ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 67 



as they hatch, he might have choice queens without much expense 

 except for a part of his time, and a certain per cent of his surplus. 

 There is quite a difference of opinion as to the necessary amount of 

 bees it requires to rear choice cells and queens. Some claim it can 

 be done with but few bees; others want strong colonies to produce 

 choice cells. I know we could never rear queens that would suit us 

 unless we used so many bees in rearing our cells that it would make 

 a sad inroad on our surplus honey. 



The most common and the worst mistake that can be made in 

 rearing queens is saving the natural cells and virgin queens from col- 

 onies that have cast natural swarms. I have heard this method reo 

 ommended by men who were considered quite good authority, and it 

 seemed as if I could not keep still and listen to them. We spend 

 valuable time at bur conventions in discussing various ways for pre- 

 venting natural swarming, and we frequently see long articles in our 

 journals from noted writers recommending certain methods to prevent 

 it. Almost dally during the summer season we see bad results in our 

 apiaries from excessive swarming, and then so many will do the very 

 thing of all things that will perpetuate the desire to swarm, by saving 

 cells and virgins from the colonies that are the first to swarm; and 

 invariably when this objectionable method has been practiced a few 

 years a strain of bees will be developed that is ready to swarm both 

 in season and out of season. Nor is this all; for a great step back- 

 ward is taken, and the bees from the first will begin to degenerate, and 

 part of their yellow color will be lost; and the bees themselves being 

 crosser and more irritable, they fail to gather as much surplus, and 

 they become more nervous in winter. In a few years the apiary will 

 have degenerated until it is of but little value. It must then be built 

 up again with good stock. 



In view of these facts do not take such a step backward as will 

 bring only loss, trouble, and disappointment. When a colony has many 

 valuable traits, send its queen to your queen-breeder, and write him, 

 describing all those good points, and request him to rear the queens 

 from her unless he may have a still better breeding-queen. In this 

 way the choicest of queens may be reared from the best stock, and 

 improvement can be made along the lines most desired. 



As I look back I find that the seasons when we received our largest 

 surplus have been, without a single exception, the ones following the 

 year when we reared our queens from some special queen whose colony 

 had given us an unusual amount of surplus the previous summer. It 

 requires only four or five years of careful selection to make a great 

 change in bees in their honey-gathering qualities, and in their dispo- 

 sition, until they seem like a different race of bees. The color Is one 

 of the quickest of all points to show improvement, and the tendency 

 to swarm can be reduced to a surprising extent; but special care must 

 be taken to select the best standard. Nor is this all. The drone- 

 mothers must be just as choice as the queen-mothers. You must rear 



