12 
At the close of his article the vriter warns against »in) — 
and — in« breeding, saying: »Consanguinity is fatal. We should rear our 
queens and the bulk of our drones from different mothers. From time to 
time we should exchange breeders with other bee — keepers, equally as 
careful as ourselves in the selection of the race«. 
The article concludes the sentence: »If the above conditions are 
carefully fulfilled, it seems to me that we will be sure to retain and even 
increase, the vitality of our honey — bees« 
A few of our remarks to this well composed and able article wont 
be amiss — they are: : 
If prolificness, vitality, industry and honey producing qualities are, 
above all, most important in a race of bees, then let come this race from 
the Julian Alps of Carniola, Austria, where the hardiest strain of bees, 
blessed with the above attributes, is reared. Fy doing this, you get the 
breeders, queens and the bulk of drones that were reared elsewhere and. 
from different mothers and drones. Consanguinity is fatal. 
We can not see the reason why our Carniolan Alpine queens, reared 
‘in full colonies in the ozonic, prickling air, amid glaziers and snowcapped 
peaks, should not be as healthy and-as prolific as the ones reared by arti- 
ficial methods in full colonies — do you? 
But — the Carniolians swarm too excessively — a hard case of a 
foolish natural law, indeed! As the swarming tendency is, according to 
Mr. C. P. D. and other eminent writers on apicultural things, »fhe only 
method by which the honey — bees have perpetuated their kind«, having 
neither understanding nor inclination to ape or use manners, methods 
and means leading to race — suicide — they will undoubtedly stick to the 
oldfashioned way of reproducing themselves’ in unlimited numbers by swar- 
ming, until in »many centuries we will be able to produce a non — swar- 
ming race of highly active bees«. — 
Until these centuries expire, we — and for that matter many gene- 
tations after us — will have to figure with the given facts and circumstances. 
These are: the immense prolificness, industry, vitality, hardiness and gentleness 
of the Carniolan Alpine bee, and the certainty that by giving her plenty of 
room, shade and ventilation, by rationally attendig to brood and drone 
cells, in general, by understanding her characteristics — we can regulate 
the swarming of this strain of bees like a clock can be regulated by 
an expert. 
Take away from the Carniolan Alpine bee her prolificness — what is 
nothing else than the indomitable impulse and symptom of natural vigor 
and strength — and you have killed her industry, her vitality, her hardiness — 
increased you have by doing this only her gentleness, because she wont 
stir, even if you squeeze her betwenn your fingers — a dead bee — 
