124 



THE AMERICAN APIOULTUBIST. 



been to secure the race or strain 

 which shall be capable of securing 

 the largest amount of fine honey, 

 other things being equal, as I am 

 strictly a honey producer. 



Fort Plain, New York, Sept. 22. 



BE EE DING BEES FOR WIN- 

 TERING QUALITIES. 



By Henry Alley. 



In the August number of the 

 Apiculturist, friend Pond criticises 

 my article on " The Winter Prob- 

 lem," given in the first number of 

 your excellent journal. Friend 

 Pond says that my "ideas are good, 

 but are all theory." "Well,nowIhave 

 been rearing queens for many years, 

 and does my friend suppose that 

 my only object in breeding bees 

 was the money that I should obtain 

 for them? And does he suppose 

 that I have neglected to study care- 

 fully the improvement of the races 

 by selecting breeding queens from 

 those colonies having the largest 

 number of the essential features 

 and markings which tend toward 

 making a desirable strain of bees ? 

 On the contrary, I have always 

 bred queens with this object (the 

 improvement of the race) in view, 

 and shall never rest content while 

 I can add to the value of my 

 breeding stock. 



In selecting my breeding queens 

 I have always paid strict attention 

 to the selection of those whose 

 colonies showed the largest number 



of good qualities such as wintering, 

 honey gathering, prolificness, gen- 

 tleness and beauty. The breeder 

 who neglects this will fail to obtain 

 the desired results and should soon 

 retire from the business. When 

 writing, I always endeavor to avoid 

 untested theory and to confine my- 

 self to fact, as theory in bee 

 matters does not always work well 

 as many novices can attest. 



When we have selected a queen 

 for breeding purposes from a colony 

 that has wintered well, one whose 

 worker progeny were fine honey 

 gatherers, and uniformly marked ; 

 a queen that has all the desirable 

 qualities which constitute a first- 

 class breeding queen ; then no 

 special attention need be taken to 

 rear queens that will possess all 

 the qualities above mentioned, but 

 who, friend Pond, will rear queens 

 from one that he knows nothing 

 about? 



The breeder should thoroughly 

 test all his breeding queens before 

 he rears a single queen from them 

 and this is the only sure way to 

 keep any race or strain of bees up 

 to the standard. 



No breeder who wishes to pro- 

 duce yellow queens would use a 

 breeding queen whose progen}?^ he 

 had not seen. Now why select one 

 whose progeny lias not been tested 

 regarding the other requisite qual- 

 ities and markings? 



I have given considerable time 

 and attention, this season, to test- 

 ing breeding queens for use next 

 year, and I must say that I never 

 had better results in rearing fine 

 queens than I have had this season. 



