500 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



get 100 colonies ready and loaded in time to 

 start that night; but Mr. Wheeler said it must 

 be dune, so all three went to plugging up holes 

 and nailing up entrances. George, the team- 

 ster, preferred to keep a good distance from the 

 flying bees; but we knew he would come to a 

 realizing sense of the setting-down qualities of 

 a bee after taking a couple of two-day trips 

 with them ; and so it did come to pass that 

 George got stung several times, and he hurled 

 several anathemas against our lively pets and 

 the business generally, and the carting of them 

 around the country in particular. 



The shades of night were beginning to fall ere 

 the wagons were loaded. Our pony wagon was 

 also loaded with empty hives and odds and 

 ends. I was sorry to see my partner of the day 

 before leave with the rest. They hustled off in 

 such a hurry that supper was forgotten or in- 

 tentionally omitted. As I went ahead of the 

 cavalcade of wagons, with the lantern, to guide 

 them out of the grove, I could see Bro. Powell 

 gnawing at a cracker. George had a supply of 

 provisions under the seat. Mr. W. didn't eat 

 any thing. Hustlers hardly ever do. I deliver- 

 ed the lantern to the head team when past the 

 danger-spots, and groped my way back through 

 half a mile of darkness to the camp, made up a 

 rousing fire, got my supper in the loneliness and 

 quietness of the forest, and finally retired to my 

 flat, where tired nature's sweet restorer brooded 

 over the scene. Wrapped in utter oblivion, all 

 thoughts of lovely dells passed away, and in 

 pleasant dreams of murmuring brooks, waving 

 trees, and sun-kissed flowers, the tired frame 

 put on new strength for the toil of the coming 

 day. 



^ I — ^ 



A RACE OF LARGE BEES-HOW SECURED. 



STKONGEST CHARACTEKISTICS COMING FKOM 



THE DRONE KATHEIR THAN FROM THE 



QUEEN. 



By Dr. C. C. Miller. 



Friend Root: — I send you by this mail sam- 

 ples of comb that I have received from Dr. J. 

 P. Murdock. You will remember him as the 

 Florida man who developed the strain of big 

 bees. Two years ago he sent me a queen, but 

 her workers that I raised were not extra large, 

 and the comb they built was little larger than 

 ordinary. Naturally it should be so, for her 

 progeny were all raised in cells of ordinary size. 

 There is no question, however, that the present 

 samples of combs made by his bees are much 

 out of the ordinary line. If I have made no 

 mistake in measuring, the drone-cells are about 

 Z}i to the inch. Most of the worker goes about 

 4)4 to the inch, and the small piece with the 

 queen-cell is not far from 4 to the inch. 



I don't know that it necessarily follows that 

 a larger bee is a better bee, but in one respect I 

 can see wherein there may be a great advan- 



tage. If bees raised in cells 43^ to the inch are 

 of proportionate size, then their tongues ought 

 to be one-ninth longer than common. That 

 extra length might be quite an item in a big 

 range of red clover. My first thought was, 

 that it would not be possible for any one to get 

 a queen and raise full-sized bees with ordinary 

 comb; but some of the comb comrs so near the 

 size of ordinary drone comb that I think a suc- 

 cess might be made by furnishing the queen 

 nothing but drone comb four cells to the inch. 

 Indeed, I feel almost sure about it so far as the 

 comb is concerned, the only question being as 

 to the matter of heredity. If any thing is in- 

 herited from the nurse-bees, then there might 

 not be so full success. 



Not the least interesting feature of the case 

 is the fact that it is possible to obtain such em- 

 phatic results by careful breeding; for if it be 

 possible to make in a few years an increase of 

 11 per cent in the linear measure of worker-bees 

 —taking it for granted that the size of the bee 

 corresponds with the size of the comb it builds 

 —and a consequent increase of 50 per cent in 

 weight, it seems reasonable that the same 

 amount of efi'ort might produce considerable 

 results in other directions. Breeding for color 

 is another illustration; and although the color 

 of the bee, in and of itself, has little value, yet 

 I suspect there has been more efl'ort in that 

 direction than in any other. As a consequence 

 we have bees of such golden color that they 

 might almost be considered a separate race 

 from the Italian. If size and color are so clear- 

 ly under control, we may hope that in time we 

 may have added other points. It would be a 

 fine thing to have attention given to longevity, 

 so as to have the working days of each worker 

 increased 25 or 50 per cent, to secure such hard- 

 iness as to wintering that the north would be 

 on a par with the south, to have the propensity 

 to swarming entirely bred out, and perhaps 

 many other things. 



I have been greatly interested to learn some- 

 thing of the doctor's plan of procedure, and 

 give here an extract from a letter which he has 

 kindly written me. He says: 



My way of improvement has been witli the drone 

 rather than with tlie queen. Seeing tlie wonderful 

 intiiience royal jellj' has with tlie queen induced 

 me to feed it to the drfine larvfe. I killed almost 

 all until I learned to feed it, then by careful selec- 

 tion of both drones and queens I have arrived at my 

 present-sized workers. IDrones ;ire often weeded 

 out until I liave not more than a hundred all told. 



Isn't there a strong hint in that paragraph 

 worthy the attention of all breiders? With | 

 the possession of qu( en-excluders the man who I 

 is not too closely surroundt-d by other bees has ' 

 half the matter in full control by careful weed- 

 ing of drones. Heretofore I think the principal 

 attention has been given to the queen In all 

 other lines I think as much attention is given 

 to the father as the mother; indeed, I think 



