274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Few Goldens Found True to Name, but Those Few 

 were Good Workers 



It is to be regretted that there has been so much 

 deprecation of golden bees in the columns of the bee- 

 journals. First of all, I want to say that I am not 

 a golden "bug." Always I want yields; and where 

 my bees do not give yields they are discarded. 

 Mainly the cause of the feelings against goldens is 

 the breeders who persist in breeding for color to 

 supply the demand for yellow queens and leave yields 

 to take second place in the qualities of their queens. 

 Some of the greatest beemen in the country prefer 

 very yellow bees. Last year Dr. Miller's yellowest 

 bees gave the best yields. However, that may not 

 be the leading attribute in his bees, and I don't 

 know that he advances any such theory. 



Last year I spent about $100 buying golden 

 queens of various breeders in the United States, 

 mainly to see how yellow their product was, and to 

 try them out for yields. I never bought less Hian 

 six at once, and gave them a thorough trial. Of 

 course, I did not try out all the goldens in the 

 country, by any means. However, out of sixteen 

 breeders I found just three whose queens would 

 really pass for decent goldens, and all three of these 

 strains proved good yielders. To me this proves too 

 much breeding for color alone. Can any thing more 

 surely kill the golden demand? 



In querying advertisements, and writing for prices 

 to these breeders and other beekeepers, I found a 

 most lamentable lack of even common business de- 

 cency in the answers. In one case I waited 22 days 

 in the height of the season for prices of queens. The 

 In-eeder lived 22 hours from me by mail, I found by 

 investigation. Many dealers have told me that bee- 

 keepers are often very unbusinesslike in answering 

 queries for them. Seemingly these men, particularly 

 queen-breeders, are afraid to figure a little service 

 cost against the gross profit made on their queens. 

 ( Several breeders "\^TOte me letters containing mis- 

 spelled words and mistakes — some on the typewriter 

 that would have made me weep if one in any other 

 business went after my patronage in such a manner.) 



For my location, goldens are best. Three-banders 

 are nearly as good. I have never tried other races 

 of bees. However, it is lamentable that some breed- 

 ers s.end out " goldens " which are hardly more than 

 quite yellow three-banders. Goldens should be yel- 

 low all but the very tip. I never received goldens 

 from reliable breeders which weren't so marked. 

 Many times I know golden breeders are asked if 

 there is Cyprian blood in their bees to give the color. 

 There may be in some; but the breeder who can't 

 breed up a yellow strain without Cyprian blood had 

 better go out of business. Certainly he is selling a 

 fake if he uses it. 



Common sense will enable one to breed yellow bees 

 by selection. However, they must be where purity 

 of mating is insured. To my notion the yellowest 

 queens should go for queen mothers, while the high- 

 est yielders among the yellowest should go for drone 

 motiiers. But never a breeder for either purpose 

 should be chosen unless they are well above the 

 average in yield. Patrons will pass up your "dark" • 

 queens sold for goldens when they are business-get- 

 ters in yields. Drone mothers should be the highest 

 yielders, for to my notion, as with chickens, the 

 male line carries the quality of yield better than the 

 mothers. -Some breeders keep too many colonies in 

 their mating-yards. There shouldn't be any more 

 than are actually needed in the yard. There is too 

 much likelihood of letting colonies go where there 

 are too many, and where some breed undesirable 

 drones. Every breeder owes that much to his patrons. 



Fakirs exist because the buyers don't investigate 

 their claims. The time is rapidly coming in bee- 



keeping when the man who doesn't deliver the goods 

 must get out. It is so in yields. It will be true in 

 breeders. Fair business methods deserve patronage, 

 and nobody knows it better than the fellow who once 

 gets stung. 



Plainfleld, III Kexxeth Hawkins. 



An Extraordinarily Good Colony 



I had the best honey crop last year that I have 

 ever seen in this locality. The bees just rolled in 

 the honey in June and July. I had one eight-frame 

 colony of red-clover Italians that would fill a 28- 

 seetion super in four days when the white-clover 

 yield was at its best. My crop for the year was 675 

 pounds from seven colonies, spring count. This one 

 eight-frame colony made 17 shallow extracting-combs 

 of honey and 168 4x5 sections, most of them fancy. 

 I think that this queen is worth a lot to me. The 

 same colony made seven supers of honey in 1912. 

 The queen was four years old last fall, and the 

 colony has swarmed but once, which was during the 

 first year after I got her. On that occasion, for 

 some reason the queen • could not fly, and my son 

 picked her up on the ground and put her in a cage 

 until I came home. I took from the hive a couple 

 of cells that I wanted, and destroyed the rest and 

 put the queen back and she is there yet. She is not 

 clipped, for she has good wings so far as I can see. 

 She is the largest queen I have ever had. 



During the four years that I have handled this 

 colony I have been stung but once, and that was 

 when I pinched one pf the bees. When the frames 

 are taken out of the hives the bees stick closely to 

 the combs and do not fly around my face. They can 

 be handled without veil or smoke. 



Tliere have never been any queen-cells in the hive 

 except that one time mentioned above. All that I do 

 to prevent swarming is to remove the % strip at the 

 back of the bottom-board and put a piece of wire 

 screen in its place during hot weather. 



Elizabeth, Pa. Amos E. Meyers. 



Breeding for Honey Instead of Color 



While I am not an extensive beekeeper I breed 

 for honey rather than for color. About the first of 

 June I go through my yard watching the fronts of 

 the hives until I find the one I want. Then I look 

 inside tOi see whether the bees of this particular 

 queen are gentle and evenly marked, also whether 

 the combs are well filled with brood from top to 

 bottom. Then I find the queen to see whether she 

 is leather-colored with a bit of black at the tip. If 

 so, all right. If not, I look further for one having 

 those markings. 



I prefer to have the workers go out of the hive 

 like a bullet, and when they return drop on the 

 alighting-board and hurry inside. Furthermore, I 

 want a queen whose bees enter the super readily, 

 whether producing comb or extracted hone\ . 



Referring to the record of the colony in question 

 I make sure that her bees winter well, and that they 

 do not daub the sections with propolis badly. 



It is just as important to have the mother of the 

 drone show these good qualities also. 



Cattaraugus, N. Y. Harold W. Scott. 



CoJony Fed Artificial Pollen Ahead of the Others 



Rye graham flour may be used as a substitute for 

 natural pollen. In the spring of 1913 I fed a 

 colony of bees rye graham flour. This colony swarm- 

 ed out May 26, while all the other colonies did not 

 swarm until after June 10. 



Adolph C. Rosenquist. 



Parker's Prairie, Minn., Feb. 27. 



