268 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



At Borodino, New York. 



THE BEST BEES. 



" I am a comparatively new be- 

 ginner with bees, but Avish the best 

 bees for comb honey I can possibly 

 uet. In time I may conclude to 

 work for both comb and extracted 

 honey. Are some bees better for 

 extracted and others for comb? " 



Volumes have been written on this sub- 

 ject, and the matter is not fully settled in 

 the minds of many, even at the present 

 time. Some claim that the black bees are 

 preferable to any for comb honey, especial- 

 ly the large gTay kind that they have in the 

 South, while the smaller jet-black bee is 

 nearly worthless. After trying- in vain to 

 get that large strain of black bees, all prov- 

 ing nothing better than the black bee of my 

 first fifteen years of beekeeijing, I have con- 

 cluded that some one was mistaken. The 

 black bee is superior in only one point for 

 comb honey; and that point is, the white 

 capping of the section honey which they 

 l^roduce. Comb honey sells mainly by the 

 nice appearance of the sections; and the 

 blacks, by leaving a greater air-space be- 

 tween the honey and by their heavier coat- 

 ing of wax, give the best possible appear- 

 ance to section honey. And at all times of 

 a bountiful flow of nectar, long drawn out, 

 they are as good as any bees for honey; but 

 with a slow intermittent flow of nectar the 

 golden Italians are far ahead as to the 

 amount gathered, while they cap their hon- 

 ey nearly as beautifully as do the blacks. 

 However, some of our very best apiarists 

 tell me they do not know which are the best. 

 If I were producing extracted honey alto- 

 gether I would select the darker Italians, 

 those produced from queens from an im- 

 ported mother, or the most superior strain 

 of leather-colored Italians which I could 

 find bred by some breeder of known integ- 

 rity. I would allow the young queens to 

 mate with whatever drones there were in 

 and about the apiary, paying no attention 

 as to whether these drones were from Ital- 

 ian, hybrid, or black stock. Bees from such 

 queens would use much less wax in capping 

 combs than from any other strain which I 

 know of; and as the capping of combs cuts 

 no figure in the taste or looks of extracted 

 honey, 1 should be so much ahead, as, for 

 the most part of the time in the average 

 surplus season, wax secretion is possible 

 only by a larger consumption of honey. 



If I were working for comb or section 

 honey exclusively, then I would procure a 



good queen of the golden variety, rearing 

 all queens from her, and allow them to mate 

 with any drones they might chance to meet, 

 the most of which, without doubt, would be 

 from an entirely different " blood " from 

 themselves, which would give a direct cross. 

 Such direct cross always gives greater vigor 

 than anything I know of; and, as the c^ues- 

 tion is asked, I should not care very much 

 whether my yellow queens mated with 

 drones from black or hybrid stock, as all of 

 my experience goes to prove that thoro- 

 bred golden Italian queens, mated to drones 

 of either black or hybrid stock give bees 

 equal to the very best for comb-honey pur- 

 poses. If I could conveniently hinder it I 

 should prefer not to have these queens meet 

 drones from young queens reared from im- 

 ported mothers — not because they would not 

 give queens just as vigorous, and of just as 

 good honey-gathering qualities, but for the 

 reason that, as a rule, workers having much 

 imported blood in them do not cap their 

 honey nearly so nicely and captivating to 

 the eye of the consumer as do those having 

 more of the golden, hybrid, or German 

 blood in them. 



From the lot of young queens reared 

 from this same golden mother I would se- 

 lect one or more queens which give the best 

 results in section honey, considering amount 

 produced, color, and smoothness of the cap- 

 pings, disposition and wintering qualities, 

 and use them to breed from for a year or 

 two. Or I would get another golden queen 

 from another experienced breeder in whom 

 I had faith, and go over the gi'ound again. 



To sum up I would say, first have your 

 young queens mate with drones as distantly 

 related to your queens as possible. Second, 

 use queens as closely related to imported 

 Italian or leather-colored stock as possible, 

 where working for extracted honey, for 

 there are no better bees in the world, in my 

 opinion, than those two or three generations 

 from imported stock for securing all the 

 honey there is to be had from your locality. 

 Third, where white capping of combs be- 

 comes one of the great objects to work for, 

 as is the case where working for section 

 honey, choose the golden Italians, on ac- 

 count of their qualities in that direction. At 

 the same time they are in no way second to 

 Italians from imported stock, or the dark 

 leather variety as to their honey-gathering 

 qualities. Lastly, put your own self ir.to 

 this breeding business, using all the C: eri'y 

 and vim vo'i ro-s?ss. 



