Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-08-16
FOR THE FARMERS.
,'Most Profitable Bee.

From the or the Kansas board OF ASflcul
ture.
At the present day the Bookkeeping
world are agitating the production of
the Apis-Amer9c0na or the coming
bee. . that it is hoped will be able to
reach the nectar in our deepest flowers
such as red clover, thistles, ETC.,
and will produce one. two, or three
hundred pounds of honey per colony.
The idea of stripes of color has passed
away with specialists, and now they
breed for business. Occasionally we
have an apiarian who still sticks to
the common black bee. warmly de
Tending their excellences, while we
all have to agree that they do produce
the whitest of comb honey. | think
[ can safely say that nine tenths of
the bee-keepers of to-day would prefer
the Italians, for they possess more
excellence than any other
strain that has been intro
duced yet; they being more
decline than the blacks. also much
larger, and can carry heavier loads
against our strong winds, and breed
faster-keeping their hives full of
workers. My advice to Ill bee-keep
ers would be to get the Italians, and
Italianize all of the bees in their neigh
bOrhood, and then you can be sure of
keeping their bees pure. But if they
allow any black colonies to be kept
within two or three miles of them.
they will have to be very watchful if
they get any purely-mated queen, be-
cause the queen goes out in the air to
mate, and the black drones, being
smaller and swifter, Outstrip the heavy
Italian, and the consequence is you
have what is termed a hybrid queen,
or a queen producing hybrid bees.
This can be prevented by a judiciOUs
apiarlan to a large extent, by raising
drOnes from their best Italian col
onies, and cutting all drone comb out
Of the black colonies, and not allow
ing them to raise any drones at all
The hybrid bee has had admirers,
too, for they produce beautiful comb
honey, and are very industrious, very
often storing more than either the
blacks or pure Italians, but they are
more irascible than the pure Of blacks
or Italians, often being very annoy
ing to everybody and everything that
moves. But any one can put up with
considerable trouble to be rewarded
with q lot Of choice honey They, too.
are larger than the blacks, although
they do not all have stripes. Some of
them are black, while others have
stripes across their abdomen, and in
fact are pure Italians. Yet queens
raised from these will have hybrid
drOnes- the drOnes being what the
mother is. If she is pure italian her
drones will be pure Italian, and if she
is black the drones will be black, or if
She is hybid the drones will be hybrid.
While many of our best apiarians
advocate breeding from the swarms
that store the most honey, irrespec-
tive of color of queens or drones,
others recommend selecting a pure
colony to raise drOneS from AS for
my part, | have never raised any
queens only for my own use, and have
always selected good large bees, and
as near pure as possible, to breed
queens from; taking my second best
for drones, and preventing any
others from raising drones, by remov-
ing all drone combs, or cutting the
drones' heads off just before they are
ready to hatch; and have a strain of
bees now that winter well, and store
as large an average as any in this
country. My average for 1882 was
eighty-two pounds per colony, the
year through, although my best went
120 to 140 per hive. One-third of my
surplus was made in small sections,
weighing from one to one and half
and two pounds each. Honey put up
IN such packages. sells readily, when
prepared with the surplus boxes that
We're formerly used.