114 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



or extracted honey. If I were producing 

 extracted honey aUogether I think I 

 would select the darker Italian, or those 

 produced from queens reared from an im- 

 ported mother, allowing these queens to 

 mate with whatever drones there were 

 about the apiary, * ■• whether from Ital- 

 ians, hybrids, or black stock. If I were 

 working for comb honey exclusively, then 

 I would ])rocure a good queen of the gold- 

 en variet}-, rearing all queens from her, 

 and allow them to mate with any drones 

 they might chance to meet. * ••■ Such di- 

 rect cross always gives the greatest vigor. 

 * * All my experience goes to prove that 

 thoroughbred golden Italian queens, ma- 

 ted to drones of either black or hybrid 

 stock give bees equal to the very best for 

 comb-honey purposes. * """ I should pre- 

 fe.' not to have these queens meet drones 

 from young queens reared from imported 

 mothers •■ "•■" for the reason that, as a 

 rule, workers having much imported 

 blood in them do not cap their honey 

 nearly so nice and captivating to the eye 

 as do those having more of the golden, 

 hybrid or (rerman blood in them. 



To sum up I would sa}-, first have your 

 queens mate with drones as distantly re- 

 lated to your queens as possible; second, 

 use queens as closely relaied to imported 

 Italian stock as possible where working 

 for extracted honey, for there are no bees 

 in the world, in my opinion, that excel 

 those onegeneration from imported stock, 

 for honey -gathering. Third, where white 

 capping of combs becomes one of the 

 great objects to work for ■" * then 

 choose the golden Italians. 



The editor of the American Bee-Keep- 

 er comments, in part, by saying: — 



We became convinced years ago that the 

 bee-keeper who regarded color as an in- 

 dex of honey-gathering qualities, was 

 liable to disappointment, and each suc- 

 ceeding year has tended to confirn'. the 

 validity of our claim. * * * We have 

 no reason to doubt the existence of supe- 

 rior honey-gathering strains, * * * and 

 we presume that Mr. Doolittle's careful 

 selection in breeding has given him the 

 ver\- best of these to be found among the 

 golden Italians; but we are not speaking 

 without experience when we say that col- 

 or is not a safe guide in the selection of 

 stock, either as to prolificacy, industry, 

 or comb-building qualities. "" * The ob- 

 ject of bee-kee])iiig being the production 

 of honey, either comb or extracted, the 

 honey-gathering qualities of the Ijees eni- 

 ploved is the paramount requisite. Mr. 

 Doolittle gives it as his opinion that no 

 bees in the world excel those one genera- 



tion removed from imported stock, in 

 this respect; * * that while the golden 

 Italians possess the desirable trait of su- 

 perior work in ca]:)ping their honey, they 

 are in no way second, as to honey gather- 

 ing qualities, to those he reconnnends 

 for the production of extracted honey. 

 Why, then, the advisability of using the 

 darker bee at all, there being no objec- 

 tion to the whiteness of cappings in the 

 case of extracted honey ? 



There is much in little in Mr. Doolittle's 

 brief article on what queens to raise, and 

 how to have them crossed so as to pro- 

 duce the best results; and my experience 

 with the darker, and the golden Italians 

 has been nearly the same as his; but I have 

 a preference for the darker strain, for they 

 seem to do just a little better in the way 

 of extracted honey production. It seems 

 to me that Editor Hill draws the right 

 inference from what Mr. Doolittle savs 

 about the honey producing qualities of 

 the darker, and of the golden strains of 

 Italian bees. For Mr. Doolittle says "I 

 think I would select the darker Italian in 

 producing extracted honey, and would rear 

 all queens for producing comb-honey 

 from the golden variety." If the golden 

 variety of bees are as good honey produc- 

 ers as the darker, then why have more 

 than one variety, and that the golden ? 

 Toi^EDO, Ohio, March 25, 1S99. 



Department of 



riticism 



CONDUCTED BY R. I.. TAYI^OR. 



Blame vvliere you nmst, be candid where you can, 

 And be each critic the Good-natured Man. 



GOLDSMITH. 



QUEEN TRAPS AND THE CONTROL OF 

 INCREASE. 



Though perhaps not strictly within my 

 domain, I desire first to notice an unpub- 

 lished account of the experience of Mr. 

 S., of Hopkins Mo., in managing an out- 

 apiary with queea-traps, without increase, 



