1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



645 



THE HOFFMAN FRAME PKEFERKED. 



The Hoffman with a V edge is still my 

 choice of a frame. They stick together some- 

 what here on cold days, and snap some on 

 parting; but for all-around utility I have 

 found none better. 



Most apiarists have an idea that propolis 

 is just a shade worse in this (his own) local- 

 ity than anywhere else. Mr. Atwater thought 

 he had propolis; but the bees here can't daiib 

 it on as ours back in Ohio did, by any means, 

 especially toward fall and through the buck- 

 wheat and goldenrod flows. 



Parma, Ida. 



after forty years of improvement, than he 



can obtain from a few pure queens selected 



at random, that is no proof to the contrary. 



Harlan, Iowa. A. N. Hansen. 



PURE RACES vs. MIXED; NECESSITY OF BREED- 

 ING ONLY FROM QUEENS OF 

 KNOWN PURITY. 



Every now and then the statement is n ade 

 in the bee journals that hybrid bees are the 

 best. This may be literally true, yet be mis- 

 leading, and 1 think you are right when you 

 say that only queens of known purity should 

 be used as breeuers. It is a recognized fact 

 by breeders of live stock that the first cross 

 between two different breeds is often superi- 

 or to either parent; but here the impi'ovement 

 ceases, and no one would think of crossing 

 the breeds, as experience has proved that the 

 offspring of these grades will be nondescript, 

 without type or uniformity, while the breeder 

 who uses pure-bred stock, and breeds with a 

 certain purpose in view, is almost sure of re- 

 sults. 



It is, of course, impossible to control the 

 mating of queens; but this makes it all the 

 more important to use only the pure. It is 

 not necessary to discard all the mismated 

 queens, as hybrids may be as good as or even 

 better than the pure, so far as the honey- 

 gathering quality is concerned; but the mis- 

 mated queens should never be used for queen- 

 rearing, for the reason that those of mixed 

 blood can not transmit their characteristics 

 to the descendants with any degree of cer- 

 tainty; besides, just because a good queen is 

 mismated, that does not by any means prove 

 that she owes her good quality to the mis- 

 mating. But while hybrids should not be 

 used as breeders, neither should any go to 

 the other extreme and say, "Any thing, so 

 it is pure." It is only by continued selection 

 of the best of the pure-bred that a fixed type 

 of certain quality can be established— at least 

 that is the experience of live-stock breeders; 

 and when this is so in live stock, why should 

 not the same principle hold true in the 

 breeding of bees? p]ven if Dr. Miller does 

 get more honey (and stings) from his hybrids, 



WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE, WHO SHALL DE- 

 CIDE? 



I should like to ask a few quest ions if con- 

 venient. If such men as Mr. Doolittle and 

 Alexander can't agree on things pertaining 

 to bees, how is a beginner going to know 

 whose plan to follow? For instance: Mr. 

 Doolittle, in his conversations in Gleanings 

 of July 15, 1903, says that feeding back ex- 

 tracted honey to produce comb honey does 

 not pay, and also says that comb honey pro- 

 duced "that way does not keep well, and after 

 it has stood three or four months it is almost 

 solid, and thus rendered unsalable, while Mr. 

 Alexander, in Gleanings for May 15, 1906, 

 pages 649 and 650, says it pays, and pays well, 

 and not only gets more of it, but gets a bet- 

 ter quality of comb honey, and that he re- 

 ceived 2 cents a pound for such honey more 

 than the market price. Now, who is right? 

 All the difference I can see in the plans of 

 feeding back is that Mr. Doolittle fed after 

 the honey-flow, while Mr. Alexander fed dur- 

 ing the honey-flow. Would that make the 

 difference? 



While I have great respect for Mr. Doo- 

 little and Mr. Alexander, who have made a 

 freat success in the bee business, I can't see 

 ow they differ so in handling bees and both 

 be so successful, unless there is more than 

 one way to skin a cat. I have tried other 

 plans that they have advocated, with good 

 success, and I am thinking of adopting Mr. 

 Alexander's plan of feeding honey back to 

 bees. Edw. A. Reddout. 



Baldwinsville, N. Y., Jan. 17. 



[This is a question that we will throw open 

 to our readers to discuss. Possibly Mr. Doo- 

 little or Mr. Alexander can explain the ap- 

 parent conflict of opinion. We are safe in 

 saying there will be no conflict when all the 

 factors in each case are thoroughly under- 

 stood. One of these factors, we venture to 

 say, will be locality. While Doolittle and 

 Alexander are separated by only 108 miles 

 in a bee-line, the conditions around one ter- 

 ritory are very different from those of the 

 other.— Ed.] 



COMB ATTACHED TO THE SEPARATORS; HOW 

 TO PREVENT THIS TROUBLE. 



Referring to page 829, "comb attached to 

 separator,' I think if care is taken to keep 

 the sections always perpendicular after the 

 foundation is in till the super is on the hive, 

 there will be very much less of this trouble, 

 particularly if large pieces of foundation are 

 used. This has been my experience, at least. 

 After filling supers I used to cany one An 

 each hand; and especially in hot weather the 

 weight of the foundation would cause the 

 free end to bend down, and some of them 

 would not recover their proper positions. 

 In regard to the wire not being always found 

 in the septum, my practice is, after imbed- 



