1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



57 



other honey, even using sandpaper; but to 

 make a respectable lot erf it was impossible. 

 I had to give it up. 



In favored localities, and with a good hon- 

 ey-flow making it possible to get the section 

 honey off the hives inside of three weeks, 

 reasonably clean honey can be and is being 

 produced; but in my locality, and perhaps 

 with my faulty management, I need some- 

 thing like a wide-frame super. Such a su- 

 per has a further advantage over all other 

 supers inasmuch as it provides that Pettit 

 bee-space, not only at the sides but also at 

 the ends; and the better filling of the end 

 sections in the wide frames over those pro- 

 duced in T supers or the like is unmistak- 

 able. 



The average bee-keeper is satisfied with 

 such hives and other appliances as the sup- 

 ply-dealers see fit to offer; and if in any way 

 they can get along with them they continue 

 their use and say nothing. The more exact- 

 ing go to work and make their supplies to 

 suit their own notion. 



I note with satisfaction that, in the catalog 

 of 1909, a wide-frame super is listed, and I 

 hope many will avail themselves of this op- 

 portunity and give them a trial. 



During the earlier years of our bee-keep- 

 ing we were rather unsuccessful as to win- 

 tering our bees. In the winter of 1880 we 

 lost more than half of our colonies. We at- 

 tempted to winter without protection (pack- 

 ing) on the summer stand. After some 

 heavy loses we found that it was unsafe to 

 winter bees thus outdoors in our climate. 

 We succeeded quite well in wintering in cel- 

 lars; also by packing our bees. My fifty chaff 

 hives come through in good shape almost 

 without fail each year. It makes little differ- 

 ence whether the bees are under sealed cov- 

 er or whether a quilt is substituted under the 

 packing instead of the inner cover or honey- 

 board, as we used to style it. With ordinary 

 winter supplies (stores) I little fear the win- 

 ter. Only when our hives are crowded with 

 honey-dew do we need to anticipate winter 

 losses. 



Naples, N. Y. 



♦ ■ ^ ■ ♦ 



ITALIANIZING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



No Foul Brood; Can the Disease be Car- 

 ried by Mail? 



BY D. S. VAN WARMELO. 



We have in South Africa two well-known 

 kinds of honey-bees that gather and store 

 honey — the yellow and the black bee. The 

 yellow bee looks very much like the Italian, 

 but is smaller, and has a more pointed abdo- 

 men with the yellow bands less pronounced 

 to the end. The black bee is, as the name 

 suggests, dark in color, and looks quite dif- 

 ferent. Both kinds are very vicious, the 

 black one taking the cake, but is, although 

 smaller in size, the better honey-gatherer 

 according to most farmers. 



Before the Boer war broke out, in 1899, I 

 kept, as a hobby, the yellow bee in a few 



Langstroth hives in Pretoria, and have only 

 since the war made a special study of bee- 

 keeping, on a limited scale, however, as I 

 would not be allowed to keep an apiary in 

 the town, however big and secluded my 

 place may be. But on this account I consid- 

 ered myself in a good position to experiment 

 with Italian bees, and imported a few last 

 year. I also got some from the government 

 to experiment with. 



Some colonies of the native yellow bee 

 are wild, and so this race might by selection 

 be civilized in the course of many years; but 

 it would, judging by the absence of outward 

 siens, take a very long time, as it would be 

 difficult to judge, even if the offspring of a 

 mild queen, whether she has mated, for in- 

 stance, with the drone of the colony that 

 had been artificially stimulated to rear drones 

 out of season; and, besides, the bees of a col- 

 ony may remain quite tame for many months, 

 and one day sally forth and sting to death 

 every living creature near their abode. Ev- 

 ery year my fowls are stung to death by my 

 bees, generally when I am not at home, 

 through boys throwing stones at thp hives, 

 or by some other provocation less naughtily 

 meant. 



On account of this viciousness of the na- 

 tive bee, the importation of the Italian bee 

 would be a great boon to us if, in other re- 

 spects, it is as good as our bee in our climate. 

 In winter in the Transvaal the nights are 

 cold and the davs warm with sunshine. To 

 the Italian bee this difference in temperature 

 seems to be perplexing; for on my return 

 home this winter, after an absence of three 

 months, I found the Italians weak, with 

 hardly any brood; but the brood-chamber 

 was stocked with honey, though not so much 

 that not enough room was left for the queen 

 to lay eggs; whereas the native colonies, in- 

 stinctively knowing that there will always 

 come in some honey from the eucalyptus- 

 trees during winter, and also feeling the ne- 

 cessity of making up for the wear and tear 

 of life, which in winter is great in a mild cli- 

 mate, had used up much of their stores in 

 order to raise brood. This I consider the 

 redeeming quality of our native bee, as I 

 would rather feed a colony or leave it much 

 honey than run the risk of losing it through 

 insufficient breeding. 



Last season I had introduced seven Italian 

 queens by my own safe method, i. e., by 

 tacking wire gauze over a queen-excluder, 

 putting this on a strong colony and over it a 

 brood-chamber with the Italian queen on 

 combs with hatching bees. From these 

 queens I reared several more which I either 

 introduced by the Simmins pasting (direct 

 introduction) method or reserved in nuclei. 

 In order to avoid confusion I had cut the 

 right wings of the imported queens and the 

 left wings of the untested ones. 



On my return three weeks ago I united 

 the weak colonies and gave them all Italian 

 queens mated with common drones, retain- 

 ing three pure imported queens to rear from 

 next season, when I shall, by the law of 

 parthenogenesis, have only pure drones fly- 



