394 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



sweethearts V Because they are seek- 

 ing their honeys. 



Why are bees like the English na- 

 tion V Because they are loyal to their 

 Queen. 



Why are bees like old topers ? Be- 

 cause they sometimes carry intoxicat- 

 ing beverages to their homes and 

 drink themselves to death. (This 

 thought is produced by the cider mill.) 



Why is an occasional colony of bees 

 like some government offices 'i Be- 

 cause they are filled with drones. 



Why are bees like good sailors? 

 Because they alvi^ays know their lati- 

 tude and longitude. 



Why are bees like rich young swells 

 who visit our watering places ? Be- 

 cause they fly around all summer 

 spending an active life, then loaf in 

 winter. 



Why do not bees believe in God V 

 Because they obey not his laws ; they 

 murder, steal and break the Sabbath. 



Covington, Ky. 



For the American Bee Jouraal. 



Kindness to Bees. 



W. n. SHIRLEY. 



Kindness to bees produces kind 

 bees to a great extent. When we had 

 from 6 to 18 colonies, we could call 

 them " little pets," " nice little bees," 

 etc.. and take an hour to do a little 

 work witii them, where, now, ten 

 minutes must suffice. Then our bees 

 were good-natured enough. 



In breeding, especially, we were 

 gentle in handling them at that time. 

 In tlie fall of 1881, just before the 

 surplus honey was removed from tlie 

 hives, in our apiary, some one, for 

 sport or mischief, tried one night to 

 take a little honey, but the bees made 

 it too hot for them, and they only 

 succeeded in partly removing the 

 sections, and left the hive so covered 

 up that we did not notice it until the 

 time came for removing the honey 

 from all of the hives. I came to this 

 hive, as to all others, and removed the 

 cover, but I took " leg bail " for shel- 

 ter. After they quieted down again, 

 I approached more carefully, and suc- 

 ceeded in taking oft" the honey witli 

 but few stings. 



Next year, 1882, we reared two 

 queens from that colony, to see if 

 tliat cross feeling was hereditary. It 



E roved to be, in that case, as I know 

 y the feelings of the past. 



Now, our first point in breeding is 

 to handle the breeding colonies care- 

 fully, especially wtien rearing queens, 

 giving our first choice to tlie ''bread 

 and butter" colonies, regardless of 

 color. 



1 had started out to stiow where 

 my humble stand-point was, on the 

 strain of bees that suited me, but I 

 have just received the prescription 

 for strained bees from Dr. E. B. 

 Sotithwick, Mendon, Mich., and as he 

 gives us permission to have it pulj- 

 lislied. I will give place for the Doc- 

 tor's letter, as he has done it up in 

 much better shape ; only adding first, 

 that our fancy strain is about ,^4 brown 

 German and >4 dark leather-colored 

 Italian, as my experience leads me to 



think that black bees have % of the 

 " bread and butter" qualities. 



2. I select young queens to breed 

 from that are "from 1 to 2 years old, as 

 a rule,.with exceptions. 



3. I do not like old combs to rear 

 bees in, as I have seen combs old 

 enough to dwarf the bees, that were 

 hatched in tliem. If a good deal of 

 age in combs will make smaller bees, 

 will not a little help do the same 

 thing ? 



4. Before God gave the honey bee 

 the command to gather honey from 

 flowers, perhaps they lived on manna, 

 buckwheat flour, maize, etc. I guess 

 now almost any bee will gather tlie 

 honey if God will furnish the shower. 

 I for one will take my cliances on it. 



Dr. South wick's letter is as follows : 



The Careful Breeding of Bees. 



E. B. SOUTHWICK. 



Concerning the different strains of 

 bees— the coming bee, the yellow, the 

 leather-colored, the blacks, or this 

 man's peculiar kind, or that man's 

 extra bred, I never have expressed an 

 opinion. There are so many writing 

 on that subject, that there appears to 

 be scarcely room for one who is as 

 contrary as I am in everything ; but 

 my ideas and opinions are always free 

 when I have time to give them. 



It is my opinion that men, animals 

 and insects (the bee included), are 

 just what they are, through the force 

 of circumstances ; that is, a family of 

 man and its decendeuts can be brought 

 to a high state of intelligence or size 

 and strengtii, by circumstances, or 

 they may be brought down to idiots 

 or pigmys by circumstances. So it 

 is with everything that has life, either 

 animal or vegetable. 



