DECEMBER 15, 1916 



1171 



noticed from an entrance examination that 

 that colony did not appear very strong, and 

 that the bees flying were all old ones. T 

 examined the colony and fonnd the greatest 

 amonnt of drone brood I ever saw in one 

 colony, without a cell of worker brood. I am 

 certain that that queen never mated, and, 

 as a result, never produced a worker bee. 

 Judging from appearance alone one would 

 consider that queen very good. She must 

 have been confined to the hive -by bad 

 weather. I examined her for a defective 

 wing, but the wings seemed normal. 



The past summer has been for the most 

 part rainy and cold, and there is probably 

 more of this kind of trouble than usual. 



Peninsula, Ohio. 



BEES IN A SOLID MASS SIX FEET 

 HIGH 



r.Y O. B. GRIFFIN 



The picture shows the largest swarm of 

 bees I ever took down. This swarm was 

 hived in July, 1915, and consisted of six or 

 more swarms all in one cluster. From the 

 ground to the highest point it was G feet 

 4 inches in length. The extreme width was 

 4 feet 2 inches. Where the cluster was 

 solid it measured three feet thru, altho the 

 smallest diameter was only 414 inches at 

 the ground. It was certainly a magnificent 

 sight to one who loves bees. I divided the 

 swarm and hived the divisions, but they 



A mammoth cluster of bees, si.\ feet Iiisli, made 

 up of six swarms that settled together. 



made quite a bit of trouble before they were 

 settled to stay. 

 Caribou, Me. 



IS IT BEST TO HAVE ONE DOMINANT RACE OF BEES ONLY? 



BY T. T. TAYLOR 



There have been frequent discussions re- 

 garding black bees versus Italians. In the 

 March 1st issue for last year the editor -says 

 that the blacks seem to be the dominant 

 or persistent variety. This suggests to me 

 that a wider and more important question 

 can be raised here than that of whether 

 the black or the Italian bee is the better. 

 This question is : Is it desirable to have a 

 number of varieties and hybrids, as at 

 l^resent, in any country, or only one domi- 

 nant variety? This is not a question for 

 beekeepers of the United Stales only; it is 

 a question which, I think, should be con- 

 sidered by beekeepers of all countries where 

 there is more than one variety. In fact, I 

 think this question pertains more to other 

 countries than to the United States, where 

 the Italian bee is so popular, tho apparent- 

 ly not the dominant one. I will put my 



arguments in favor of this question in a few- 

 numbered paragraplis which, I think, in- 

 volve more or less the conclusion which I 

 draw from them — namely, that it is best 

 to have only one dominant variety in cer- 

 tain countries if not in all. 



1. The aim of beekeeping is predominant- 

 ly an economic one. It is the gathering 

 of honey, a food which is otherwise going 

 to waste, in the largest quantity and with 

 the least effort. In other words, the pre- 

 dominant aim is monetary profit. Personal 

 pleasure, hobby, or the color of the bee, 

 are but secondary considerations. 



2. If all the varieties of bees in a country 

 were left to interbreed and com])ete, a 

 single variety would in most cases, if not 

 in all, be i^roduced which we should call a 

 dominant variety because of its being a 

 resultant survival of all the others. Only 



