376 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Aug. 



could bo introduced onlj' by vigorously smoking 

 their colonies at tbe entrance. The queens are now 

 Inying, and are so exceedingly large and fertile that 

 ray honored i/.'(fcr pronounced them to be some of 

 the finest queens he ever saw. 



At another time, John and I counted in four Holy- 

 I/and colonies, 82 cells: this number is only their fair 

 averagj j ield. Whenever we arc in need of a " raft 

 of cells," as we term it, the brood of a Holy-Land 

 colony is exchanged for that of an imported stock. 

 By that means wc can obtain as many cells as we 

 need; where.as the imported stock, left to itself, 

 probably would not raise over 6 or 8 cells, and it is 

 not uncommon for them to have only three or four. 



Now, in summing up a few of the good features of 

 the Holy-Lands, we find, from the above facts, first, 

 they raise a great abundance of cells at one rearing; 

 secondly, the cells are started so that they hatch at 

 or nearly the same time; lastly, if the ceHs are not 

 too much disturbed, the queen will hatch out strong 

 and healthy. 



Now, a word in regard to the Holy-Lands as honey- 

 gatherers: My experience has led me to think that 

 they are equally as good as the Italians, and some 

 say a little superior. Being originally reared in a 

 hot dry country, thej' have necessarily been obliged 

 to gather honey at every opportunity available, or 

 the race could never have existed. In this country, 

 they of course manifest the same energetic dispo- 

 sition; and hence, as far as my observation goes, 

 gather some honey after the bass wood flow, even 

 when the other bees are apparently inactive. 



After what has been said, I would not have it un- 

 derstood that I have any the less regard for the Ital- 

 ians than before; but, on the contrary, all things 

 considered, I think they possess many qualities far 

 superior to other races of bees, and will probably 

 always retain the front rank. 



My object in writing this is not to give the Holy- 

 lands undue praise, to the exclusion of the Italians, 

 but to bring forth a few of the good qualities which 

 are justly their due. I do not deny, that the Holy- 

 Lands have a few bad features; but these, I think, 

 have been fully discussed before. E. R. Hoot. 



Medina, O., July 24, 1883. 



The queens hatched from the lot of cells 

 Ernest has mentioned, pleased me because 

 they were so exceedingly large and strong, 

 and because of the comical ringed appear- 

 ance they presented as they passed over the 

 combs, with long strides. The groundwork 

 of their bodies is a tine yellow ; but at every 

 section they have a dark, or almost black 

 band. This queer marking is probably be- 

 cause the Holy-Land queen was fertilized 

 by an Italian drone. I made the expression, 

 that I would give a hundred dollars for 100 

 just such queens, and I haven't changed my 

 mind in regard to the matter either. The 

 best honey-gatlierers in our whole apiary of 

 over four hundred colonies are the bees from 

 a nice queen of just this cross. After all the 

 rest of the bees have stopped work, these 

 bees come into the hive in great numbers, 

 and drop on the white sand, and then crawl 

 in. panting ; and they are getting honey, and 

 building fdn., Avhile many of the others are 

 rather losing. We have been watching the 

 colony some time, and have now decided to 

 rear queens from her. The price will be the 

 same as our others. If you want one, just 

 say from our " honey " queen. Lest you 



may not all have got a clear idea of the in- 

 vention the boys have made for getting large 

 quantities of queen-cells, I will explain that 

 it is to furnish brood from any queen you 

 choose, but to let Holy-Land bees raise the 

 cells. That (lueens are not as good where 

 the bees build a great number of cells, does 

 not accord with my experience at all, where 

 the colony is strong, and the hive well sup- 

 plied with plenty of new honey and pollen. 



SEVEN HUNDRED POUNDS OF HONEY 

 FKOITI A SINGLE COLONY IN 77 DAYS. 



ALL FROM A DAUGHTER OF A DOLLAR QUEEN, IN A 

 SIMPLICITY HIVE. 



nnjjgnr'URRAH for D. A. Jones and our noble Frank 

 J»[i^'l[ Benton! Hurrah for the Cyprians! Hurrah 

 for Texas, the land that flows with milk and 

 honey! The Lone-Star Apiary takes the lead. A 

 bai-rel of honey from one hive! Never, since the 

 war-hoop of the savage Indians ceased to reverber- 

 ate across our boundless prairies, has there been 

 such a flow of honey and such an increase of bees. 

 Itjvas impossible to keep them from swarming; I 

 have taken as high as 48 lbs. of honey from a three- 

 frame nucleus hive In 10 days. It was impossible 

 for me to get over one-fourth of the honey, as I did 

 not have hives and fixtures, and I had my wheat and 

 oat crop to see to. But I was determined to gel as 

 much as friend Atchley, of Dallas, Texas, did last 

 year. I had a Cyprian queen that was raised in De- 

 cember, 1880, in my yard, a regular dollar queen, and 

 the daughter of that dollar Cyprian I bought of you 

 in August, 1S80. I saw she was extra prolific, and I 

 thought T would run this colony for extracted hon- 

 ej-. In March, I put on a 2d story with ten frames of 

 empty combs; April 20 I extracted 6 lbs., and put on 

 3d storj', with five frames of fdn. and five frames of 

 empty combs. These were soon filled with eggs. 

 May 10 I added the 4th story, with wired fdn. The 

 following table shows the amount extracted:— 



Apr. 30 and 30, 



May 10, 



June 1, extracted 3 upper stories, - 

 June 7, extracted 3 upper stories, 

 June 14, extracted 4 stories, 

 June 31, extracted 4 stories, - 

 June 36, extracted 4 stories, 

 June 30, extracted 4 stories. - 

 July 7, extracted 3 upper stories. 



12 

 10 



7.5 



75 



1291-3 

 1231/2 

 1151/2 



491/2 



lbs. 



6811 



Making a grand total of— 



This Is the greatest amount of honey ever produc- 

 ed from one colony of bees — not a particle of brood 

 or help from other hives; no extra care, more than 

 to furnish room and empty combs; no feed in the 

 spring. I think I am entitled to a grand gift premi- 

 um from every bee-keeper in the land, as the great- 

 est honey-producer in the country, from a single 

 colony; $3.50, $2.00. or even $1.U0, will do; and when- 

 ever you beat it I will be ready to return the gift. I 

 presume friend D. A. Jones will give us a pure im- 

 ported Cyprian queen for his part of the premium; 

 but the noble fellow has had such bad luck in im- 

 porting queens, that we bee-keepers should help him 

 all we can. The Cyprian bee is The Bee, and don't 

 you forget it. 



By examining my report you will see the daily 

 yield from June 1st to the 7th was 10 5-7 lbs.; from 

 7th to 14th. 16 lbs.; from 14th to 3lst, a trifle over 18 

 lbs.; from 31st to 26th, a little over 24 lbs.; from 26[h 

 to 30th, nearly 29 lbs. This makes an average of 20 



