76 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



ly under such conditions; and in much of the 

 handling, four sections are handled at one 

 time, two in each hand, and in such a way 

 that no combs are ever damaged by a care- 

 ful hand. 



IMPROVEMENT OF BEES. 



Is the optimistic tone of the article by R. 

 B. McCain, page 1236, entirely warranted ? 

 Is it true that "the stock of the honey-bee 

 has beea wonderfully improved by man's 

 management in the application of the prin- 

 ciples of scientific bee culture ?" It is true, 

 indeed, that there is a great difference in 

 the working qualities of different strains of 

 bees, and that in some cases we may, per- 

 haps, fairly claim to have accomplished im- 

 provement by intelligent selection; but as a 

 whole I must say that the results have been 

 pitifully small and inadequate, considering 

 our opportunities. We have frequently had 

 our attention called to the fact that we have 

 exceptional opportunities for improvement 

 by breeding and selection on account of the 

 shortness of the generation of the bee; but 

 have we really made as much improvement 

 in bees as has been made in other domestic 

 animals in the same time ? It is true that 

 most of us believe that the Italian bee is 

 better than the German brown or black bee 

 it has superseded in nearly all localities, and 

 that there can be found those who express 

 a preference for each of the other races that 

 have been brought to this country, but the 

 importation of these races is not to be con- 

 sidered as improvements in bees due to man's 

 management or the application of principles 

 of scientific culture. The only thing that 

 can be considered in that light is the change 

 that has been made by breeding and selec- 

 tion since they have come to this country. 

 How much real improvement has there been? 

 I think there has been some; but, leaving 

 out the claims of advertisers, many of which 

 are not substantiated by results, and remem- 

 bering how many there are who believe that 

 bees from newly imported stock are superior, 

 it does not really seem that any thing very 

 wonderf 1 i^as been done. 



T( much of our breeding has been done 

 hap-hazard. and without any intelligent sys- 

 tem or direction other than the production of 

 yellow bees and nice-looking queens. Will 

 Mr. McCain or any one else point out where 

 bees have been produced which are better 

 adapted to particular localities, or to particu- 

 lar kinds of work, or where the quality of 

 the honey, other than an improvement in ap- 

 pearance, has been affected by improvement 

 in the stock ? We must remember that many 

 people have bees that, from one cause or an- 

 other, are very inferior. When one of these 

 gets new stock, no matter where, he is quite 

 sure to get something superior to what he 

 has had. Accordingly he writes a glowing 

 testimonial, which the queen-breeder pub- 

 lishes, and plumes himself on having some- 

 thing really superior, whereas his stock may 

 be quite ordinary. My own experience with 

 some of this so-called superior stock has 

 seen very disappointing. 



INTENSIVE vs. EXTENSIVE BEE- KEEPING. 



The article by E. W. Alexander, on the 

 amount of honey per colony, is very interest- 

 ing, and brings up the old question, " Which 

 is the more profitable, many bees and little 

 manipulation, or few bees and much manip- 

 ulation?" This question is not confined to 

 bee-keeping, but is a vital one in many in- 

 dustries. In most of them, at least, the 

 best of the argument seems to be in favor 

 of a man trying to do no more than he can 

 do thoroughly, and, for the most part, with 

 his own labor. For instance, this is largely 

 a fruit country, and consequently one of 

 many small farms. I have heard a number 

 of men say that they could make as much 

 money on ten acres as they could on twenty, 

 and very few seem to care to try to handle 

 more than twenty acres. On one side of me 

 there is a fruit-ranch of 110 acres, which, 

 according to report, has never much more 

 than paid expenses. On the other side of 

 me are a number of ten to twenty acre or- 

 chards, the owners of which are making a 

 good living and laying up money. 



Now, to how great an extent does this 

 principle hold good in bee-keeping, and 

 where is the line below which there is not a 

 fair living, and above which an extra num- 

 ber of colonies is only a waste of capital and 

 a vexation of spirit instead of a source of 

 profit? It is an interesting question; but I 

 am not going to try to solve it now. I think 

 that, like many other problems in bee-keep- 

 ing, the solution depends on a number of 

 factors, the principal of which are the man 

 and the location. I think, too, that a mid- 

 dle course is likely to be found best, and this is 

 along the line that I expect to follow, keep- 

 ing no more bees than I can take good care 

 of, doing nearly all the work with the bees 

 myself, and hiring help as far as possible 

 for that not directly with the bees. But I 

 expect to use such implements and methods 

 that I can handle properly more bees with 

 than are kept by the average bee-keeper. 



I would call attention to the fact that Mr. 

 Alexander keeps several hundred colonies of 

 bees, and that he does not pretend that they 

 are managed in the way that he advises. 

 Regarding the plan he outlines, I would say 

 that the localities where any large amount 

 of surplus may be safely counted on after 

 July are, comparatively speaking, very few, 

 and the beginner in the average locality who 

 attempted to follow his instructions would, 

 I think, be likely to meet with disaster. 



[I would respectfully suggest that Mr. 

 Green have a photo taken of his ventilating- 

 crates, said photo to be taken at our ex- 

 pense and sent here. It strikes me he has 

 a good thing. 



What Mr. Green has to say about the 

 lack of improvement made in the mating of 

 queens is only too true. One difficulty in 

 our way has been the problem of controlling 

 the male parentage of our bees. This is 

 where we have been handicapped. But 

 some of the breeders, at least, will try the 

 experiment very soon of breeding queens on 



