262 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



of honey stored is the first item. The dozen 

 or so showing the highest yields are graded 

 according to that; then those having serious 

 faults are marked out. By queen-rearing 

 time the choice has usually narrowed down 

 to three or four; and if all seem equally 

 good I prefer to breed from all of tliem. In 

 general, all faults except bad temper and 

 propolizing will help to I'educe the yield of 

 tlie colony, and so need not be specially 

 noticed. For instance, swarming or bad 

 wintering will usually put the colony beloAv 

 the average in storing, and so rule it out. 



A system of records is a necessity if one 

 is trying to build up a good strain of bees. 

 A record must be kept of the age of each 

 queen, the amount of honey produced, and 

 the number of the colony from which the 

 queen came. For example, my best queen 

 the past season was marked on the record 

 .■i2qll, meaning that the queen was reared 

 in 1911, fi'om brood obtained fi^om colony 

 No. 32. By looking over my records I find 

 that a dozen or more sisters of this queen 

 are still living, and that nearly all have 

 produced excejitionally good colonies. Turn- 

 ing to the 1911 record we find that the 

 mother of these queens came in like manner 

 from 29q08; and we can trace any queen 

 back and discover all her relationships as 

 far back as 1899, when my system of rec- 

 ord-keeping was begun. 



If one is rearing queens to be used in 

 comb-honey production it is necessary to 

 keep track of the finish and filling of sec- 

 tions as well as of the number. Some 

 colonies Avill store a lot of honey, but will 

 put so much propolis on the cappings that 

 the honey m.ust he sold for No. 2. Some 

 will make a start in every section, even in a 

 light flow, and leave the majority of them 

 unfinished or very light in weight. Others 

 will start only a few sections at a time, and 

 fill them full as they go. I had a weak 

 colony the past season that gave 18 plump 

 sections weighing a full pound each, 3 partly 

 filled, and 7 with the foundation untouched. 

 I regTet that such colonies are usually below 

 the average in the amount of honey stored. 



Sometimes it is a strong temptation to 

 use a queen whose bees are very gentle and 

 beautiful,, and only moderate as to storing. 

 In such cases I often raise just a few queens 

 from her, in the hope of getting one of her 

 daugliters whose bees have more energy. To 

 some extent each one must value the differ- 

 ent qualities for himself. I never saw a 

 hive of bees that had all the good qualities, 

 in perfection, with none of the bad. Per- 

 {sonallv I dislike cross bees of all things, so 

 a touch of bad temper cancels all merits for 

 me. There is less wear on my nerves in 



working two colonies of gentle bees than 

 one of cross ones, and it takes me quite a 

 little longer to go through a cross colony. 



With some fear of raising a storm of 

 juotest, I will venture to give my opinion 

 of golden or yellow Italians. T have han- 

 dled a great many so-called goldens. At 

 one time. I had an entire apiary of them, 

 with queens from all the leading breeders 

 of yellow stock. It is a matter of regret to 

 me that I can not afford to keep them 

 Their beauty and quietness on the combb 

 are very pleasant to see. They defend their 

 hives better against moth and robbers than 

 any other bees I have ever handled, and I 

 think they do nicer work in finishing sec- 

 tions than the common Italians. But as to 

 quantity of honey stored they range from 

 zero to moderate. I have had a few colonies 

 that would hardly gather a living in a good 

 season. Occasionally one finds so-called 

 goldens that are good workers, but with a 

 villainous temper, which I su])pose comes 

 from Cyprian blood. I have always found 

 goldens, even the gentlest, ver_y difficult to 

 introduce queens to, the loss by actual count 

 being three times as great as when introduc- 

 ing to common stock. 



A queen can not usually be considered 

 tested for honey production before she is 

 two years old. I never like to give a queen 

 credit for good work until all the bees in 

 the hive are of her blood. This does not 

 usually occur before the end of the first 

 season. The second season is the real test 

 of her worker progeny, and we begin to use 

 her as a breeder about the beginning of her 

 third laying season, or the end of her second 

 year. I remember only one case where 1 

 was able to use a breeding queen at one 

 year old, on the strength of an unusual 

 record made on the fall flow. I have somt 

 prejudice in favor of breeding from young- 

 er queens if we had any way of deciding 

 which ones to use. 



I like to buy a few queens each year for 

 the sake of introducing new blood, but 

 never use them or their descendants as 

 breeders unless they prove superior to my 

 original stock, which has not happened 

 lately. I have bought no imported Italians 

 for many years, as I have always found 

 them inferior for comb honey. Of other 

 races than Italians, I shall say nothing in 

 this article except that I ■no longer keep 

 them. 



I have said nothing of selection for 

 hardiness or resistance to disease, because 

 these things largely take care of themselves. 

 If you want hardy bees, expose them to 

 hard conditions, and only the hardy Avill 

 sui*vive, of course. But I have never done 



