618 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 26, 



appear to him to be false; but I am glad that I can say, as 

 far as my experience goes, that there are few classes of men 

 more anxious to adopt progressive ideas and methods of work 

 than are bee-l<eppers. And I have no doubt that if I succeed 

 in focusing a little more light on this neglected issue, greater 

 and keener minds will push the matter further, and give us 

 more knowledge of it. 



Before all our theorizing began, and after it is all settled 

 (if it ever will be), the fact remains that the colony of bees 

 which gathers the largest surplus during the honey-llow, and 

 consumes the smallest amount of tliis surplus in maintaining 

 the hive between or after the honey-flows, Is the most profit- 

 able one, and therefore the one to breed from ; but in order to 

 intelligently set about our work of breeding up bees to their 

 highest standard of excellence, we must know what qualities 

 in the bees stand first in the make-up of a first-class honey- 

 gatheier. And now I would tell you a few facts — i\ut "the- 

 ories" — that were presented by a colony in my apiary, and 

 first compelled my attention to the great value of longevity in 

 bees. 



This colony had only 6 frames of brood (frames 11x12 

 inches) at the beginning of the honey-flow, although there 

 seemed to be a good average population of workers; and dur- 

 ing the honey-flow I noticed that the queen did not seem able 

 to increase that amount, so I thought of replacing her with 

 one more prolific, but before doing so I noticed that this col- 

 ony was storing as much honey as the colonies which had 9 to 

 11 frames of brood, so I began to think they must be great 

 workers, and I took notice of them early in the morning, only 

 to find out that they were not the earliest by many in getting 

 ofif to work, nor did they appear to be doing a "rushing" 

 trade any time in the day — just working away, steady, with- 

 out very much show around the entrance, and this puzzled me 

 a little until I began to think if these bees were longer lived 

 than the average bees, that would explain their surplus and 

 their strength for so small an amount of brood. That queen 

 is now 8 years old, has never swarmed, but her colony is almost 

 always crawling ahead when others are doing nothfng. And 

 after paying particular attention to her for the last two sea- 

 sons, I can see where their great advantage is. 



If 6 frames of her brood gives a working force equal to 8 

 or 9 frames of another queen, then that colony has saved the 

 labor, the honey, and the pollen necessary to rear the three 

 extra frames of brood, and the labor saved the bees is, I think, 

 a very important item, for it is well known that the less brood 

 bees are rearing, the more slowly are they ageing, other things 

 being equal ; and this saving tends to still further lengthen 

 their time of service as field-workers (the bees that pile the 

 honey in). Hut these three things are not all that is saved. 

 Long-lived bees have less brood to keep worm to produce a 

 given force of workers, and heat is a very valuable commodity 

 in the hives in early spring. Then there are the extra combs 

 that may be used for extracting, and a queen-excluder proves 

 to be a useless article when the queen cannot under ordinary 

 circumstances be induced to leave the bottom story. But these 

 two items are only slight advantages — here is one of the great- 

 est : The small amount of brood for the size of the hive, 

 tends to discourage swarming more than any other one thing 

 I know of. And, lastly, longer lived bees do not slack off 

 brood-rparing so quickly as others, as the working force is 

 large in proportion to the brood, and so a smaller honey-flow 

 suffices to keep the queen laying to her full capacity; this 

 leaves the colony in better condition to begin storing a surplus 

 from any little flow that comes along. 



Now let us see what it all amounts to : To produce a 

 given maximum force of workers, less honey is needed, and 

 less pollen, less labor, less heat; consequently a colony at- 

 tains its full strength earlier in the season, and more surely, 

 no matter what the weather is like, and is better supplied 

 with stores than others shorter lived, and when it Is there it 

 stays there at less expenditure of bee-force. 



