_Rousseau, Wis._, August 26.
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Queen-Breeding for Improvement of Race.
MR. EDITOR:--In the September number of your excellent Journal, page 58,
Mr. Alley accuses the writer of “pitching into him.” But I find he can
still hold up his head and “pitch” back, as well as raise cheap queens;
so he is not badly wounded. But, to be serious, I most sincerely regret
that any sentence in my article, in the August number, was so worded
that it was thought to be personal. It has been a favorite project with
me to see the honey bee improved to its highest possible extent. And
even Mr. Alley concedes the principle for which I contend. For, says he,
“_I pay the highest prices for my breeding queens, and now have queens
of my own raising that I would not sell for fifty dollars._” This is a
higher price than I proposed for such queens, five or six times over. He
says he will take my whole lot at my figures, if I have such queens as I
describe. I would not like to spare them, Mr. Alley, for I value them as
highly as you do _your_ best queens!
I do not doubt that every man who gets a queen from Mr. Alley, or from
any other man who sends the genuine breed, gets the worth of his money;
but what I did mean to say, was, that if a man wishes to get the highest
grade of Italians, let him get one that has been raised from the best
selected stock, under the eye of an experienced apiarian, and thoroughly
tested before she is used as a breeder. Then the buyer will know what he
is getting, and would find his purchase cheap at twenty dollars--rather
than one that was untested and raised at haphazard, at two dollars and a
half.
I repeat--Let the Queen-Raising Brotherhood unite to state these facts
fairly and squarely before the world; and let men who believe in sharp
practice keep such things out of sight.
I, too, if ever I go into the business again, will sell queens at
$2.50, sending them out as soon as they begin to lay eggs, to any number
ordered, guaranteeing that all the workers shall show three yellow
bands, when filled with honey. But, if tested and guaranteed as
breeders, I would ask ten dollars each. If I was going to commence
Italianizing an apiary, I would send to some responsible man, such as
Langstroth, Colvin, Quinby, Gallup, Mrs. Tupper, or Mr. Alley; and in
the room of sending $2.50, I would say, “fix your own price, but send me
the best queen you can select!” for I would rather have such a one than
four of average untested queens. And putting the seller upon his honor,
I think I should get the _best_, where all were good.
Others may differ from me in opinion, yet I have given the public my
views honestly.
Mr. George C. Silsby has my thanks for his courteous criticism of my
article. Mr. J. E. Pond likewise, though he misapprehends my intention
to attack any one but sharpers, who sell for pure Italians what no one,
qualified to judge, would call even a good hybrid. I know nothing of Mr.
Alley only through his advertisement, and of course knew nothing of the
quality of his bees. But while I know nothing of him, I do know men who
sent to where it was most convenient and cheapest, and straightway they
became queen-breeders, and supplied the country round, in turn, with
_genuine queens_. It would take an expert often, to detect a particle of
Italian breed in many such colonies that I know of.
In such cases, often, the queen-breeder himself did not know that he was
selling a spurious article. I may have been foolish, but I did send to
Italy for stock that cost me twenty dollars each, when I could have
procured stock from Mr. Langstroth for five dollars each. The same year
I procured a queen from Mr. Colvin for fifteen dollars, tested, in
preference; and the very next year I sent fifteen dollars to Mr.
Langstroth, for a tested and superior queen, when he would have sold me
an untested one for half the money. I think still that the money was
well invested.
Two years ago I left the personal supervision of queen raising, and a
gentleman by the name of J. L. Strong is now conducting the same apiary,
at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He has not been able to supply all his orders
this season. My articles were dated from that place; but my residence is
at Ottumwa, Iowa, where I am trying to fill the place of pastor of one
of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of that city. I have raised just
_four_ queens this season, one of which was a hybrid. These I have used
in making new swarms. I have five colonies here, which still interest me
greatly, although there are not many dollars and cents, as income, in
the enterprise, and I take all the profits in honey for my table. So you
see I am not a very formidable rival in the trade.
But, in common with the brotherhood, “_bee on the brain_,” is a chronic
complaint with me, and I never shall recover from it; and every man who
talks _bees_, or writes _bees_, or _raises queen bees for $2.50_, or any
other price, has traits that make me regard him as a _brother_. And if I
write an occasional article, don’t think I am “pitching into” some one,
or writing to “show off.” Then, further, if you find my articles only
half as interesting to you, as yours are to me, I shall be content. In
the meantime let us raise no false expectations; but so write that we
can put in the hands of the cottager, occupying a few square roods, the
means of keeping, in an intelligent manner, from twenty to one hundred
colonies that shall bring him as much profit as the owner of a farm
reaps from his broad acres.