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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 12, 1906 



impuhe could not appear if the young bees of any age could 

 become field-bees to their liking,' I had not in mind Mr. G.'s 

 colony with the caged queen, but any regular colony which is 

 strong enough for swarming under favorable circumstances, 

 consequently the above assertion of Mr. Getaz is entirely out 

 of place. 



The fact is. that swarming is actually prevented if the 

 queen is caged so many days that the colony is without un- 

 sealed brood for at least 4 days; and that this manipulation 

 is not as successful if the queen is released sooner, I explain 

 in another way. 



As long as the queen is caged the bees can't swarm; 

 probably the swarming impulse is incited already and the bees 

 will build queen-cups, but the queen can't lay eggs in them. 

 The desire to swarm is increasing in the colony all the time; 

 on the 10th day all the brood will be sealed and a large num- 

 ber of nurse-bees and many empty cells are present. On the 

 14th day the queen is released and will lay eggs in these 

 empty cells; this will soon give the nurse-bees some employ- 

 ment, nevertheless the queen may lay eggs in queen-cups. A 

 swarm would follow in this case, as soon as the first queen- 

 cell is nearly sealed, but this can't be earlier than 8 or 9 days 

 after the queen is released. When the queen was released the 

 youngest larva was 14 days old; now, 8 or 9 days later this 

 same bee has been out of the cell 1 or 2 days, and no more 

 young bees are gnawing out, but many larva? are to be fed. 

 Such circumstances are just contrary to that which causes the 

 swarming impulse, consequently all swarming is given up, if 

 it is not so a few days earlier. 



On the contrary, if the queen is released earlier, young 

 bees are still gnawing out of the cells in the regular number 

 at a time when a queen-cell is advanced enough for swarm- 

 ing, consequently a surplus of larval food may still be pro- 

 duced under some circumstances, and a swarm is the conse- 

 quence. 



Under What Circumstances Can Very Young Bees Work 

 Afield ? 



The editorial note, and the note of Dr. C. C. Miller, on 

 page 209, induce me to say a few words more in my con- 

 troversy with Mr. Getaz about explaining the swarming im- 

 pulse, or rather, the fact that a colony of bees will not swarm 

 if the queen is caged or removed during such a length of 

 time that the colony is without unsealed brood at least 4 days 

 Mr. Getaz thinks that during these 4 days the young bees, 

 having no brood to nurse, will become field-bees. My opinion 

 is that this is an error, and I explain the fact in an other way. 



Now, Dr. C. C. Miller, F. Greiner, and others, have found 

 by experiments that bees much less than 16 days old can be- 

 come field-bees, if in a colony no old bees are present at all, 

 but some brood to be fed. I know that such cases were 

 observed, and H. von Buttel-Reepen in Germany, too, reports 

 such cases. But these are exceptional variations of the in- 

 stinct, and not the rule. Any animals in defending their young 

 will do some things which they never would do under any 

 other circumstances. A hen with young chickens, for instance, 

 will attack a dog or a cat, and even men, if they come near 

 her. I have seen a cock attacking a buzzard for defense of 

 the young chickens. These cases reported by Dr. Miller and 

 others seem to me are similar ones— are exceptions, which are 

 very interesting, but do not prove very much against the rule. 

 If we accept this conception of Dr. "Miller's observation we 

 see that he as well as Baron Berlepsch may be correct. In 

 Berlepsch's experiment no brood was present, and therefore 

 no variation of the inherited instinct. 



I will mention another fact. If we remove a colony to 

 another stand in the same apiary it will lose all the field- 

 bees; young bees of all ages, honey and pollen are present. 

 nevertheless in some cases the eggs and the youngest larvae 

 are destroyed by the bees in such colonies, especially if the 

 colony held a play-spell a short time before its stand was 

 changed. I have known this for many years, and Mr. Alex- 

 ander mentioned this fact in the bee-papers a short time ago, 

 and has, for this reason, recommended another way of in- 

 crease. The reason is that such colonies having no field-bees 

 can get no water, and can not prepare larval-food without 

 water. The proper remedy is to give a comb filled with water 

 to such colonies. If it would be the rule, or so very easy, 

 that young bees of any age can become field-bees, we should 

 think the oldest at least would fly out at once and would 

 gather this necessary water, but they do not. 



