122 



THE AMERICAN AFICULTURIST. 



freely IVora the fields ; others live 

 in the present and trust to the fu- 

 ture to supply future wants ; some 

 are bent on the multiplication of 

 their race and their minds are ab- 

 sorbed in new homes and " going 

 west ;" others keep all their 

 thoughts at a tension on the ques- 

 tion of the future food supply. 

 Each of these points is a subject 

 in itself for a long article, but it is 

 not necessary to elaborate them 

 to enable any one at all acquainted 

 with apiculture to see that these 

 differences in their characteristics 

 must make a great difference in 

 their •' workings." 



2. The food supply — and by 

 that I do not mean the amount in 

 store, but the " increase" — during 

 the spring often varies greatly in 

 colonies standing side by side. 

 One colony finds a better -'patch" 

 of willows or maples or hickories 

 than another, and where the amount 

 to be collected is small, so that 

 the gathering is principally done 

 before noon, the colony tliat be- 

 stirs itself earliest in the morning 

 has manifestly a great advantage. 

 Again, one colony may fortunately 

 find and appropriate the stores of 

 a colony tliat has perished, or may 

 find means of " borrowing" from 

 some weak colony in the neighbor- 

 hood, and it may be to absorb the 

 weak colony itself; and any of 

 these inequalities in " early" ad- 

 vantages would easily account for 

 a great disparity in results. 



3. Finally, in seeking a solution 

 of the problem, it must not be for- 

 gotten that the queen bee leaps 

 almost at once to maturity ; her 

 prime lasts l)ut a few brief months, 

 which is at best a period of uncer- 

 tain length, when she enters upon her 

 decline which may be very gradual 

 and prolonged, or rapid with an 

 early termination to her uselul ser- 

 vice's. Indeed, though a prolific 

 queen is generally an advantage, 

 yet she may cease to be prolific at 



a time when that would prove a 

 great help to her colony so far as 

 the result in surplus is concerned. 

 Suppose the surplus season lasts 

 thirty days, and the queen sudden- 

 ly loses lier vigor at the opening 

 of this season, the saving in food, 

 the reduction in the necessary 

 housework and the consequent 

 large reinforcement of the field 

 workers would make a very favor- 

 able, comparative showing in the 

 amount stored ; but space forbids 

 details, and these suggestions must 

 suffice. 



Lapee'i\ Mich. 



ANSWER BY UR, TINKER. 



As the query is stated I should 

 answer yes. If any queen breeder 

 should cease to rear the yellow 

 races and rear only the blacks, the 

 former would soon become extinct 

 ill that locality il no other apiaries 

 of the yellow bees were near. The 

 querist evidently wishes to know 

 if a queen breeder had an equal 

 number of colonies of the black 

 and yellow races and should leave 

 all breeding to nature, would not 

 the black race predominate and 

 soon occupy the field? This query 

 must be answered no, if it is meant 

 that all traces of the yellow stock 

 would be eventually obliterated. 

 I dare say that if such a trial was 

 made and the; bees were isolated as 

 on an island, that one thousand 

 years would not suffice to obliter- 

 ate all traces of the yellow stock. 

 There is no doubt, however, that 

 the blacks would almost wholl}' 

 predominate at the conclusion of 

 such a trial. But the traces of the 

 yellow bees would be still there 

 and manifest in the breeding of 

 queens and in the color of an occa- 

 sional drone. The Italians are 

 believed Jjy many noted queen 

 breeders to be an impure race, that 

 from the beginning had a trace or 

 admixture of black blood that more 



