GLKAIMIJSUS IN liEE CULTURE 



Mav, 1921 



VALUE OF GOOD QUEENS 



Why Beekeepers Should Rear Their Own 

 Queens 



From the days of Langstroth and Quinby 

 down to the present time the masters of 

 beekeeping have pointed out the importance 

 of the queen in relation to successful honey 

 production. It is a well-established fact that 

 a good queen is necessary if a honey crop 

 is to be secured. Yet it is doubtful if many 

 beekeepers fully realize the importance of 

 having a good, young, vigorous Italian 

 queen at the head of every colony at the 

 proper time, so that the colonies will be 

 strong and the hives filled with brood and 

 fairly boiling over with bees just as the 

 honey flow opens. When this condition pre- 

 vails, a large yield is assured, provided there 

 is anything like a good honey flow. In any 

 apiary of any considerable number of colo- 

 nies will be found colonies that produce 

 those phenomenal honey crops, double or 

 quadruple the average of the apiary. Many 

 other colonies will be found that produce 

 little and some that give no surplus what- 

 ever. My personal opinion on this matter 

 is that too many of us are prone to belieA'e 

 these yields, both large and small, are due 

 to some peculiar honey-getting qualities of 

 the bees, or the lack of such qualities. In 

 most cases, if a careful examination were 

 made of these exceptional colonies, it would 

 be found to be the condition of the colo- 

 nies rather than any inherent quality of 

 the bees. And further, it would be found 

 that the age and the quality of the queen 

 are responsible for the condition of the colo- 

 nies. By the quality of the queen, I mean 

 that she was properly reared, which is 

 usually the case where she was reared under 

 the swarming impulse or during supersedure. 

 To be sure, there is a difference in honey- 

 getting qualities of bees, but the age of the 

 queen has most to do with it. 



To realize the importance of having 

 young, vigorous queens in all colonies, the 

 beekeeper may make the following test. At 

 the close of an ordinary season, figure up 

 how much honey you got per colony. Then 

 figure up how much more you would have 

 gotten, if every colony had done as well as 

 the best one. Many would find that their 

 income would have been doubled, as the ex- 

 pense and the work connected with a poor 

 colony are about the same as with the best 

 one. Now if you had as good queens in all 

 colonies as the one in the best, your yield 

 per colony would have equaled the best. But 

 some will ask, "Is it possible or practical 

 1o hn\-o all queens ecjually good?" What is 

 Miere to liinder? It is no uncommon occur- 

 rence for beekeepers to report that the 



average per colony was above what their 

 best produced several years before under 

 similar conditions. They had become better 

 beekeepers and had all colonies in better 

 condition, altho they had not bred a better 

 strain of bees than the ones they previously 

 had. How then are you to proceed? There 

 is only one way, and that is to rear your 

 own queens. It would be impossible to buy 

 enough queens to requeen as often as nec- 

 essary, even if it were advisable. I believe 

 the time will come when most honey pro- 

 ducers will consider as a regular and neces- 

 sary part of the work of the apiary, that of 

 rearing queens. The era of better beekeep- 

 ing is coming, and we can hasten it in no 

 way more than by rearing our own queens 

 if we know how, and if we do not, we should 

 learn. 



It is gratifying to see the number of agri- 

 cultural colleges that now teach apiculture. 

 They cannot do a better service than to 

 give an extensive course in queen-rearing. 

 Graduates would be in demand, for in many 

 cases the beekeeper could afford to hire a 

 graduate to rear his queens and requeen his 

 entire yard, if he were not in position to 

 do it himself. Jay Smith. 



COLOR OF DRONES 



American- Bred Italians More Uniform than Im- 

 ported Stock 



Regarding the article of E. P. Stiles in 

 March Gleanings, page 150, on the color of 

 drones from imported queens being more 

 uniform than from American-bred queens, 

 I will say, after over 30 years of study and 

 comparison of drones from imported Italian 

 queens and from what other close observers 

 have told me, that our American-bred queens 

 throw more uniform drones than do the 

 imported stock. 



I have never yet seen an Italian queen 

 of known purity throw drones that were 

 uniform in color. If they are yellow, there 

 is always a variation in the shade of yel- 

 low. This leads me to believe tliat the Ital- 

 ian bee is not a pure strain or race of bees. 

 Like the Plymouth Rock poultry, it is nec- 

 essary to breed for color all the time. The 

 variation in color is not only in the drones 

 Vnit ill tlio queens as well. 



It is surely a fact that the pure Italia?! 

 stock whicli we imported years ago revert- 

 ed l)ack to dark or black bees very quickly 

 if they were left alone and no pains were 

 taken as to color. This is a fact up in this 

 noithern section anyway, so wp still select 

 for ('oh)r. T think Mr. Stiles means dark- 

 brown, and not black drones. 



Socket Harbor, N. Y. Geo. B. Howe. 