Now, granted that under some exceptional circumstances, 

 if young larva are to be nursed, young bees can become field- 

 bees, this surely will not be so in the case considered in our 

 controversy. Here are conditions just contrary to those in 

 Dr. Miller's case — plenty of old field-bees are present, and no 



brood to be fed at all ; nothing could induce the young bees 

 to go to the field except the fact that they have no occasion 

 to fulfill a part of their regular duties. If the instinctively 

 prepared chyle or larval-food can't be consumed by young 

 larvae, this chyle is changed into wax ; the young bees will 

 build combs, but they will not become field-bees. 



Cibolo, Tex. 



How to Breed the Bee of the Future 



BY A. W. YATES. 



TO obtain the best results with poultry, horses, cattle, sheep, 

 etc.. one must be very careful in the selection of the 

 breeding stock, none but the best are used — those that 

 come the nearest to the ideal only, and then "sorts and varia- 

 tions" sometimes occur which, with good breeders, are always 

 sent direct to the slaughter. So with bees. If we would have 

 the best we must breed from the best — those that we get the 

 best results from, that are gentle, whose queen is prolific and 

 the bees industrious, to let nothing escape their search, and 

 at the same time of singular beauty to attract the eye of the 

 fancier; and to the building of a strain as near the ideal as 

 it is possible to get- To accomplish this we must select the 

 best queens, and the best drones, to breed from to the sacri- 

 fice of all others. 



Many breeders are working for long tongues, and to this 

 end may have accomplished something by crossing with the 

 Cyprians, but they being an irritable race generally, and 

 given to the laying-worker nuisance, are met with disfavor. 



Prof. Cook's numerous microscopical measurements of 

 the tongues of the Syrians and Cyprians, which he finds to be 

 .006 of an inch longer than those of the Italian, would be so 

 much in their favor, if it were not for their temper, but the 

 apiarist dislikes, when opening a hive, to have a small swarm 

 seem to race to see which one will get at him first. 



The Italian, by constant care and choice along this line, 

 may be so bred, and, I think, has, to a certain extent; but the 

 difference is so small that it is scarcely perceptible ; yet by- 

 diligence and care we hope in time to achieve the end sought 

 after, and if we can produce a strain of bees that will work 

 as well on red clover as on white, it will increase the honey- 

 production to a great extent. They combine more good points 

 and fewer faults than all others, and American breeders are 

 working wonders by careful selection as to color, gentleness, 

 and industry. At present our own pure-bred Italian is much 

 better than the ordinary bee, in that it is more prolific and 

 gentle, and defends itself better against its enemies, such as 

 robbers, moth-worms, etc. 



One man says, "By the way, whoever saw bees work on 

 red clover?" I have, and many others have. The time is 

 coming when we will see plenty of them that do. 



Domestic animals are bred by strain, and by selecting 

 such animals as show the most points in the line sought after. 

 Race-horses are bred from dam and sire that are both fleet 

 of foot; draft horses accordingly from heavy dam and sire; 

 cattle the same — if for beef, or butter, or color, or whatever 

 other point is sought after, they will after a time be brought 

 about, and I have faith in the long-tongued bee being secured 

 after a time. We cannot expect it all at once, but we have 

 one great advantage over other breeders, in that we can pro- 

 duce several generations in one season. 



We must be careful to conform as nearly as possible to 

 nature's way in rearing the queen to obtain the best results 

 and long life. And, by the way, I heard a man say a short 

 time ago that he bought a queen that lived 6 years, as he 

 did not clip her wings. I wonder how many daughters were 

 reared in the same hive before he found it out! Of 7 queens 

 that I know of being purchased of the same breeder tun 

 years ago, only two survived till the next year, and one of 

 them proved to be a drone-layer the next spring; the other 

 died in July. This breeder is rearing "long-lived queens with 

 queenless colonies." 



Nature's ways are by swarming or supersedure. Is it, 

 then, natural that good "long-lived queens" can be reared in 

 queenless colonies? Observe a cell from a colony that has 

 cast a natural swarm. See the shape and thickness of it, and 

 then tear it open and see royal jelly in it — enough to feed 2 

 or 3 such infants. Then try one from your queenless colony 

 and see how they compare. This will tell you why 7 queens 

 died before they were a year old. 



Queens are easy to get. Simply a few eggs, a queenless 

 colony, and a couple of weeks' time, and there they are. 

 But what will they be good for? Much depends upon their 

 feed and care. If we simply want to rear a few queens, all 



