BREEDING STOCK 
well get a fair living, if they could but 
know of the modern methods of handling 
even box hives. 
Log-gum apiary of .T. S. Kelly near Wilmington, 
N. C. Mr. Sams holding an empty gum, and altlio 
the bees were stinging him unmercifully, he stood 
his ground while the picture was being taken. 
Moses Quinby, in the early ’50's, handled 
box hives so that he made honey; and if 
these people cannot afford movable-frame 
hives, they could, by the simple expedient 
of hiving a swarm back on the parent stand 
and removing the parent colony, vastly in¬ 
crease their resources. Father Quinby did 
not brimstone his bees; and neither will 
these purest of pure Anglo-Saxons up in 
the mountains of the south Atlantic States 
be compelled to do so. Quinby’s old book 
Modern hives into which bees in “gums” had been 
transferred by Mr. Sams and his helpers. 
of 1853—a reprint of which has been made 
by the publishers of this volume—explains 
how bees can be kept on the box-hive sys¬ 
tem without the use of, brimstone. While 
the tricks of the trade taught in this old 
work of Quinby would enable the High¬ 
landers to increase their yields per colony, 
the modern hive with movable frames 
would enable them to do vastly better. 
BRACE COMBS. — See THICK TOP 
frames under Frames. 
139 
BREEDING STOCK.— Every well-regu¬ 
lated apiary or series of apiaries should 
have one or more choice queens from which 
to breed. Such queens should, of course, 
be the very best in the apiary, or, better 
still, the best out of a series of outyards 
including the home apiary. They should 
not only be prolific but be the mothers of 
workers that are energetic and good work¬ 
ers—that is, bees that will store more 
honey than any others. It is important, 
also, that they be of pure stock in order 
that they may the better transmit their 
qualities. While gentleness is desirable, it 
is sometimes necessary to sacrifice this de¬ 
sirable quality in order to get bees for 
business. 
When using Italian stock one should not 
be misled by the fad of a bright golden or 
yellow color. If it comes about accidental¬ 
ly without the sacrifice of business quali¬ 
ties, the beekeeper is that much ahead. As 
a rule, the darker strains of Italians will 
show more desirable points than the bright- 
colored ones. 
Ability to stand a severe winter is a 
necessary quality. It usually follows that 
bees that will breed up early in the spring, 
and prove to be good workers, are also 
good winterers. Bees that have difficulty in 
resisting the winter will be too weak, if 
they survive, to be good for anything in 
the season. It follows as a natural infer¬ 
ence that a colony of bees that can pile up 
super after super of honey is also good 
for wintering. 
It has been proven that some strains of 
bees will resist disease much better than 
others. While no stock is immune, there 
are some that do not readily contract dis¬ 
ease, while others will fall easy victims. If 
possible a breeding queen should be one 
whose bees have demonstrated their ability 
to ward off disease, and there are some that 
have shown great superiority in this re¬ 
spect. 
In this connection, good breeding drones 
should not be forgotten. It is generally 
accepted that a male is more able to trans¬ 
mit his good or bad qualities than the 
female; and the same rule holds good in 
bee culture. In selecting breeding queens 
one should select not only those that will 
produce good daughters but those that will 
beget good sons. It very often and gener- 
