264 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 24, 1902. 



How is it ? Well, in first place, as we have no control of 

 the mating', we can never be sure that a queen is absolutely- 

 pure Italian, but even if she was it would be no proof. 

 The Italian queens and drones vary greatly in color, 

 some are quite dark. The fact that the drones were darker 

 than the apiarist expected does not prove that they were 

 impure or were influenced by the drone that mated with 

 their mother. 



WH.\T SHALL WE BREED FOR ? 



Honey-gathering qualities, of course. Gentleness, cap- 

 ping the honey white, etc., will be considered to some ex- 

 tent, but the honey is what we are after. And the queens 

 whose colonies give the largest surplus will be the ones to 

 breed from. 



I mentioned once the fact that in breeding for honey 

 we are working in the same line as Nature does, and, there- 

 fore, we could not expect such results as have been attained 

 with other kinds of domestic animals. For instance, the 

 faculty of producing milk has been left almost completely 

 undeveloped in the wild animals. We take the same animal 

 and develop that quality away beyond what Nature does in 

 the wild state. But suppose that we were to work in the 

 same line as Nature ; suppose, for instance, that we would 

 try to prove the hardiness of the Texas cattle, we would 

 then make but little progress, because that quality has al- 

 ready reached the limit, or nearly so. 



This is very nearly the case with the bees. The qualities 

 tending to honey-gathering — such as activity, hardiness, 

 etc. — are already well developed, so there is not room for 

 verj- much improvement, as the limit attainable cannot be 

 very far. 



That is not very encouraging. To offset it we must re- 

 member that a very little improvement might increase the 

 surplus considerably. 



In feeding back extracted honey to complete the par- 

 tially filled sections it has been found that a good colony 

 of bees consume 1 ■; pounds of honey per day. That honey 

 goes to sustain the life of the bees, keeps the necessary heat, 

 feeds the brood and produces the wax ; it cannot be doubted 

 that the same amount is required during the honey-flow. 

 Through the winter something like 25 pounds is used. After 

 the honey-flow, perhaps half a pound a day. Half a pound 

 of honey for perhaps 20,000 bees is a mighty small daily 

 ration for each one, considering that there is always a little 

 brood reared, and perhaps some wax secreted. 



Upon the whole, a colony of bees of normal size con- 

 sumes something like 200 pounds of honey every year, at 

 least, and probably more. 



We have a colony that gives us 40 pounds of surplus ; 

 that means that 240 pounds have been gathered in all. Now 

 we improve the stock, and the colony becomes able to gather 

 J-fe more, only '6. The total gathered will be 280 pounds in- 

 stead of 240. Deducting the 200 pounds consumed, we have 

 now a surplus of 80 pounds — double what we had before. 



SIZE OF BEES. 



Would we gain by breeding a large-sized kind of bees ? 

 Notwithstanding the contrary opinion of some high authori- 

 ties, I say, unhesitatingly. Yes. Granting that a large bee 

 would not fly faster than a small one, and granting, also, 

 that she could not suck the nectar out of the flowers faster 

 than the small one, there would yet be a saving of time go- 

 ing and coming. For the large bee would bring in the 

 same quantity of nectar in a less number of trips to the field 

 and back. But it is probable that the large bee would fly 

 somewhat faster, and it is almost certain that she could 

 suck the nectar from the tlowers faster, on account of a 

 larger tongue. 



In order to breed larger bees it will be necessary to use 

 foundation with larger cells, for a bee cannot be larger than 

 the cell in which she has been reared. If any one doubts 

 the correctness of this last statement, let him look at the 

 drones reared in worker-cells. That will settle it. 



The increase of the size of the cells should be gradual, 

 otherwise it would be difficult to avoid and overproduction 

 of drones. 



There is a limit to the size of the cells that can be used. 

 Too large cell would not hold the honey ; that is, the honey 

 would run out of it. It is probable that cells of drone-size, 

 or perhaps a fraction larger, are all that can be used. This 

 might give us bees the size of the famous "Apis dorsata ". 



