132 DR. miller's 



breeding to have a young queen meet a drone from the same hive, 

 or even with the relation less close. 



Q. Does the honeybee degenerate through inbreeding? If so, 

 what is the result? 



A. Indiscriminate inbreeding among bees, as with all other 

 animals, is likely to result in deterioration, the bad qualities be- 

 coming intensified. With intelligent control the result may be 

 the other way. 



Income From Bees (See Living From Bees.) 



Increase. — Q. I am 21 years old, and I own four colonies of 

 bees. I am as interested in the bee-business as I think any person 

 can be. I have read all the bee literature I could for three years. 

 At present I am taking four bee-papers. Would you advise me 

 to buy more bees, or to wait until those I have increase? 



A. That depends. If you want to increase to a considerably 

 larger number and have an opportunity of buying a few colonies 

 at a bargain, as sometimes happens at an auction, or when one 

 wants to get rid of his bees, it will be well for you to buy. But 

 if you can't buy for less^than $5.00 a colony, then it will be more 

 profitable for you to run your bees for increase than for honey. 

 Only don't make the mistake of having a number of weak colonies 

 on hand in the fall. It would, no doubt, be an easy thing to in- 

 crease those four colonies to twenty or more by fall, and then lose 

 most of them in the winter because too weak; but in the long run 

 you will get on faster to move a little more slowly and surely. 

 Of course, something depends upon the season. In a very poor 

 season it may not be safe to increase at all, unless you do a good 

 deal of feeding. But if you reach next fall with ten or twelve 

 strong colonies, another good season ought to bring you up to 

 forty or so. 



Q. Can you make a 20 per cent increase by going through the 

 apiary and making a colony at different times without hurting the 

 honey-flow? 



A. I think it might be done without diminishing the crop, 

 at least in some cases. Just enough strength taken from each 

 colony to prevent swarming might increase rather than diminish 

 the total harvest. 



Q. Can I take a colony and make four or five out of it and put 

 a new queen in each? If so, how? 



A. You may do it in a good season. One way is to wait until 

 the colony is strong, then take a little more than half the brood 

 and bees and put in a new hive on a new stand, giving a new 