I suppose one is ready to rise now and say, " Why, but 

 you are almost taking it for granted that long-lived bees are 

 not proliffc." No, I am not ; it is possible that a queen may 

 be prolific, and her bees long lived, too, but Dame Nature has 

 a way of squaring accounts that scientists designate as the 

 " law of compensation," and when left to herself she generally 

 takes away something when she adds an advantage to any- 

 thing, and it is not her custom to put "length of days " and 

 " many children " in the same hand, not even when she is 

 dealing with her favored children, "the bees;" but she occa- 

 sionally " sports " a little, and she seems more ready to sport 

 with bees than with many other things, and I am confident 

 that we can combine longevity and prolificness with less 

 trouble than it took to produce the useless, but beautiful, five 

 golden bands; but if we can't, let's have longevity first, by 

 all means ; for there is pretty good evidence that the instinct 



that primarily induces the bee to leave the hive in quest of 

 nectar and pollen, is equally strong in all bees, and under 

 similar conditions in the hive nearly all bees would bring in 

 about the same amount of nectar; and the important factor 

 is, what use will they make of it? 



Weston, Ont. Geo. J. VandeVokd. 



CONDDCTED BY 



JDH. C. C. MILLER, MA.REj!fGO, ILL. 



LQuestlons may be mailed to the Bee Jouinal. or to Dr. Miller direct.l 



A Word to Inquirers. 



Please don't send me any postage stamps. When you pay 

 your dollar to the American Bee Journal, that gives you the 

 right to bother me with all the questions you like, without en- 

 closing any stamps. 



And don't send a stamp expecting an answer by mail. I'm 

 almost ashamed to refer to this so often, but there are still 

 some who prefer to have answers by mail, and feel that a 

 stamp enclosed entitles them to such reply. Just think for a 

 minute. If one has a right to such reply, then all have, and 

 it would take the greater part of my time writing letters for 

 which I would receive no compensation. I like to be obliging, 

 but I think you will see that would be carrying the thing a 

 little too far. Besides, when an answer goes into print, then 

 others bf^sides the questioner get the benefit. So when you 

 send a question, be sure to say in what paper you want the 

 answer printed, and give your name and address (not to be 

 printed unless you wish), and I'll gladly answer as well as I 

 can. C. C. Miller. 



Removing' Filled Sections — Placing Hives. 



1. Is it prudent to remove filled sections from among 

 partly filled, that have been so for six or seven weeks ? 



2. How far from the ground should the hives be placed ? 



H. R. 



Answers.— 1. Yes, after sections are finished it is best to 

 get them off the hive, for they will lose their snowy whiteness 

 if left on longer. If the bees are still storing, the partly-filled 

 sections can be put together and returned for the bees to 

 finish. 



2. My hives are just as close to the ground as the shallow 

 stands will allow, maybe 4 to 6 inches. Then when laden 

 bees fall on the ground, they can crawl in without flying. In 

 some places, however, ants are so troublesome that hives are 

 raised. 



Brace-Combs in the Sections — A Sample of Honey. 



I have a colony of bees that are very bad at building 

 brace-combs in the sections. They are hybrids, very gentle, 

 and good workers. I am using section'-holders and wood sep- 

 arators. Would it make any difference if I were to use tic 

 separators ? If you will kindly advise me through the col- 

 umns of the American Bee Journal what to do for this colony 

 of bees, I will make you a present of a pound of honey, and 

 hope to hear your opinion of the quality, flavor and " work- 

 manship." If it puzzles you to tell what it was stored from, I 

 will cheerfully give you "further information. I call it No. 1 

 honey in all respects, and I hope it will not get smashed up 

 on the road. A. P. G. 



McMurray, Wash. 



Answer — If you had waited until you got my answer, 

 I'm a little afraid you wouldn't have sent the honey in pay- 

 ment, for I'm not sure that I can help you out. Tin separa- 

 tors may not be built to quite as much as wood, but I shouldn't 

 count on much difference. I wonder a little whether there 

 may not be some difference in your treatment that causes the 

 trouble. That is, if other of your colonies are free from the 

 trouble. Sometimes a colony will be induced to build brace- 

 combs in sections by being much crowded. The obvious 

 remedy is to give more empty sections. Possibly the whole 