In India and other parts of South Asia are found several 

 kinds of wild bees, some of them the size of our bees, 

 some much smaller — and finally the Apis dorsata, much 

 larger. While this last gathers a considerable amount of 

 honey, the small kinds do not gather enough to speak of, 

 and never more than they can use. 



LONG TONGUES. 



I am not going to rehash the subiect. I want only to 

 bring out one point that has been neglected. 



With the increase of population and improvements of 

 farming, the forests, pastures, and other present sources of 

 nectar, will decrease and disappear ; red clover will be more 

 and more cultivated as being the chief crop of a good system 

 of farming. And the time comes when it will be almost the- 

 only honey-plant available. Other things being equal, the 

 largest bees will evidently have the longest tongues. 



INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY. 



Yes, locality and also management. Let me give some 

 examples : John Smith lives in a good-locality : plenty of 

 flowers and to spare. Bees with short tongues will find all 

 they can gather, as well as those with long tongues. Then 

 the colonies giving the largest surplus may just as well be 

 among those with short tongues. 



Jim Jones lives in a poorer or overstocked locality. 

 There are not enough flowers accessible to short-tongued 

 bees to enable them to furnish a good surplus. After that 

 they will be idle, while the long-tongued bees will continue 

 to gather from deep-corolla flowers. Result : The long- 

 tongued bees will give the most surplus. Jim Jones will 

 breed from their queens and eventually create a race of 

 long-tongued bees. 



Gilbert M. D. uses a small hive, or, rather, brood-nest. 

 The colonies with very prolific queens fill it early, and therk 

 swarm for lack of space, and just as Often as not keep on 

 swarming during the honey season. No surplus, or very 

 little. 



Those with queens not very prolific do not get crowded, 

 and refrain from swarming. Colonies that do not swarm 

 are those which give the largest surplus. These Gilbert 

 will choose for breeding purposes, and eventually create 

 a strain of moderately prolific bees.' 



Camille P. D. uses Dadant hives. Queens not very 

 prolific do not fill the brood-nest in time for harvest. They 

 keep at it during the honey-flow, and when the colony is 

 ready to go " up-stairs " it is too late to do much good. 

 Those very prolific fill that big brood-nest with a whole 

 army of workers in time for the harvest, and when the flow 

 comes a big surplus is stored. Result is, Camille selects 

 these prolific queens as breeders, and creates a strain or 

 prolific queens. 



A contribution of mine on the same subject (August, 

 1901, page 646) was bitterly, and I think unjustly, criticised 

 in the Bee-Keepers' Review (for November, 1901.) To those 

 who might think the above is not exactly what it ou{;ht to 

 be, 1 will say this : Instead of indulging in cheap critism. 

 write a better article on the same subject, if you can ; and 

 if you succeed I will be glad of it, for I will get the benefit 

 of it. Knox Co., Tenn. 



Value of Good Queens, and Methods of Queen- 

 Introduction. 



liend at Vie W\scitnshi Cuuvi'ntion in Febnuinj, 1903, 

 BY ADA L. PICKARD. 



IT is not that I choose to come before this assemblage, nor 

 is the subject before us one of my of own choice; but 

 since a number of the members of this Association asked 

 that the secretary contribute a paper, and suggested the 

 present topic, I was willing to do what I could to help the 

 convention along, and so it may be said of me as it was of 

 the widow who gave her mite, "She hath done what she 

 could." 



No adage is more true than, "What is home without a 

 mother?" and just so true is the statement, What is a 

 colony of bees without a good queen ? By a good queen I 

 do not mean a beautiful queen to look at, but one that is 

 prolific. 



Upon no other one thing does the success of the apiarist 

 depend as it does upon the queen. Give me a good queen — 

 one that can be brought up to the highest production of eggs 

 just at the time they are wanted— and I will promise you a 

 honey crop, if the flowers do not fail to secrete nectar ; but 

 with a poor queen — one that may not even be coaxed to lay 

 to little or no purpose at the proper time— the flowers may 

 bloom and secrete large quantities of nectar in vain. 



I must confess that we have had queens at different 

 times in our apiaries that, with all the coaxing we could 

 bring to bear upon them, would not lay any more eggs pre- 



