GLEANINGS 



BEE CULTUI\E 



Devoted to Bees and Honey, and Home Interests. 



Vol. IX. 



NOV. 1, 1881. 



No. 11. 



A. I. ROOT, I 



I 

 Publisher and Proprietor, \ 



Published Monthly. 



Medina, O. 



\ EstaUishecl in 1873 



r TERMS: Si. 00 Per Anxvm, in Advance; 

 I 2 Copies for Si, 90; 3 for 82.75; 5 for 84.00; 10 

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 -j Additions to clubs may be made at club 

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NOTES FROITI THE BANNER APIAKY. 



No. 2-1:. 



APIS AMERICANA. 



fHE following- letter was received from friend 

 P. L. Viallon, and, tbinklnjr it "too good to 

 ■ keep " all to myself, I take this method of re- 

 plying:— 



f"niExn HUTCHIXKOX:— .\s .vou are a queen-breeder, like my- 

 self, and knowing that you are of that class that will tell the 

 tiaith in s])ite of all. I thousrht T would ask your opinion of tke 

 Apis Americana, or. rather, the American improved Italian bees. 

 1 would say yoiir experience, but I am not aware of your exper- 

 imentinj; in this line. I u.se the word opinion, as yoii have been 

 sendinc: queens to many, and j'ou certainly must have received 

 reports from the maiority. so as to be able to compare your 

 (lueens with the imjnoved queens reared imder the swarming 

 impulse, etc. Xow. for my part, I have experimented upon this 

 subject for several years, and I have come to the conclusion 

 that it is an easy matter to degenerate bees, and that there is 

 no improvement to be made on the daughters of selected im- 

 ported mothers. Since 1876 I have been importinsr queens from 

 Itab'. I have never imported more than two .years from the 

 same district, and although I h.ave paid extra to have queens 

 selected, I must say that at least one-half of the imported 

 queens arc not wortji breeding from, hence the outcry against 

 imported queens. But when one selects the best queens from 

 the better half, to breed from, then from these queens he can 

 rear queens that are as pood, if not better, than the great Ajjis 

 Americana. Now, I do not .sa.y this because I am prejudiced, 

 but give it as the conclusion that I have arri%'ed at. after actual 

 and laborious experiments. You know very well that it is 

 cheaper and less trouble to breed from homebred mothers; but 

 as I have foimd my bees to be a little less energetic after two or 

 three generations. I have determined to bleed only from im- 

 jiorted mothers of my own importation, as then 1 can select 

 what I want. 



I do not rear queens by anj- improved process or principle, but 

 have the cells built in moderately strong colonies, and hatch 

 them in nuclei. Sometimes, when there is a press of business, 

 and for want of stronger colonies. 1 have had some cells built 

 in very weak colonies, and, though the cells are few, I have 

 had just as fair and as good queens; which lias often made me 

 thinic that many of the theoiies advanced are — well, only 

 theories. 



Now another case: In examining a colony last spring, I found 

 it to have a queen as small as a worker, probably a little longer, 

 but smaller in diameter. I expected to replace her in a few 

 days, but, not having an.v queens to spare, I left her, as she was 

 laying well, until the latter part of .June, when, in going to re- 

 l>lacc her, 1 fuvrnd that she had been superseded, and that her 



daughter was as fair and large a queen as any I have had, and 

 she has turned out just as prolific as any queen can be. Now 

 the question is. Is it safe to breed from this queen! I think not, 

 though she is what any one would call a selected queen. But 

 then, I believe a little in D.anvin. 



Now about those rearing queens and claiming that they are 

 mated with selected drones. I know that we can have colonies 

 with selected queens rear a great many drones, and the proba- 

 bilities are that manv of the queens will mate with these choice 

 drones; but how can a man prevent his other colonies from 

 rearing drones! and if he has a neighbor apiarist, how can he 

 control the production of drones in his apiary! If everj' colony 

 HI the vard has been deprived of every particle of drone comb, 

 it is astonishing to see the number of drones that will be 

 reared. Unless a man has only a few colonies, and is isolated 

 for several miles from other bees, and then gives a thorough 

 examination when required, hosv can this selection of drones 

 be accomiilished! 



Well, friend H, 1 hope you will excuse me for having written 

 so much about these things, but they were on m.v mind, and I 

 felt like speaking about them to some one, but do not feel like 

 giving them to the bee journals, as I have neither time nor in- 

 clination to enter into a public discvission. Tnisting that you 

 are satisfied with this season's result, 1 am. 



Bayou Goula, La., Sept. 15, 1881. Yours Tnily. 



PAfi, L. Viallon. 



Well, friend V., and all the rest of the friends, I 

 have owned only three imported queens,— one from 

 Dadant and two from Nellis. These were all good 

 queens, and my apiary has been almost entirely 

 stocked with their daughters. I have had no ex- 

 perience with queens removed many generations 

 from imported stock. Some apiarists assert, that 

 the so-called Albino bees are the result of continued 

 breeding from light-colored home-bred stock. Who 

 has the bees that are the furthest removed from im- 

 ported stock, and yet are superior, or even equal, to 

 the average imported stock? Many customers have 

 written, praising my queens, but none have made 

 any comparisons between them and queens reared 

 under the swarming impulse. I have, this season, 

 had quite a number of queens reared under the 

 swarming impulse, and although the cells were 

 larger and nicer-looking than many of those ob- 

 tained by removing a queen from a colony, I have 

 failed to detect any difference in the queens. Two 



