.i'::tl 15, 1916 



GOLDENS THAT ARE WORLD-BEATERS 



Ijy A BREEDER 



Oil page 03, Jan. 15, A. C. Miller speaks 

 of killing' 20 old queens in full colonies and 

 smoking in a like number, all in 45 minutes. 

 Xow, I have no doubt caught and caged 

 more queens than Mr. Miller ever saw — 

 from one or two to one hundred a day dur- 

 ing the queen season for the past 15 to 18 

 yeare — and I'll say right here the man who 

 catches and cages 25 queens an hour from 

 nuclei is going some; and it is an altogether 

 different proposition finding queens in full 

 colonies. It might be done once, but I have 

 my doubts. 



As to the " curse of the goldens," I have 

 before me a letter from a man in Idaho who 

 seems to take kindly to the " curse of the 

 industry'." as he orders 200 of them and 

 reports 250 pounds of comb honey from a 

 colony beaded by one of these " cui*ses." 

 Don't you think it would be well for the 

 industry if there were more of the " ac- 

 cursed " kind? * 



I realize that there are, no doubt, goldens 

 that may not be all they should be; but did 

 you ever think of the great number of 

 three-banded bees that are in the same 

 boat? Whj' don't we hear from them? 

 For a num]>er of years I have had goldens 

 and three-banded bees in the same outyard, 

 and these three-banders were as good as 

 any in the world; and if there was any 

 difference in the production or disposition 

 I failed to find it. 



You find some people who have a twisted 

 conception of life and what it means, and 

 are inclined to get out their little tack-ham- 

 mer and knock everything in sight that they 

 may have taken a childish dislike to. Now, 

 this does them no good, and might do others 

 harm. Personally I do not care for Cauca- 

 sians, for they are not the bees for this 

 location ; but I do know they are hard to 

 beat where you have several good flows 

 during the season. I never knock them, 

 because, for certain sections, they are the 

 bee. 



If we are to believe Mr. G. M. Doolittle 

 (and I know of no more truthful man), 

 goldens have been bred up from the three- 

 banded bees, and not by crossing with 

 Eastern races- — at least liis have ; and you 

 will find, by writing to breeders of golden 

 queens in the United States that at least 

 half of such breeders have founded their 

 stock on the rock of Doolittle. There are 

 breeders of golden queens who are giving 

 their best efforts to producing a strain of 

 bees that will be world-beaters; and I'll tell 

 you right now that they have about reached 

 the desired goal. It takes a greater intelli- 

 gence to rear goldens than some other 

 strains. The more difficult it is to reach a 

 desired result, the harder you must work 

 and think and plan; but if you keep at it 

 long enough vou will succeed. 



THOUSANDS OF BEEKEEPERS PREFER GOLDENS 



r.Y A BREEDER 



I have been in the bee industry over 20 

 yeai-s, and have tried and tested all kinds 

 of bees side by side. Taking everything 

 into consideration, the goldens have proven 

 the best and most gentle. They will gather 

 more honey than any other strains with 

 double the quantity of bees. I have only 

 goldens now; but I will not try tO' run down 

 any race. There are some very good bees 

 of the dark races. The best and oldest bee- 

 men in this country praise the goldens. and 



recommend them. The editor says that one 

 who buys goldens or extra-yelloAV bees is 

 likely to receive bad and good stock. I 

 would ask if it would not be the same in 

 case of the three-banded. T think it is get- 

 ting time for these who have goldens to 

 stand up for the superiority of these (the 

 disease-resisting strain). I know there are 

 thousands of beemen wlio would not have 

 any bees except guldens, no matter what 

 anv one savs. 



THE BRIGHTEST GOLDENS ARE THE GENTLEST 



BY A BREEDER 



Mr. Miller is very evidently biased on 

 (he subject, and in support of this T cite 

 Ills assertion that goldens were the cans? of 

 laying workers. Why blame the poor bees 



just because they were yellow? One would 

 infer from his assertion that Inving work- 

 ers are found only in golden colonies. 

 It is not color that influences me in decid- 



