JANUARY 15, 1916 



75 



Of course, a breeder can't guarantee a 

 really untested queen; but tliis practice of 

 testing- them and finding them mixed, and 

 then sending out as untested, should be hit 

 hard; and now ask yourself the question, 

 under any reasonable circumstances, is a 

 man due to get (in two seasons) eleven 

 queens without getting a few purely mated 

 ones f 



Morgantown, N. C. 



[This seems like a severe arraignment of 

 one or two and possibly more queen-breed- 

 ers. Perhaps our correspondent happened 

 to get a very bad lot; but he should not 

 happen to get many such bad lots. We 

 cannot believe the charge can be laid against 

 the majority of our queen-breeders. As a 

 matter of fact, we know there are some 

 queen-breeders in this country whose un- 

 tested stock will run from 99 to 100 per 

 cent pure. There may be others who are 

 more careless, and allow their mating-yards 

 to be in localities where there are many 

 black bees. This is neither fair nor square. 

 If we know it we will not accept advertis- 

 ing from such people. 



It goes without saying, that a large per- 

 centage of untested queens should be pure 

 — not less than 75 joer cent. Anything 

 short of that ought to be replaced until the 

 proper percentage is reached. 



After all, it is a case of the survival of 

 the fittest. The queen-breeder who con- 

 tinues to send out mismated for untested, or 

 scrubs, will not get any repeat orders, and 

 it will be only by extensive advertising that 

 he will be able to get any new business. 



Such extensive advertising unsupported by 

 repeat orders will leave him no profit, and 

 he will be forced out of the game. It fol- 

 lows that the man who has been in the field 

 for j'ears, and gets repeat orders year after 

 year, will have his locality so thoroly Ital- 

 ianized that there will be no blacks in the 

 vicinity. 



We shall be glad to hear from others as 

 to the untested queens they have received, 

 and the percentage of pure matings. If 

 any of our advertisers are in the habit of 

 placing their mating-yards where there are 

 many black bees, we shall feel compelled to 

 reject their advertising of untested stock as 

 soon as we know it. 



Perhaps the solution of the difficulty 

 would be to advertise only warranted stock; 

 but that would open a way to fraud on the 

 part of the customer. He could claim that 

 many of the warranted queens sent him 

 were impure, and ask for a replacement 

 whether the facts warrant it or not. After 

 all, it seems fair to sell untested stock with 

 the understanding that at least 75 per cent 

 of it shall show up pure ; tested for exactly 

 what they are, and so on up to the select 

 tested and extra select, and breeders and 

 extra breeders. 



Last year we purchased from a promi- 

 nent queen-breeder 100 untested queens, as 

 we were short of stock at the time — that is 

 to say, our own colonies were becoming 

 queenless. We put them in the hives, and 

 every one of those colonies showed up pure 

 mating, notwithstanding the queens had 

 been sold to fill orders. — Ed.] 



BEE CULTURE AND HONEY- MARKET CONDITIONS IN LOUISIANA 



BY J. F. ARCHDEKIN 



At first it was hard to credit the stories 

 that Avere told me about the possibilities of 

 beekeeping in this section. Being from 

 Missouri I had to be shoAvn ; but the show- 

 ing has confirmed the stories. 



This locality is swampy; and a southern 

 swamp has to be seen and felt to be appre- 

 ciated. Almost every conceivable kind of 

 tree, bush, and flower gTows in them, and 

 they contain an immense assortment of 

 insect, bird, and animal life, ranging from 

 the almost microscopic redbug, or chigger, 

 which makes itself felt continuously, to 

 alligators twenty feet long. It is a natural- 

 ist's paradise ; and mosquitoes ! they are 

 simply terrific. In fact, I never saw so 

 many kinds of insects in my life. 



Bees are plentiful, bee-trees being ex- 

 ceedingly numei'ous. Owing to the favor- 



able conditions a bee-tree is permanent 

 when once established, and will exist for 

 years if left undisturbed. People are con- 

 stantly telling me about bee-trees they have 

 known of for years. Just the other day a 

 man mentioned a tree he found eight years 

 ago. I myself saw two trees cut for bees, 

 not over sixty feet apart. Conditions here 

 are very favorable to bee life, there being 

 absolutely no disease with mild winters, 

 and a continuous honey-flow lasting seven 

 months of the year. The wild bees swarm, 

 and during the spring flow wild swarms 

 are seen almost daily. 



In spite of all this, bee culture has been 

 neglected to a great extent in this state. 

 AVhile there are extensive apiaries, here and 

 there, over the slate, they are comparatively 

 recent in establishment, as it is only in late 



