erases 1 and 2 show how the disease ap- 

 parently varies within a given colony and 

 within a single comb; but the 8-per-cent 

 infection presented, even to the untrained 

 eye, the appearance of marked infection. 

 Thus it is presumable that the majority of 

 colonies which show only a few cells of the 

 disease are of a low-per-cent infection. 



It is somewhat surprising, however, to 

 most beekeepers to learn that 30-50 per 

 cent of their developing bees are dying of 

 sacbrood. They realize that the disease is 

 present, but they rely upon the energies of 

 their colonies to clean the disease out, know- 

 ing that from time to time apparently this 

 occurs. These figures, which probably typ- 

 ify conditions elsewhere in the country 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



other than in Massachusetts, should stimu- 

 late the beekeepers to select stock which will 

 not tolerate the presence of sacbrood. A 

 1-per-cent infection should not exist in any 

 colony. To breed from such a colony may 

 mean the perpetuation of the weakness and 

 inclination of this race of bees to the in- 

 fection. 



The writer would be glad to describe to 

 the beekeepers the method of making these 

 counts, if such details are desired. A gi'oup 

 of several hundred cells can be accurately 

 compared by simple means within relative- 

 ly few minutes. It may be that inspectors 

 elsewhere in the country can procure com- 

 parative data, and that in the future fur- 

 ther information will be available. 



WHAT QUEENS SHALL WE BREED FROM ? AND SOMETHING ABOUT 



THE DRONE PROBLEM 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER 



With all my heart I believe that every 

 beekeeper, beginner or veteran, should make 

 it his constant business to improve his stock. 

 He may get one or more queens as a start, 

 wherever he thinks he can get anything bet- 

 ter than the stock he already has, but that's 

 only a beginning. His steady job, for the 

 rest of his life as a beekeeper, is to see that 

 each year his bees shall be at least a little 

 better than they were the year before. 



To do this we must keep close tab on 

 each colony, putting down in black and 

 white its performance. Witliout neglecting 

 the matter of temper and other points, the 

 chief thing to be considered is the amount 

 of honey stored. No guesswork about it; 

 but each time a pound of honey is taken 

 from any colony, put it down. For many 

 a year past I can turn to my record-book 

 and tell you just how many sections each 

 colony gave. A little trouble — yes, but I 

 couldn't get along without it. 



Having, then, the standing of each queen, 

 he can rear his young queens from one or 

 more of the best. I do not mean that he 

 shall make a wholesale job of requeening 

 each colony each year. A colony that is 

 doing as well as the. average, or better, may 

 well be left to itself, even requeening itself 

 at its own will. But in the usual course it 

 will sometimes happen that a colony will 

 go queenless, and then it is a nice thing to 

 go to a nucleus and get for it a young lay- 

 ing queen of best stock. It will be well, al- 

 so, to replace with a queen of better stock 

 any queen whose colony falls below the av- 

 erage in its performance. 



In deciding what queen or queens shall 

 be used to breed from, two courses are open. 



One claims that it is not best to use for a 

 breeder a queen whose colony stores an 

 amount away above the average, such a 

 queen being a sport, or freak, whose royal 

 progeny will vary widely in characteristics; 

 but, instead, breed from stock a little above 

 the average, thus securing more laniform re- 

 sults, and gradually but surely raising the 

 standard. Another claims that, by con- 

 .stantly breeding from that queen whose col- 

 ony stores the most, the habit of heavy 

 storing will in time become a fixed char- 

 acteristic. 



I don't know which is the better way ; 

 but I do know that by breeding constantly 

 from the queens which make the highest 

 scores, freaks, if you so choose to call them, 

 I have very materially increased my aver- 

 age per colony. 



You can do the same. 



What about drones? One cannot control 

 the mating of a queen ; but one can control 

 the rearing of drones in his own apiary, 

 and thus increase the chances a young queen 

 shall have for meeting a drone of best stock. 

 In carrying this out in practice, here is the 

 plan I followed for many a year : I select- 

 ed half a dozen or so of the queens standing 

 at the head of the list for heavy yields. The 

 very best of these I chose as the one from 

 which to rear virgins; the rest were chosen 

 as drone-breeders; allowed a considerable 

 amount of drone comb; and drones were 

 suppressed in all other colonies in the 

 apiary. 



I think most beekeeuers would endorse 

 this course. I know that some of the best 

 of them do endorse it. But I am sure it 

 is wrong in jn-inciple. To make clear what 



