Feb. 13, 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



105 



quccnlcss to five hours, otlicrs qiiccnicss llirec, four or five 

 days, while there were seven or eight colonies that had 

 been quccnless several weeks. Some colonics were very 

 strong, some very weak, and all grades of bees from the 

 crossest hybrids to pure ll.dians and blacks. I speak par- 

 ticularly of this lot as they were received during an ex- 

 tended honey-dearth, when all colonies in the apiaries (there 

 were three apiaries of about loo colonies each that the 

 queens were distributed aniong) were worked un to the rob- 

 bing pitch, and one to two hours' work at a time was all 

 one could do before robbers forced a stop. 



The queens were introduced just at dark, l)y first goiiin 

 around and smoking the colonies to which they were iiUro- 

 duced, with a few putts of tobacco-smoke in the entrance; 

 the cover was removed, anntlicr pulT given, and the queen 

 run down on the combs followed with a puff of smoke, 

 and the hive closed. Fifteen to 20 minutes later I w'ent 

 around and gave each colony two or three more pufTs of 

 tobacco-smoke in at the entrance. 



This is the Henry Alley method, and has been in use 

 30 years. I used it fully 15 years ago. Mr. Alley uses a 

 tin-tube smoker especially adapted for the business. I use 

 a common Ringham smoker, starting fire with dry rotten wood, 

 filling the box well up, and then drop in about a table- 

 spoonful of Bull Durham smoking tobacco, and shake it 

 down among the wood well. If there are many queens to 

 introduce, add more tobacco wdien the odor of the first 

 gets weak. 



I am well aware that nntch has been said on this sub- 

 ject, but its value is worth repeating. Queens cost money. 

 From an extensive acquaintance among bee-keepers I know 

 a great many queens are lost in introducing them. The usual 

 candy-cage method (shipping-cage method, I should say) 

 is far from being any where near a universal success. 



LONG-TONGUE BEES THE AIM. 



Mr. Gill considers long-tongue bees (in the same paper) 

 to be the aim. Right you are, Mr. Gill, or at least if not 

 long-tongued there is some factor we do not understand. 

 One of the largest yields of honey I ever had, and the largest 

 by nearly double of any in the whole yard (and three 

 yards), was from a colony whose queen kept only five or 

 six Langstroth frames full of brood, say 30,000 cells of 

 brood. There were plenty of other colonies in the yards 

 that had 10 to 12 solid frames of brood for weeks, but 

 when it came to the honey crop they gave only 80 to 120 

 pounds each, while the one colony, singled out above, gave 

 240 pounds of comb honey. 



Each year for three years that one colony has given 

 so to 100 pounds more honey (than the general run of good 

 colonies. The one pity is that the queen will not transmit 

 her extra qualities to her daughters, notwithstanding a num- 

 ber of trials. They are hybrid-Italian crossed with e.xtra 

 blacks or Carniolans, are not robbers and so don't steal, but 

 are honest gatherers. 



On three occasions I have removed the nueen with a 

 frame of brood to another colony and introduced a pure 

 Italian queen, thus I know that the bees live longer than the 

 average. Who can tell why this is ? 



BREEDING BEES FOR HONEY-PRODUCING QUALITIES. 



For years we have been told to pick out our best col- 

 ony to breed from — the one that gave the biggest yields. 

 And what have we got in most instances as the results? 

 Just wdiat we might have known we should get if we had 

 stopped to study it out — -.a lot of colonies with all varieties 

 of yields, from zero up to big yields ; no uniformity except 

 it came by a fortunate chance. 



The gist of the matter is. breed from a queen that comes 

 only from good, average yielding stock, and that trans- 

 mils a uniformity to her daughters; then breed from those 

 daughters that show a general uniformity of good, average 

 yields, and go upward by degrees, not by one leap. 



