above or below in extending the 

 brood in building up colonies in 

 the spring. All that is needed are 

 a force of bees and the necessary 

 food in plentiful amount near at 

 hand. With these conditions bees 

 will build up fast in any kind of a 

 hive of sufficient space. A ques- 

 tion more difficult for one to an- 

 swer has been. Will the queen 

 extend her woi-k upward into emp- 

 ty cases of combs more readily 

 than downwards into the same? 

 So far, I have been able to perceive 

 no difference. The spacing of the 

 combs from centre to centre has 

 more to do with the rapid exten- 

 sion of brood than the shape of 

 the combs. Combs spaced 1| 

 inches from centre to centre, or 

 slightly less, enable the queen and 



