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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Longest Tongues ! 



For two years I have been advertising 

 and sellitig a superior strain of bees. I 

 knew that they were really superior, that 

 they stored more honey than any other 

 strain of bees with which I was acquain- 

 ted, and that others who had tried them 

 had the same report to make; 1 knew that 

 they were gentle and hardy, as well as in- 

 dustrious, but just ivhy they should store 

 more honey I was unable to decide. It is 

 possible that I do not now know why, but, 

 at last I have got a hint — they have very 

 long tongues. The average length of 

 bees' tongues is 16-100 of an inch, while 

 these b^es have tongues 23-100 of an inch 

 in length. Only one other report has 

 been ma le of bees having tongues of this 

 length. This breeder, who has been fur- 

 nishing me queens, has been breeding 

 this strain of bees for more than 20 years, 

 always selecting the best to breed from, 

 and, for this reason, this trait, or peculiar- 

 ity, that of having long tongues, must 

 have beco;ne fairly well fixed — much 

 more so than in that of some chance 

 sport. The discovery of this reason for 

 their superiority is the source of consider- 

 able satisfaction to me. Heretofore, I 

 could only assert that the bees were sup- 

 erior, that they would store more 

 honey, but I could giye no reason 

 why, except that this trait had been de- 



veloped by years of selection and careful 

 breeding; now I can say why, or, at least, 

 give a reasonable reason why. 



I wish to repeat what I have already 

 said several times, viz., that it is impossi- 

 ble for a bee-keeper to invest a small sum 

 of money to '^etter advantage than by in- 

 troducing this strain of bees into his 

 apiary It will repay him a hundred 

 fold — perhaps a thousand fold. In ad- 

 dition to their known length of tongue, 

 there are also the additional traits of har- 

 diness, and gentleness — something well 

 worth considering. 



To those who are thinking of trying 

 this strain of bees, I would say don't wait 

 until next spring before sending in your 

 order. Last spring, when I began send- 

 ing out queens, there were orders on my 

 books for nearly 200 queens. Orders are 

 already coming in to be filled next spring. 

 They will be filled in rotation, so, if you 

 wish to get a queen next spring, send in 

 your order this fall. The price of a queen 

 is $1.50; but safe arrival, safe introduc- 

 tion, purity of mating and entire satis- 

 faction are all guaranteed. The queen 

 can be returned any time within two 

 years, and the money refunded, and 50 

 cents additional sent to pay for the 

 trouble. The Review one year, and a 

 queen, for only f 2.00. 



Woodland, Ills., Nov. 20, 1900. 

 Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson — 



Can any more of those queens be purchased of you next season 

 The one I bought of you last June out-stripped everything in this vicinity. Asa breeder, she certain- 

 ly capped the climax of anything that ever came under my observation in the bee line. And her 

 offspring— well, they are simply marvelous as workers. From her colony, in September, I extracted 

 65 lbs. of honey of the finest quality; and, remember, the honey season here was a very poor one. 

 There are a number of apiaries in this vicinity, and I do not know of one that will average 10 lbs. per 

 colony. And 1 want to add rignt here that the cappings of the honey in this colony were of snowy 

 whiteness; and, to day, as I put this colony in winter quarters, I find the eight combs well filled and 

 capped with that same snowy whiteness that was so conspicuous in the supers. I stand ready to chal- 

 lenge any apiarist in this locality to produce bees the equal of these as honey gatherers. Two of my 

 friends wish to get queens of this strain, and I certainly want more of them if they can be gotten. 



Yours respectfully, C. E. Al'RICK. 



W. I. HUTCHINSON, Flint, Michigan. 