I must confess that I have been led astray by the 

 false idea of breeding from the extra-big-yielding colony, 

 and as a result I have continually to be culling out worth- 

 less queens that run so far below the general average yield 

 as some of their sisters go above it. We cull out the poor 

 ones and then think next year surely we will have all good 

 ones to start with — we shall be on the upward tendency^ 

 but, lo, when new queens come on to replace the old ones 

 or by swarming, we have the same old trouble — lots of 

 them gone backwards. 



In a small apiary of a dozen or two colonies it does 



not show much, but take it in a large apiary, and several 

 apiaries combined, the sporting b.ick is too plainly seen. 



What is the remedy nearest to hand? Kccord-books and 

 pedigreed queens. We may not be able to know about the 

 drones — it may not be needed so much — but we must know 

 that a queen will transmit her fjualities uniformly good, let 

 them be only a good average for a starting-point. 



Pedigrees should be sworn lo. and breeders should be 

 required to furnish queens that give a general uniformity of 

 results. 



Dick, Tom and Harry rearing and shipping queens has 

 certainly deteriorated the quality of the bees in many an 

 apiary throughout the land. There are many good, re- 

 sponsible breeders that can soon furnish a record and pedi- 

 gree of their stock, and we should patronize them. Florida. 



^ The Afterthought. ^ \ 



The "Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Qlasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



SELLING HONEY BY THE CASE VS. WEIGHT. 



Suppose Burnett & Co. buy 2100 pounds of honey. It 

 arrives-^weight short — and they go before a jury to recover 

 their rights. We have a general idea of what their chances 

 would be. Now suppose again : They buy 100 cases of 

 honey, to be cased according to Colorado rules. 

 When it arrives, short just as many pounds as the 

 other lot was, would they stand as well before the jury? 

 I suspect there are many jurors that would say: "Things 

 must not be drawn too fine in this rough-and-tumble world. 

 These commission chaps bought 100 cases and got 100 

 cases. Let 'em be satished." My suspicion may be wrong: — 

 but if it is, it is valid all the same, providing the commis- 

 sion men share it. They will not favor a change which 

 they think damages their legal standing. It would be nice 

 to save the long and fussy job of finding the exact weight, 

 in each case of a car-load of honey — ^but — . 'Spects there'll 

 have to be an "Honesty Department" in each bee-paper, and 

 every bee-man a subscriber first. Pages 819 and 822. 



FOUL BROOD IN MICHIGAN. 



For 402 foul-broody colonies to be scattered through 206 

 apiaries appears quite singular. Looks as if the disease in 

 Michigan had taken a sudden and rapid march in all direc- 

 tions ; and as if but few apiaries had been infected more 

 than a few months. Why thus, if so? One would expect 

 206 infected apiaries to yield at least a thousand infected 

 colonies. 



The general ignorance of apicultural needs and rights 

 conies in very badly here. Clean out the disease in your 

 locality and directly you are in bad odor, and accused of 

 being a bad neighbor. Not only those who had a few neg- 

 lected bees, but those who didn't have any bees, side against 

 you. Page 823. 



GLOSSOMETER FOR MEASURING TONGUES. 



While every one is thinking and talking long tongues, 

 some svipply firm ought to offer Cook's Glossometer for 

 sale. Still I think it has w^eak points which some future 

 instrument may remedy. A mere smearing of sweet will 

 quickly become too thick for the best satisfaction. Also, if 

 you w'ill observe z'cry closely a bee's ligula operating in a 

 state of nature, I think that you will join me in saying that 

 the bee valuer, and perhans decidedly needs, some surface to 

 one side of which the finger-like liguIa tip can be flipped against 

 — one smooth surface at right angles and extreme distance 

 not being favorable. Too much like picking up distant grains 

 of wheat with the tip of your finger. We are too prone to 

 forget that the bee cannot suck honey exactly as a boy would 

 suck cider through a straw — has to coax it up some other 

 way. Page 4. 



ACORNS .\ND QUEEN-CELLS. 



Many of our Pin Oak and Yellow Oak acorns are no 

 bigger than a queen-cell, dear Boss. You just quit now 

 from leaning across the ocean and punching your Australian 



