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AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



Feb. 7, 1901. 



and covers of the top hives were coverecl with flakes of 

 lamp-black. They had been carried up by the heat and 

 then settled on the hives like falling snow. Of course, the 

 use I made of the cheese-mould was the cause of the 

 trouble. The heat being- more contined caused the light to 

 burn higher, which in turn generated the more heat, keep- 

 ing the flame on the increase, in this way acting on a prin- 

 ciple of law that was rapidly carrying it to a serious condi- 

 tion — possibly to the end of explosion, loss of bees and 

 house. 



Kach reader will be left to form the moral that will be 

 of some practical good. I am thankful that smoke accom- 

 panied the excessive heat and came to notify me of the dan- 

 ger. 



To-day the bees are quiet, and I hope they are as they 

 seem — no worse for the experience. 



Todd Co., Minn., Jan. 1. 



Contamination of Qiieens Thru Hybrid Bees and 

 Royal Jelly. 



BV G. M. liOOI.ITTLE. 



I HAVE two colonies of hybrid bees in an isolated posi 

 tion, with which I wish to try an experiment. I wish to 

 have them rear some queens from Italian larva; by the 

 plan given in your book. Now, if I supply the cell-cups 

 with royal jelly from a hybrid colony, place larva? in them 

 from a pure Italian queen, and place these prepared cups in 

 a hybrid colony for completion, will the queens emerging 

 therefrom be pure Italian ? Be kind enough to reply to 

 this question thru the American Bee Journal, as I am a 

 regular subscriber to that excellent paper." Thus writes a 

 correspondent. 



In answering the question, I will say that I take it that 

 the questioner is in doubt about the part played thru the 

 bees which prepare the food for the queen-larv;e. He has 

 evidently heard, thru some one having " locks hoary with 

 age," something of the old theory that was put before the 

 bee-keeping fraternity during the sixties, of "like food, 

 like queens." As hybrid bees are used, quite likely, they 

 giving the best results in queens of any variety of bees 

 with which I am acquainted, except theCypriaiis, I have 

 and do use them very largely to feed and perfect queen- 

 cells, and, after years of careful watching, and with years 

 of success in perfecting Italian bees, said to be as good as 

 can be found in the world, I fail to find wherein the food 

 has anything to do with purity of stock, or the changing of 

 the color, or the disposition of the progeny of any queen, 

 in the least. 



If royal jelly prepared by black or hybrid bees could 

 contaminate queens of the Italian race, surely the same 

 food prepared by Italians which were of such an orange 

 color that they seemed like lumps of gold when flying in 

 the sunshine, would contaminate the black or German race 

 of bees. And I have proven, beyond a doubt in my own 

 mind, by several experiments, that black queens brought to 

 perfection thru the royal jelly prepared, and the nursing 

 given, by the yellowest of the golden Italian bees, are not 

 in the least degree different from those nurst by their own 

 "blood," hence I feel that I am justified in going on rec- 

 ord as saying that the queen progeny of any race or va- 

 riety of bees are in no way changed as to markings, dispo- 

 sition, etc., thru the food given them. If there are those 

 among the readers of the American Bee Journal who think 

 otherwise, I should like to have them tell us upon what they 

 base their conclusions. While these nice points are of in- 

 terest only to queen-breeders, in a dollar-and-cent way, yet 

 they are helpful in making up the general fund of bee- 

 knowledge which we are handing down to future gener- 

 ations : hence I believe the American Bee Journal will be 

 willing to give all of the best thoughts on the matter 

 which may be sent in. 



But before closing I wish to say a few words about that 

 purity part which our correspondent seems to cling to, as 

 being the ne plus ultra in the Italian race. I have objected 

 for years, and do still object, to the calling of our Italian 

 bees or queens />«>-<". for, from everything I can gather, they 

 are nothing but what would be properly called a thorobred 

 variety of bees. This is also proven by the fact that we 

 have all shades and colors of these bees, from those having 

 golden abdomens nearly their whole length (as shown in 

 the workers), to those which are so nearly black that it 

 takes an expert to tell whether they have any Italian blood 

 about them, only as it is known that they were imported 

 from Italy — the very same place from which came the pro- 



genitors of the most beautiful orange-yellow bees obtain- 

 able in this countrj'. Had the Italian bees been pure, in a 

 sense equal to that of the pure black or German bee, no 

 such change of color could possibly have come about by 

 years of breeding for color. But this non-purity part of 

 the Italian bee in no way detracts from its standing at 

 the head of all of the bees, as to its industr3' and useful- 

 ness to mankind. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



The Coming Season in Southern California. 



BV rROF. A. J. COOK. 



AS the bee-keeper of Southern California is so much in- 

 terested in the rains of the season, the statistics of the 

 present winter will be of interest. It has been held 

 generally that 15 inches of rain insured a good honey crop, 

 and was necessary to a maximum j'ield of honey. Doubt- 

 less the way the rain comes has much to do with this. Last 

 year a rainfall of lO.oS inches gave a fair honey crop in 

 some sections, while the 11.5 inches of two years previous 

 gave no crop at all. We have already had 12.89 inches this 

 season. We had 9.36 inches before December, mostly in 

 November. Early this month we had 2.68 inches, and we 

 have just had .85 inches, with the weather still unsettled. 

 This has been so evenly distributed that we may hope for 

 great things from it. The season is hardly more than half 

 gone. Our average is about 16 inches. 



I give here the rainfall at Clareraont for the past nine 

 years, from 1891-92: 12.54: 26.23: 11.17; 24.40: 9.58; 23.14; 

 il.05; 7.87; 10.65. Eos Angeles Co., Calif., Jan. 21. 



L.iTER, — Jan. 28. — I wrote you last week regarding the 

 hopeful outlook for the coming season for the bee-interests 

 of Southern California. Since writing you we have had a 

 nice rain of nearly one-half inch, which has raised the 

 total over 13 inches. We are now having a much better 

 rain, the amount of which I have not yet learned. But as 

 it has been quite steady for the past 18 hours I think our 

 total must be above the average of 16 inches. And our sea- 

 son is not yet half over. 



The rains have come in such gentle mood that nearly 

 all has been retained in the soil. This not only rejoices the 

 bee-keepers of Southern California, but is equally cheering 

 to the grain-growers (who have not had a full crop now for 

 several years), and to the fruit-growers. Our friends of the 

 orchard have not suffered so severely, because of the dis- 

 covery of the immense reservoir beneath us, yet they, too, 

 are deeply interested, as pumping is quite expensive, and 

 all will breathe more freely if the great underground reser- 

 voir is again fully replenisht. A few years ago we had 

 here in Claremont a large number of splendid flowing wells. 

 But the prolonged and unusual drouths, together with the 

 excessive pumping, has made it necessary for the last few 

 j'ears to pump all these same artesian wells. It would give 

 great satisfaction if these wells should again commence to 

 flow. I think Southern California has promise of an excep- 

 tionally prosperous year. A. J. C. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " .is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon, 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Upon receipt of $1.00 

 for your Bee Journal subscription a full year in advance, 

 we will mail you a Wood Binder free — if you will mention it. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every iiumber of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



