252 



queen-breeders outclass any other people I 

 have ever seen. 



I received a certain breeder's card that 

 was sent with an untested golden that 1 

 ordered after trying tested queens with un- 

 satisfactory results. The queen accompany- 

 ing the card was a very pretty golden, all 

 right; but her progeny are any tiling but 

 goldens— two bands are the best that any 

 of them show. 



A number of years ago Mr. A. I. Root 

 recommended gorging bees with honey and 

 examining them by transmitted light. Those 

 that showed only two bands were to be 

 called hybrids. Well, these bees are hybrids 

 all right. This is only one instance of many. 

 The trouble seems to be that there is no 

 well-defined standard to breed to; and as 

 long as this chaotic condition exists, bveed- 

 ei-s can dispose of mismated queens with 

 impunity; and even with the most consci- 

 entious there is bound to be so much varia- 

 tion that misundei'standings and dissatis- 

 faction are bound to occur. 



My suggestion is that a body composed 

 of the best representative beekeepers in the 

 country, with The A. I. Root Company and 

 Dr. Phillips, form a standard as to what 

 every known race should be in its purity; 

 then The A. I. Root Company will publish 

 a little book with colored plates and com- 

 plete description. This should be accepted 

 as authority, and every breeder conform as 

 nearly as possible to the type therein set 

 forth. Then, and not until then, will there 

 be much progress made in developing the 

 honey-bee. 



Arroyo Grande, Cal. 



[It is true there is no uniform scheme by 

 which different strains of Italian bees may 

 be distinguished. A golden Italian bee may 

 be any thing from a bright-yellow three- 

 banded to a yellow five-banded with an oc- 

 casional specimen of bee yellow all over; 

 but we have the proof now that there are 

 very few five-banded and yellow-all-over 

 bees. The so-called five-banded queens usu- 

 ally do not show up any better than three- 

 banded, four-banded, with occasional five- 

 banded bees. There are those who have 

 claimed to have all five-banded bees; but 

 when we come to examine them very care- 

 fully it appears that the larger percentage 

 of the bees are four-banded, with an occa- 

 sional five-banded bee. For that reason we 

 have discouraged the advertising of five- 

 banded bees, and have recommended the 

 term " golden." This term is somewhat 

 flexible, and means any thing from a bright 

 three-banded Italian to a four-banded bee. 

 As there is such a difference in marking of 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the same queen it would be very difficult to 

 make a uniform standard ; and about all 

 one can do is to advertise golden bees and 

 state such a queen will run such a percent- 

 age of four-banded and such a percentage 

 of five-banded; but one can not very well 

 advertise to produce bees running nothing 

 less than four-banded and the majority five- 

 banded — at least we have not seen any stock 

 of that kind. 



When it comes to pure Italians, it is 

 generally accepted throughout that three 

 yellow bands are the standard markings for 

 ordinary Italian bees; but nevertheless it is 

 a fact that bees direct from Italy will some- 

 times show only two bands and two bands 

 and a half; that is to say, the third band 

 next to the thorax is so indistinct that it 

 does not show unless the bees are filled with 

 honey, as A. I. Root recommended years 

 ago. Some of the finest and best workers 

 we have ever had have been leather-colored 

 bees; that is to say, they had two bands 

 clear and a third band showing indistinctly, 

 or what might be called a 2y2-banded bee, 

 as George B. Howe would say. 



We don't like to discourage any effort 

 toward securing a uniform standard, be- 

 cause of the variation that appears in the 

 golden Italians. In the stock that we sell of 

 this kind, we do not guarantee any thing 

 except bright yellow color; and as far as 

 we ever go is to guarantee three 3'ellow 

 bands of bright yellow and occasionally 

 four yellow bands. Sometimes we are for- 

 tunate enough to have stock that will run 

 three-banded and largely four-banded, say 

 25 per cent three-banded and 70 per cent 

 four-banded, and perhaps 5 per cent five- 

 banded. Such stock we would call very 

 bright golden, and about as good as any one 

 could ever secure. Now, unfortunately, 

 queens from such a queen would show bees 

 three-banded and four-banded; possibly they 

 would show only three bands; they might 

 take after their father; and it is unfortu- 

 nate, too, that some of these so-called golden 

 breedei-s will have daughters that will show- 

 bees of only two bands. For that reason 

 we don't like to sell golden Italians; we 

 prefer to sell the regular standard three- 

 banded bees that will run fairly uniform. 

 Bees that have been bred for color are very 

 unstable in their markings. 



If any one can propose any scheme that 

 will establish a uniform standard for all 

 bees, we shall be glad to adopt it. Tenta- 

 tively we might suggest for the leather- 

 colored Italians, especially imported, that 

 the standard be two, two and one-half to 

 three bands for leather-colored and import- 

 ed. For ordinary Italians, three-banded ; 