The Italian bee, when brought to 

 this country, had peculiarities that 

 the blacks had not ; they were more 

 docile and easier handled, and some 

 other things that they were noted for, 

 and puffed very highly, and sold at 

 high prices, and the breeders and 

 dealers gave them every chance to 

 improve in the very qualities they 

 were noted for, and the purchaser 



fave them the same extra chance, 

 'or instance, all the visitors were 

 taken to see the new bees — the hive 

 slowly approached, the cover carefully 

 removed, the nice little fellows exhib- 

 ited and carefully shown, witli their 

 beautiful yellow rings and their mild 

 disposition. But the blacks are ap- 

 proached in a hurry, the hive jerked 

 open, the smoke puffed in, the frames 

 jerked apart, and everything done in 

 a rough manner, for they are nothing 

 but cross blacks, — not thinking that 

 that is just what makes tliein cross. 



The same can be said of all other 

 bees, that I have said of the Italians 

 and blacks. 1 do not wish to be un- 

 derstood that the foreign bee has no 

 qualities superior to tlie blacks. I 

 tliink they have, and I think the 

 blacks have qualities superior to the 

 Italians. I think that if either kind 

 are taken, and in every respect given 

 the best chance, they will become the 

 best bees. In proof of that I will cite 

 a case : When the Holstein cattle 



were first imported, a man bought a 

 two-year-old heifer ; his neighbor had 

 a common one of the same age ; they 

 both came in at the same time. The 

 neiglibor thought he would see what 

 he could do with his, so he fed his 

 stock plentifully with the best milk- 

 producing articles he could get, which 

 so increased the power of their milk- 

 secreting organs, that the third gene- 

 ration beat the Holstein in milk and 

 price. 



But, of the particular strain, differ- 

 ent men have, some one color, some 

 another, and each contending that his 

 or her yiarticular color is the best. 



To explain all. I will give you my 

 opinion of Mr. Heddou's strain. He 

 bought some black bees that were 

 large and great honey-gatherers. The 

 question is, how came they such ? 

 My opinion is, that their race had, at 

 some previous time, been located in 

 a place where there was a continual 

 flow of honey during the entire sum- 

 mer, and, as they had continual work 

 to do, they acquired the tiabitof steady 

 industry, and, as they were continu- 

 ally at work, their size, strength and 

 ability to gather honey increased also, 

 until they would outdo all others not 

 under as favorable circumstances. 

 Had they been light-yellow Italians, 

 they woiild have been just as good 

 and no better. His crossing with the 

 Italians, I should care but little about. 



Others having extra strains of bees 

 may have those that have been im- 

 proved by some peculiar circumstance, 

 and are really better than the com- 

 mon bee. 



Bees that have good qualities that 

 are the resultof long-continuedusage, 

 are worth more, as it takes as long to 

 breed out a good quality, as it does to 

 breed it in, and they will retain these 

 good points as long as circumstances 

 will permit. 



You will perceive that in bees I 

 have no respect to color or nationality; 

 my bees are mostly Italians, but I 

 have some blacks, and I would not 

 ,wish to part with them, for I am alit- 

 'tle more certain to find comb honey 

 with them, and I can make a little 

 better exhibit of nice white comb 

 honey from them than the Italians. 



Perhaps you would like to know 

 what I think on the condition that 

 will insure an improvement in any 

 kind of bees. Well, I believe that a 

 locality where there is an even and 

 plentiful flow of honey from pussy 

 willows in sprinsr, until frost kills the 

 goldenrod and hearts-ease in the fall, 

 is the best. This, witli even weather 

 and light winds, I think, would insure 

 improvement, without any orosses ; 

 and did I wish to buy bees and knew 

 of such a locality, and of bees that had 

 been bred in-and-in there, for the last 

 10 years. I would buy, with my eyes 

 closed to color or pedigree. 



You may ask if I think importation 

 has done any good to the business ? 

 I will say that I think it has much, 

 and the importers are worthy of much 

 credit for what they have done. Did. 

 not the introduction of the Holstein 

 heifer intothatneighborhood improve 

 the milking qualities of the cows 

 there ? 



Mendon, Mich. 



