APRIL 1, 1914 



and less for swarming, some years ago, and 

 gave a record showing a very small per- 

 centage of swarming. A certain writer 

 would no( hear to the idea that the bee 

 could be improved, but claimed that a bee 

 is a bee, always was, and always will be the 

 same, and that it is only through the igno- 

 rant imagination that unlearned men claim 

 a better bee than those commonly found 

 llu'ough the country; but now this man is 

 announcing that he has lost about all his 

 bees, owing to there not being enough nectar 

 for brood-rearing, and that he has given up 

 the production of section honey owing to 

 the api)alling number of unfinished sections. 

 Tlie writer kept bees for years within five 

 miles of this man's location; is well ac- 

 quainted all through his neighborhood, hav- 

 ing grown to manhood there, and knows 

 both from observation and personal experi- 

 ence that the locality is practically the same 

 as here ; yet we have produced, during these 

 same seasons, good average crojis; have 

 increased the number of our colonies each 

 year, and have found the business profit- 

 able right along, both of extracted and of 

 section honey. If this is not an argument 

 for ail improved bee, then pardon me for 

 relating it, as that is my only purpose. 



Now a word about red-clover bees. I have 

 never had bees from the advertised red- 

 clover strains ; but, listen : Two seasons out 

 of the past seven these " improved " or 

 select-bred Italians have given me a nice 

 surplus from red clover, one year storing 

 clear white honey at the time that common 

 hybrids right beside them stored dark hon- 

 ey-dew. 



A little is also due to the old-fogy notion 

 that natural-swarming queens are the best. 

 Whoever contends thus has not tried both, 

 or else he does not know how to rear queens 

 outside of natural swarming. If there is 



251 



one thing I have learned, and am sure of, 

 it is that I can have better queens by arti- 

 ficial methods than by swarming — not only 

 because I rear them from the stocks I like, 

 so as to get the " habits " I want ; but I can 

 not get as good queens from these same 

 stocks if reared in swarming colonies. This 

 is something I can not explain ; but 1 think 

 the disposition of the colony nursing the 

 young queens may possibly be imparted to 

 the young queens to some extent. I am 

 thoroughly convinced that, to improve and 

 hold the improvement permanently, we must 

 breed our queens in colonies that have no 

 desire except for a queen, and possibly when 

 their energy is devoted to honey-gathering, 

 as in a good flow. 



I would not give a fig for all the improve- 

 ment gained in 100 years by natural swarm- 

 ing, however managed. Such a plan is out 

 of date; it is a back number, and every 

 progressive and wide-awake honey-produc- 

 er can do better without it. He can handle 

 more bees and raise more honey with the 

 same labor without ; then why not get rid 

 of it'? 



Breed it out! Breed it out! It isn't ^\\e. 

 fellows who have tried who say it can not 

 be done, but it's those who have not. 



If you don't want swarming, don't breed 

 from swarming colonies nor use them for 

 cell-building. And don't keep bees that 

 tend to keep an extra-large amount of 

 brood through the flow, as, one year with 

 another, they will not pay as well in a 

 clover or basswood location, and they will 

 make more labor by swarming. 



This is so large a subject that it is diffi- 

 cult to treat it in one or even two articles; 

 but this is given in hopes of giving cause 

 for thought and discussion. 



Dunlap, Iowa. 



THE LACK OF A STANDARD OF MARKINGS TO DETERMINE THE 

 DIFFERENT STRAINS OF ITALIANS 



BY ARTHUR WILLIAMS 



A number of years ago we began making 

 jireparations for conducting a series of 

 experiments with the different races and 

 their crosses, by acquiring some isolated 

 tracts where no bees existed, and wliere 

 forage was sufficient to insure success. Right 

 at the outset, however, we met with difficulty 

 in determining the purity of any certain 

 race, for there seems to be no fixed stand- 

 ard — no uniformity of type. Every breed- 

 er from Avhom we purchased queens testified 

 to their purity, yet hardly any two would 



produce bees alike; and two queens from 

 the same breeder would show different colors 

 and characteristics. 



Last year I began trying the direct im- 

 portation ; but the distance here is so great 

 that, with the present mailing-cage, it is 

 any thing but a success ; in fact, for all my 

 dealings with queen-breeders I have very 

 little to show but considerable expense and 

 experience and a magnificent collection of 

 queen-cages. I might add that, for inge- 

 nuity ill inventing excuses, I believe that 



