370 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



are hitched and the load is started would 

 not hold in the majority of cases. It is im- 

 possible for one man to guard the entrances 

 of forty or more colonies after they have 

 been aroused by handling. I tried this my- 

 self one time, and it was impossible for two 

 others to hitch the team. It could not be 

 done until all the entrances were closed with 

 rags that happened to be at hand, and even 

 then the horses were stung by mad bees. 

 This alludes to day moving ; but my advice 

 is strongly against moving bees with open 

 entrances either by day or night. 



BLACK BEES. 



My bee-keeping began with common black 

 bees. New queens were always raised from 

 the mother of the best colony in the yard— 

 the one producing the most honey. The re- 

 sult was a yard of black bees bred up to a 

 high standard. The large crops of surplus 

 proved that. Editor Root, while visiting 

 me. was surprised at my blacks, at their 

 storing qualities and their extreme gentle- 

 ness. I did not own a veil then, and had 

 not used one for over six years. A serious 

 charge against the blacks generally is that 

 of bad temper ; but in mine this seemed to 

 have been bred out. They were also more 

 prolific than one would suppose. This can 

 be accounted for, perhaps, as the result of 

 select breeding, using the queens of the best 

 and most prosperous colony to breed from. 

 The character of proliticness possessed by 

 such a queen would predominate to a great 

 extent in the succeeding offspring. Thus 

 much can be done by judicious selection with 

 pure stock. If the drones could be control- 

 led in mating, a much more rapid progress 

 could be made. 



Blacks are excellent for comb honey, as 

 they cap their honey whiter than most other 

 races. The supposition that blacks do not 

 store late in the season did not hold with my 

 bees, for they stored later than three-banded 

 Itahans that were introduced some years 

 later. The Italians were all right for a 

 single honey-flow, but they clogged their 

 brood-nest and crowded ouit the queen, with 

 the result that the colonies were in a deplet- 

 ed condition for the next honey-flow. The 

 blacks, on the contrary, stored more sur- 

 plus. My honest belief is that I had better 

 success with the pure selected black bees 

 than has been the case since Italian blood 

 was introduced. In some respects the pure 

 blacks were better than the pure Italians. 

 This was especially true in a locality with 

 several flows. With the introduction of the 

 Italians came hybrids and some very cross 

 and worthless ones among them. A few 

 particular ones were very good— some of 

 them even better than the best of the 

 blacks; but it lasted only for those colonies, 

 or during the length of the queen's life. 

 The offspring from such a hybrid queen 

 possessed such varying characteristics that 

 selective breeding in a satisfactory way 

 could not be accomplished as with pure 

 stock. Therefore the yard of hybrids as a 



whole was not as good as the yard with the 

 select-bred blacks. The improvement in a 

 race of bees is, therefore, much easier and 

 more certain with a pure race to begin with 

 than if a strain is composed of several 

 crosses. 



^^'S^ 



IN MEMORIAM. 



Resolution passed by the stockholders of 

 the California National Honey-producers' 

 Association at their regular annual meeting, 

 Feb. 15, 19U5. 



Whereas, it has pleased the great Ruler 

 of the universe to remove from our midst 

 our esteemed president and brother bee- 

 keeper, Geo. W. Brodbeck, therefore be it 

 resolved that we sincerely mourn our loss, 

 and will long cherish his name and remem- 

 ber his many kind deeds and persistent en- 

 deavors in behalf of ourselves and bee-keep- 

 ers at large. We hereby tender our sincere 

 sympathy to the bereaved. May the soften- 

 ing influence of time remove the grief and 

 simply leave happy thoughts of his kindly 

 life, Geo. L, Emerson, 



T. O. Andrews. 

 G. F. Merriam, Com. 



something from a missionary in the 



barbados; why a newly introduced 

 queen is liable to be balled, 



In an issue in November, I notice refer- 

 ence in the department "Our Homes" to 

 unkind criticism of this department. It may 

 possibly interest you to know how I became 

 a bee-keeper. 



One day I called on a parishioner; and as 

 he was long in making an appearance I took 

 up a periodical from his table and dipped in- 

 to it. It was a copy of Gleanings, and I 

 was sorry when I heard my friend coming 

 out. However, I borrowed every copy he 

 could lend me. I became a bee-keeper in 

 consequence, and was led thereto not only 

 by the interest the periodical aroused, but 

 also the wish to belong to a fraternity rep- 

 presented by such an organ. I have taken 

 the greatest interest since in getting the 

 periodical widely read, both in and out of my 

 district, and feel it to be a help to me in my 

 work as you kindly meant it to be. 



You sent me an untested red-clover queen 

 in October. She proved to be purely fertil- 

 ized, and I am wondering whether you sent 

 me the best queen in your yard or whether 

 she represents the standard. Whenever I 

 took out the frame with her on it she went 

 on laying as unconcernedly as possible. She 

 got killed by accident a few weeks after I 

 had her; but she has left a daughter that 



