GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Right here, perhaj^s, some one will say, 

 " Why, take that colony that gives the most 

 honey, of course." 



Yes, that's one test, surely; but what of 

 (as we have heard of eases) a famous queen 

 whose daughters none of them come up to 

 her? In that case, evidently, we are on the 

 wrong track unless her daughters are above 

 the average quality we can obtain from any 

 other breeder. But there may be other colo- 

 nies not nearly so large surplus producers 

 that may produce daughters more uniformly 

 good producers. This can be explained on 

 the supposition that the queen of the large- 

 surplus colony may be a grade or mongi-el 

 in a very slight degree — so slight that it is 

 noticeable in no way except through her 

 progeny; or if not that, the mating is not 

 the proper " nick," as stockmen say, to 

 perpetuate all of the good qualities. Unless 

 I am mistaken, it is not always the very 

 finest and most perfect specimens among 

 our domestic animals that j^roduce the prize- 

 winners and sweepstake getters, but certain 

 strains mated in a certain way. As I un- 

 derstand it, the breeder is continually on the 

 lookout for a sire or dam which will produce 

 prize-winners, or specimens nearest to per- 

 fection. 



What a howl of misunderstanding goes 

 up when one mentions an " improved bee," 

 a " non-swarming bee,'" or a " red-clover 

 bee "! The wise one quickly says, " Let me 

 take your non-swarmers, and I'll make 'em 

 swarm the first good season." Why, bless 

 your poor misunderstanding heart, I can 

 take the finest thoroughbred cow and make 

 her as worthless as any scrub in a year, and 

 her progeny scrubs in four or five years or 

 less. No one expects to reacli perfection in 

 a few years, nor expects to hold it, if ever 

 reached, without his best efforts. There is 

 a vast difference, my brethren, between 

 " going on toward perfection," whether we 

 ever " attain " or not, and leaning back on 

 the traces and saying, " No i\se, it can't be 

 done." If you won't do any thing yourself, 

 my brother, in Heaven's name don't try to 

 hold back the ones who are trying. 



But to go back to our subject, I wished 

 to call attention to a few of the habits that, 

 according to my experience, appear to be 

 related : Tlie trait, or habit, of prolificness, 

 and the swarming habit, go together. In 

 other words, if you want swarmers, select 

 very prolific strains of bees; but I have not 

 been able to get the honey-gathering habit 

 very strong in these extra-prolific strains. 

 I do not say it can not be done; but all 

 those I have had have not l)een honey-gath- 

 erers as compared wilh those with that 

 habit. There are strains, however, of the 



Italian bee that breed fairly well until a 

 heavy flow comes, when their strong "habit" 

 of honey-gathering takes possession of them 

 and they bend every energy to storing hon- 

 ey, even to the point of almost stopping 

 brood-rearing some of the best days. These 

 are the bees to get our non-swarmers from, 

 and I have yet to find a colony slow to 

 swarm that was not a good honey-gatherer. 



The point to decide and establish is, 

 " How strong do we want this honey-storing 

 habit, and not have it overdone so our 

 colonies will not keep up proper strength 

 for later use? " If I were running for ex- 

 tracted honey altogether, I should not fear 

 overdoing the matter at all; but for section 

 honey it would not do to have bees tliat fill 

 the brood-combs too early in the season (the 

 same bees that do this will not do it with 

 plenty of built combs), as in extracting. 



My idea of a bee for this locality (white 

 clover and basswood) is one that must be 

 hardy, so as to winter, of course, and just 

 prolific enough to fill the hive fairly full of 

 brood by the clover harvest ; but they must 

 have the honey-storing " habit " so strong 

 that they fill every thing with honey before 

 tliey swarm. Then I make it my business 

 to see that they have plenty of room, so 

 that they never reach that stage. 



Some one will say, " Yes, sometimes they 

 will fill every thing, and then, again, they'll 

 swarm witli lots of empty comb." True, my 

 brother; true enough, if you are talking of 

 bees bred " hit or miss," " promiscuous 

 like," as most bees are; but that is not the 

 kind I am i-eferring to. I say you can, by 

 selection, breed bees that will do as I sug- 

 gest, if you can select the right ones to 

 breed from. Why, how many times have I 

 had peo]ile ask, " Had any swarms yet? I 

 had a fine swarm to-day," and I would say, 

 " If I had a colony that would swarm at 

 this time of year I'd pinch the queen's head 

 off." The party would look at me as though 

 I were a freak, and just delighted in odd 

 saying's. Yes, if yoi; breed " hit or miss," 

 as by natural swarming, you will have some 

 freak colonies that will swarm, apparently, 

 just to pass the time, and when they can 

 not get enough to live on. 



It is possible to have a strain tliat will 

 gather a good living right beside these 

 worthless freaks, and be building up slowly 

 and steadily, and be ready for the crop, 

 without much attention, when the hit-or- 

 miss kind will surely miss unless you watch 

 closely and feed: and even then the chances 

 are for sivarms later instead of honey. 



There is a laughable illustration of this 

 in the bee world to-day. The Avriter urged 

 breeding a bee more for honey-gathering 



