692 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The same improvement may be noticed 

 all along the line of our domestic ani- 

 mals, to say nothing of fruits, grains, 

 and vegetables. Are we to conclude 

 that any mongrel breed of bees are 

 " good enough '?" 



It would seem, from the language of 

 the querist, that he has paid little or no 

 attention to the breeding of his bees. It 

 is a fair inference that he has had no 

 bees of improved strains with which to 

 compare them. How, then, is he to 

 know that his bees are as good, com- 

 paratively speaking, as he thinks they 

 are ? He says they are prolific, healthy, 

 and good workers. This might truth- 

 fully be said of almost any lot of bees, 

 but a trial of them in comparison with 

 the best bred strains might show that 

 as compared with these they were very 

 inferior. 



"Every crow thinks his own crowling 

 whitest," and the owner of live stock of 

 any kind, if it is only a yellow dog, is 

 very apt to consider it about as good as 

 there is. The men who are wedded to 

 such ideas as that, must expect to be 

 left behind in the march of progress. 



The bee-keeper has the advantage 

 over the breeder of stock of almost any 

 other kind, in that he may make a com- 

 parative test for himself of the different 

 varieties, at only a trifling cost. If the 

 breeder of horses or cattle should wish 

 to make a complete change in the breed 

 of his stock, he must go to a great deal 

 of expense in disposing of every animal 

 and getting others in their place. If he 

 adopts the usual plan of " grading up," 

 he must still go to considerable expense 

 for pure-bred sires. 



The bee-keeper can make a complete 

 change in his stock at comparatively 

 small expense, and have every bee of the 

 new variety within less than three 

 months. With a money outlay that is 

 really insignificant, he can have all of 

 his bees reared from superior stock, and 

 having nearly all the good qualities of 

 the improved race. For two or three 

 dollars, or less, he may test improved 

 varieties for himself alongside of his old 

 ones. In this way he may gain knowl- 

 edge from practical experience, which is 

 always the best of teachers. 



The best way for the inquirer to do, 

 would be to procure from some reliable 

 breeder one of his best breeding queens, 

 and rear queens from this. It is almost 

 certain that this stock would be an im- 

 provement on what he has, so he would 

 probably be safe in rearing from them 

 enough queens to supply his whole api- 

 ary. Unless he is certain that his breed- 



ing stock is desirable in every way, it 

 might be safer for him to buy two or 

 three queens of each of several breeders, 

 and, after a thorough test, get a good 

 breeding queen of the stock that suited 

 him best. 



If he can afford the money better than 

 the time required to rear the queens, let 

 him get. from reliable breeders several 

 dozen queens, which, at the proper sea- 

 son, may be procured at very low rates. 

 Then let him rear all queens from se- 

 lected colonies, or, if he prefers to let 

 the bees rear their own, keep drone- 

 traps on all undesirable colonies, which 

 will somewhat reduce the chances of 

 impure mating. To keep an apiary pure 

 when there are other races within bee- 

 flight, requires a constant struggle, but 

 the bees of almost any apiary may be 

 very much improved by a very little 

 trouble in the way of selection and re- 

 jection. 



As to race, there is really but little 

 question. The Italians have fairly won 

 the right to be considered the best va- 

 riety of bees cultivated. Although a 

 few good bee-keepers think very highly 

 of the Carniolans, all the other races 

 that have been introduced, some oi them 

 with much blowing of trumpets and 

 highly imaginative recommendations, 

 have proven undesirable, and have been 

 discarded. In this connection be it ob- 

 served that the so-called " Golden Car- 

 niolans" are not Carniolans at all. 



The beginner is specially warned 

 against spending his money for any 

 novelties in bees unless he wishes to test 

 them in comparison with what are rec- 

 ognized as the best, and can afford to 

 spend money for that purpose. 



The Punic bee fiasco should be a suffi- 

 cient warning to go slow in this direc- 

 tion. It might be a great misfortune to 

 bee-keepers at large to have an inferior 

 race of bees scattered broadcast over 

 the country, especially if they were put 

 into the hands of those who knew noth- 

 ing of better races, or who would be- 

 come disgusted with the unsuccessful 

 experiment of improvement, and make 

 no effort to repair its evil effects. 



In selecting that which all recognized 

 as good, there is little opportunity to go 

 astray. To replace or cross the bees in 

 question with Italians could hardly fail 

 to improve them, and the advantages 

 would be great as compared ©"ith the 

 cost. 



Ottawa, Ills. 



Bees and'Honey" — see page 675. 



