1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



721 



IK3i 



PURE ITALIANS VS. HYBRIDS FOR COMB HON- 

 EY; A CRUMB OF COMFORT FOR 

 DR. MILLER. 



I believe it needs no expert to show that 

 there has been a good deal of improvement 

 in Gleanings in the last few years, both in 

 quantity and quality of reading given. But 

 few things have interested me more than 

 Stray Straws, especially the ' ' scrap ' ' be- 

 tween the editor and Dr. Miller. The edi- 

 tor usually at first seems to get the better 

 of the doctor; but while we bee-keepers are 

 standing around with our hands in our pock- 

 ets enjoying the sport, the doctor snakes 

 him off and comes out of the ' ' scrap ' ' good 

 naturedly smiling, and none the worse for 

 the scrimmage; and we cheer him, I suppose, 

 because we naturally sympathize with the 

 under dog. 



Now, while it is not usually good policy 

 for a third person to interfere when two are 

 scrapping, I am tempted to express my 

 opinion in regard to the use of pure Italians 

 or grade bees for producing honey. Many 

 years ago I should have thought just as the 

 editor does to-day, that nothing could sur- 



Eass pure- bred Italians for storing honey; 

 ut later I came to the conclusion that the 

 grade, or hybrid bees, as they are often 

 called, were quite as good. 



Thinking I might be mistaken in my con- 

 clusions I sent to a prominent queen- breed- 

 er, one who had given a good deal of care 

 to improving his stock, and bought one of 

 his choicest queens, paying several dollars 

 for the same. 



I did not care to breed from her extensive- 

 ly until I had tested the ability of her queen 

 Frogeny to produce good stock for business, 

 confess I was somewhat surprised to find 

 that her workers, as well as those colonies 

 whose queens were reared from her, and 

 mated with my old grade drones, proved 

 most excellent workers, decidedly ahead of 

 my old stock as it seemed to me. Indeed, I 

 knew I was not mistaken, as the difference 

 was so marked. Then I said to myself , "If 

 a cross between a choice pure queen and my 

 grade drones will make such a decided im- 

 provement, surely the pure Italians of the 

 best strains must be still better. So I sent 

 for a choice queen of that strain that has 

 since become known as ' ' Superior stock, ' ' 

 and much advertised by Mr. Hutchinson, 

 that I might get a cross between two choice 

 strains of pure Italian bees; and I succeeded 

 in getting what I wanted, and found them 

 very choice honey- gatherers and comb- 

 builders; but, alas ! they did not come up to 

 my expectations, for not one of them was 



equal to some of those colonies whose queen 

 had mated with my old grade drones. To 

 say that I was disappointed is putting it 

 very mildly. I wrote to the breeder from 

 whom I purchased the first queen mentioned 

 above, telling him my disappointment. He 

 replied that my experience was not excep- 

 tional, for it was a fact that, for the pro- 

 duction of honey, the pure-bred bees would 

 not equal a cross between them and black or 

 hybrid drones, as he had foimd from such 

 crosses in his outyards. 



Facts are stubborn things to butt up 

 against. I have but little doubt that an in- 

 ferior strain of pure Italian queens crossed 

 with black or hybrid drones would give bees 

 less productive than pure-bred bees from 

 some better strain; but a cross between our 

 best strains of pure Italian queens and black 

 or grade drones, I am satisfied, will give 

 larger yields of honey than it is possible to 

 secure in any other way. I wish it were 

 otherwise, for I like the pure bees much the 

 best, as they are so much nicer to handle, 

 and withal so handsome that it is a con- 

 stant pleasure to work them. 



My present practice is, so far as I can, to 

 breed from the best pure queen I can find, 

 and pay no attention further. My own 

 yards and my neighbors' furnish enough 

 black and grade drones to give vigor to my 

 stock. 



A FOUNDATION- STAY. 



I have found a single upright thin strip in 

 the center of the brood-frame, placed at 

 right angles to the foundation, ample pro- 

 tection against sagging, and would much 

 prefer it to wire, but have found no cheap 

 way to fasten to top and bottom of frame. 



THE LIFE OF WORKER BEES IN THE HARVEST. 



Dr. Miller quotes Dzierzon on the age of 

 bees, showing that it does not exceed six 

 weeks. I remember very well how, forty 

 years ago this season, I removed a queen 

 from a strong colony of black bees and in- 

 troduced a pure Italian queen. Of course, 

 the last black bee had hatched by the 25th 

 of the same month. The first week in Sep- 

 tember, as I remember, the black bees were 

 nearly all gone, when I observed the Italians 

 of the hive poimced on what remained and 

 killed them— for what reason I can not tell; 

 but I was satisfied from that time that, dur- 

 ing the working season, we might safely 

 say that six weeks is the limit. V. Buttel- 

 Reepen is quoted in the same Straw as say- 

 ing that, "In rich forage the bee lives often 

 only two or three weeks. ' ' It seems to me 

 that there must be some mistake here. By 

 rich forage I suppose an abundance of honey 

 is meant. My experience has been that 

 bees live much longer when honey is abun- 

 dant in flowers than when the yield is verv 

 light. In a season of scarcity, although 

 there may be a large amount of Ijrood in the 

 hive, the colony will not become strong 

 enough to cast a swarm; while if honey is 

 plentiful they are soon running over with 

 bees. 



Again, new swarms, made when honey 



