OCTOBER 1, 1916 



939 



There are Goldens and Goldens. 



I have been amused at the difPerent opin- 

 ions of golden bees as expressed in the re- 

 cent discussions in Gleanings. As is often 

 the case, the parties who disagree are talk- 

 ing about different things. There are two 

 well-defined races or strains of golden bees 

 which are frequently confused. One strain, 

 in its purity, is very gentle, very lazy, raises 

 little brood, but feeds the larva? liberally. 

 This is the race beloved of the queen-breeder. 

 The queens are a beautiful golden in color, 

 but usually rather small. The other strain 

 is active and energetic, but usually vicious 

 in temper. Both strains are generally good 

 finishers of comb honey. 



I tried for several years to get a good 

 strain by crossing the two that have been 

 mentioned, and succeeded in getting a few 

 queens that were satisfactory. But their 

 descendants mostly turned out common 

 three-banders, or reverted to one or the 

 other of the parent races. As I was not 

 raising queens for sale I gave it up and re- 

 turned to the common Italians. 



The term "golden," as applied to bees, is 

 a very indefinite one. The race can be kept 

 true only by close inbreeding; and the closer 

 they are inbred the more strikingly their de- 

 fects appear. The wide difference in price 

 between untested and tested queens as quot- 

 ed by breeders of goldens shows the difficul- 

 ty of breeding true. 



I worked for one breeder of golden queens 

 who had requeened every hive in his mating 

 range with daughters of the same queen. 

 The result was a very beautiful and gentle 

 race, which made a fair showing in honey 

 when no other bees were present for com- 

 parison. But in other apiaries, where his 

 queens were introduced I find them invari- 

 ably the poorest. 



Newman, Ills. C. F. Bender. 



Broodless Cell-Building Colonies. 



Mr. Pritchard advises A. W. Kuenzli, in 

 Heads of Grain, July 15, that only capped 

 brood be used in cell-starting colonies, and 

 that it be used for only a very short time 

 lest laying workers get to be a nuisance. 

 Mr. Pritchard has had more experience than 

 I, but I am convinced he is wrong. Why 

 keep any brood at all in your cell-starter 

 after first dequeening it? No better cells 

 will be built. The colonies I started with 

 this spring are still queenless, and still start- 

 ing the finest cells I could want. Besides, 

 my cell-starters are very good surplus-honey 

 colonies, having yielded about 150 pounds of 

 extracted honey this year. 



I can 't afford to have backward colonies 

 all over the yard by dequeening and requeen- 

 ing later. 1 can't afford the fuss. If you 

 will shake a frame of young bees into the 

 starter every other day they will build the 

 finest cells, laying workers will never trouble 

 and they will develop a field force that will 

 put up a lot of honey in the frames of the 

 hive. Note that T am talking of starters. 



not builders, as Mr. Kuenzli seems to have 

 the two confused, also that I could name 

 some of the biggest breeders in the country 

 who use my plan, I am surprised that a 

 company like the Roots, with their efficiency, 

 could tolerate a lot of colonies dequeened 

 and requeened in a few weeks to build up 

 for winter only, giving no surplus. 



Plainfield, 111. Kennith Hawkins. 



Natural Swarming Without Much Increase 



The honey season has been good here this 

 year, but mj^ bees did lots of swarming. 

 When I got all the swarms I wanted for in- 

 crease, I returned the swarms to the parent 

 colonies; but in most instances they swarmed 

 again the next day. Then I gave them to 

 other colonies, which had swarmed a day or 

 more before, and it worked fine. They stay- 

 ed and worked just as hard as swarms hived 

 in empty hives. At first I was afraid the 

 bees would fight, but they never did. 



I hived the swarms in store-boxes. Some- 

 times, when several swarmed at the same 

 time, I had more than a bushel in one box. 

 The next morning before sunrise I shake 

 them out on cloth-covered boards, set slant- 

 ing to the entrance of the colonies I want to 

 strengthen. I give about 5 to 7 lbs. of bees 

 to each colony. 



When the swarming season was over, from 

 105 colonies, spring count, 97 were strong 

 and 8 weak (those which swarmed last) ; and 

 besides this, I had 32 new colonies. Until 

 today I found only two of them queenless. 

 I got about 8000 lbs. of comb honey. 



I like this way of swarm control better 

 than anything I have ever tried before, and 

 I expect to practice it again next year. I 

 would not try it in a season when there is 

 not a good honey-flow; but when the bees 

 don 't get much honey in this locality they 

 don't swarm much. Fred W. Wenke. 



Pender, Neb., Sept. 13. 



Honey Saved My Baby's Life. 



He was eight months old, and starving. 

 I put honey in his milk. 



We also gave it to our oldest daughter 

 when she had typhoid fever. Milk, honey, 

 and oatmeal, was all she ate for weeks. 



I'm a great lover of honey. When avail- 

 able we use 800 to 1000 lbs. in our family. 

 The keeping of a few bees is very little 

 work, and we often sell that much. 



Star, Okla. Mrs, Ona Foliart. 



How much corn syrup is necessary, when 

 put in honey, to prevent it from becoming 

 candied? 



Ogden, Utah. Ogden Bee & Honey Co. 



[We do not know of any one who is mix- 

 ing corn syrup with honey to prevent granu- 

 lation. Such a mixture could not be sold as 

 honey under the national and various state 

 food laws. The corn syrup would not ac- 

 complish the desired result without interfer- 

 ing with the flavor. — Ed.] 



