May, 1910.] 



412 



Apiculture, 



and this one gave me a greater surplus 

 than the other four combined." 



"The difference in the industry of 

 certain colonies of bees has often been a 

 surprise to their owners ; but during a 

 careful investigation for years, certain 

 facts came to light which have enabled 

 the careful and practical apiarist to 

 overcome this matter to a great extent." 



"Now you are getting at just what I 

 want to know. How can this difference 

 be overcome ? " 



"One of many great things having a 

 bearing on this matter is breeding. The 

 importance of breeding from our very 

 best colonies is great, and is becoming 

 better understood as the years go by ; 

 and the bee-keepers of America stand in 

 the foremost ranks of the world on this 

 particular question." 



"Yes; but how is it done ? Take my 

 case with one good colony and the four 

 poor ones for an illustration." 



"Next year you should rear all your 

 queens from the one which heads that 

 best colony, and, as opportunity offers, 

 have every colony you possess headed 

 from queens reared from her." 



" But do you think this colony as 

 good as there is in the world ? " 



"It should not be, if your first talk- 

 about your bees had even a grain of 

 truth in it. The one colony in two 

 years' time, with no attention paid to 

 breeding matters, could not be as good 

 as some colonies headed by queens from 

 those who have spent five, ten, fifteen, 

 and twenty years in bringing their best 

 colonies up and up till they stand at 

 the very head of the list in the United 

 States, or as nearly up to perfection as 

 seems possible at the present time. 

 There are a score or two of breeders in 

 the United States to-day, who, in all 

 probability, have bees as much ahead of 

 those you have as yours are ahead of 

 those found in their native haunts, 

 where the uplifting touch of man has 

 had nothing to do with them." 



"Then why do I not kill all of mine 

 off, as you at first suggested, and start 

 anew ? " 



" Because it would be an unnecessary 

 waste. Buy a queen, or a colony of 

 bees, from some one of the breeders you 

 have confidence in, and from such a 

 purchased queen rear queens next season 

 until you have one to head each of the 

 colonies you may have in the fall 

 of 1909. Or, perhaps, it might extend 

 your vision and prove a benefit to you 

 to keep the queen in your best colony, 

 rearing one or two queens from her as 

 well, and see how they will compare 



with those reared from your purchased 

 queen." 



" I begin to see now, and I thank you 

 very much. But you spoke of certain 

 facts which had to do with this matter 

 as though breeding had not the whole 

 to do with it. What are some of the 

 others ? " 



"A beginner, like yourself, is often 

 impatient for increase, and much in- 

 crease means little honey, except, per- 

 haps, from some first or prime swarm, 

 or from some colony which is made just 

 right, and at the right time in the 

 season. All of the others are crippled 

 on account of a lack of bees, or a lack of 

 the proper number of bees in just the 

 right time to take advantage of the flow 

 of nectar which gives a surplus in your 

 locality. In such a case, the beginner, 

 with the best bees in the world (or even 

 a man who has kept bees for years, but 

 paid no attention to these things), would 

 find himself in almost the same condition 

 you have been describing to me about 

 your two years ' experience." 



" 1 begin to understand ; for the colony 

 which has done so well for me was a 

 prime or first swarm, as I call them, a 

 year ago last summer, and this summer 

 it did not swarm at all." 



"Then in wet seasons bees generally 

 get just enough nectar to stimulate 

 breeding, which gives large numbers of 

 bees, with hives crowded with brood 

 and very little if any honey in the 

 sections, except, perhaps, with some 

 colony which comes up to the harvest in 

 just the right condition so it does not 

 incline to swarm, when, with only two 

 or three days of a good nectar-flow, such 

 a colony or such colonies will give a 

 surplus, while those that incline to 

 swarm will give none. Results in such 

 cases devolve more largely on the 

 management of the apiarist than upon 

 the strain or quality of the bees. I 

 admit that there are poor bees, but I 

 know that quite a few of our, most 

 practical apiculturists of the present 

 time believe that there are lazy bees, or 

 those which have been bred so closely 

 for colour or some other desired point 

 that their usefulness is very largely 

 crippled. However, we can show that 

 the fault is not altogether with the bees, 

 when fifty to five hundred colonies 

 accomplish little or nothing during any 

 season, for close study will tell us that 

 the season is a poor one ; that our 

 locality is overstocked, or that we as 

 apiarists are not bringing every colony 

 to the point where it is ready to take 

 advantage of one or more flows of nectar 

 when they come," 



