438 



AMERICAN BEE JOURJNAL-. 



very little proliflc, but the daughters 

 also, although beautifully marked 

 queens, will be less prolific than queens 

 even of the black race. Why is this so, 

 and how is this state of things to be 

 changed? 



In the American Bee Journal, Vol. 

 3, No. 5, page 95, second column, in a 

 correspondence from Bellinzona, Italy, I 

 said : 



"It struck me both last year and dur- 

 ing the past summer, that precisely 

 those of my colonies which had particu- 

 larly bright yellow workers (and I should 

 have added, queens) were on an average 

 less productive in swarms and honey, 

 than those with workers darker colored, 

 and swarms from this yellow colony 

 moreover issued later than those with 

 workers darker colored, and hybrids." 

 And I incline to coincide with Mr. Dathe, 

 who, in the pamphlet already referred 

 to, remarks that " very yellow queens 

 are more delicate than those of a brown- 

 er hue. 



Most breeders of Italian bees know 

 that imported queens, as well as their 

 workers, are not as bright yellow as 

 queens reared in this country by a num- 

 ber of breeders, or in Germany by Dzier- 

 zon, Kline and Dathe, and I expect most 

 all of them have observed that those 

 extra bright queens are more ^'faible 

 and tendre and less feconde," and Von 

 Berlepsch says the same on page 313, 

 line 9, from Bellow in his second edition 

 of his great work, "The Bee and Her 

 Culture," in movable combs in locations 

 without fall pasturage. He further 

 says on that same page, counting oflf 

 and answering the different points in 

 superiority claimed for the Italian bee, 

 under the heading, "The Italian Bee is 

 more Prolific, Dzierzon, Bztg., 1853, 

 page 189 ; Count Stosh, Bztg., 1857, 

 page 253 :" 



" The noble Dzierzon race is plainly less 

 proliflc and an extra noble queen, which, 

 with the graceful consciousness of an 

 old French Marquis, walks over the 

 combs, never lays as many eggs as a 

 Mona-Caprera — names of two of the four 

 queen-breeders and shippers in Italy — 

 a hybrid or common one." If such a 

 careful observer as Von Berlepsh makes 

 such a statement in his book, I think we 

 may believe him without much hesita- 

 tion. 



Dzierzon has, as we find further stated 

 on page 311, of the same book, suc- 

 ceeded in breeding a race a great deal 

 yellower, more beautiful and more con- 

 stant in color than wo tind it in Italy. 

 Queens reared from his queens will pro- 

 duce all well marked workers, even i/ 



impregnated, by a black drone, instead 

 of producing workers half black and 

 half Italians. Now what does this 

 prove? To me it is plain that by a long 

 run of breeding-in-and-in, and carefully 

 selecting only the highest colored queens, 

 a breeder can get a more beautiful race 

 of Italian bees; but it further proves 

 to me, that such a race is not as prolific 

 and not as hardy as the Italian race is, 

 and was originally found in Italy. It is 

 a consequence of breeding in-and-in, of 

 selecting breeder queens with reference 

 to color only, without considering other 

 qualities. 



After breeding a large number of 

 queens from three obtained of Mr. Lang- 

 strotb, I succeeded in rearing workers 

 that appeared brighter yellow than any 

 I reared from the original queens, but 

 at the same time I observed that my 

 queens, at least an average of them, 

 were not as prolific as the original 

 queens. This was the case with extra 

 bright ones more so than with darker 

 ones, which occasionally appeared. Be- 

 ing fully satisfied that my stock was 

 growing weaker, I concluded to see 

 whether I could not, by the introduction 

 of a large number of imported queens, 

 bring them up to the old status of pro- 

 lificness, and consequently introduced 

 43 queens of that kind into as many 

 colonies of my home apiary. Breeding 

 largely from them I succeeded in rear- 

 ing colonies fully as vigorous and pro- 

 lific as colonies with imported queens. 



But while I succeeded in rearing this 

 prolific and vigorous stock, I have ob- 

 served that my bees are not as beautiful 

 as those reared from the old stock, and 

 that they are a little more cross. I am 

 not now, as it was so often advised, 

 breeding from the brightest queens only. 

 I rear at least one or two queens from 

 every queen I sell as long in the summer 

 as it is practicable. I send off only 

 queens that have proved prolific and 

 pure ; and in this way I hope to escape 

 the evils of breeding in-and-in for the 

 future. The fact that not one of five 

 hundred customers I supplied with 

 queens and colonies during the last two 

 summers, have complained about pro- 

 liflcness, makes me believe that my 

 queens were satisfactory. Mr. Gallup's 

 three unprolific queens came, according 

 to his statement in the AAfERicAN Bee 

 Journal, from an eastern queen-breeder 

 — if they were not, I am unaware of it. 

 But even if breeding in-and-in is avoided, 

 numerous and prolific queens can be 

 reared. 



Gallup gave some very good advice, 

 " How to rear all prolific queens," in 



