1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



559 



in connection with a short, well-worded ad- 

 vertisement might be just what was want- 

 ed; but, no matter how well an advertise- 

 ment is written, how nicely it is illustrated, 

 if it is run but once in a while, by fits and 

 jerks, the bee-keeper will probably decide 

 that advertising does not pay, and he will 

 be right, from his view-point. 



What, let me suggest, can be better for an 

 advertisement or label than a man's name 

 in connection with the word honey? I am 

 getting ready labels to read: 



BEES AND COLOR. 



A Study of Different Races of Bees. 



BY G. W. BULLAMORE. 



PURE EXTRACTED 



B O N N E Y HONEY 



From the Bonney Apiary, 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



For a standing advertisement I shall use 

 an inch space to run all the time. This will 

 cost a matter of $5.00 to $6.00 a year, and 

 the printer takes his pay in pure Bonney 

 honey. 



It is my humble opinion that spasmodic 

 publications of small or large reading notices 

 as to the value of honey as a food, cosmetic, 

 or medicine will not pay, because the public 

 will not read them, would not understand if 

 it should, and does not believe so soon as the 

 fact crojjs out that it is an advertisement; 

 and unless the printer can be persuaded to 

 run the advertisements as "cheap copy" it 

 will cost a great deal. From talking with 

 three or four gentlemen who keep bees I 

 find that they never advertise, and never 

 use even a label, but dispose of their crop 

 by peddling and in the local stores. One of 

 these men has 90 colonies. 



That the demand for honey may be per- 

 manently increased by judicious advertis- 

 ing I do not doubt, because in some places 

 sections which will not weigh more than 14 

 ounces retail for 20 to 25 cents, and in large 

 cities possibly more. Even in this rural 

 hamlet I get 15 cents, or two for 25 cents, 

 and have, ever since I began keeping bees, 

 got 10 cents a pound for extracted honey, 

 though I am now selling in 60-lb. lots at 9 

 cents, and this with practically no advertis- 

 ing. I intend next season to increase to 100 

 colonies, and hope by advertising to be able 

 to sell locally the bulk of my crop, and 

 thereby get a little better price than if I were 

 to ship. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



A Bird that Sucked the Honey from Bees. 



On June 4, while among the bees I was attracted 

 by a humming noise which sounded strange al- 

 though familial'. It was a hummingbird catching 

 returning workers. I watched this performance 

 for at least five minutes, and then the little outlaw 

 Mew away. Upon examining the victims I found 

 a tiny hole on or in the under side of the bee, di- 

 rectly over the honey-sac. Why and how this bird 

 learned this trick I do not know; but I do know 

 that it or another bird very much like It returned 

 to the same hive the next day, but flew directly 

 away. 



Montpelier, O., July 21. ( ;. W. Jok'f,. 



Home years ago the Italian bee was large- 

 ly imported by southern-English bee-keep- 

 ers. Carniolans also were tried by many 

 bee-keepers who had heard of their non- 

 stinging disposition. At the present day 

 almost all English black bees show a trace 

 of foreign blood; and if outward traces dis- 

 appeared entirely I should be chary of sup- 

 posing that all foreign qualities had disap- 

 peared. Hundreds of lots of driven bees are 

 yearly sent to Scotland and to the north of 

 England, so that this type of bee must be 

 general. It is a black bee in the sense that 

 the "Red Bones" of South Carolina are 

 American Indians. 



Dr. Miller is probably right when he sug- 

 gests that the black bee of England and 

 Scotland differs from that of America. 



On many debatable points it is difiicult 

 to decide what is due to the strain and what 

 is a characteristic of race. A few years ago 

 a writer in the British Bee Journal describ- 

 ed his Ceylon experiences. He found that 

 his black bees disappeared because they set- 

 tled on the alighting-board and then ran 

 into the hive. The lizards would crawl on 

 to the board and gobble them up as fast as 

 they settled. He then tried some Italians, 

 which, by flying straight into the hive, es- 

 caped annihilation. 



Inspection of my own apiary showed that 

 some of the "blacks" alight on the board 

 and run in, but that others fly straight into 

 the hive. As I have no black bees whose 

 pedigree is devoid of suspicion, the observa- 

 tions are worthless. The characteristic may 

 survive in some of my bees as an inherit- 

 ance from a remote Italian progenitor. Such 

 a protection against lizards may be an ab- 

 solute necessity in Italy. In England it is 

 not required. 



On theoretical grounds one would imagine 

 that the Italians were more highly educated 

 in dealings with the wax-moth. In cold 

 districts many of the wax-moth pupse are 

 killed during the winter, and the survivors 

 are able to produce only a couple of gener- 

 ations before winter again arrives. In 

 warmer climates the weather does not help 

 the bee, and it is obvious that the resisting 

 power of the bee must be increased accord- 

 ingly. 



In all arguments, however, it seems to be 

 assumed that color itself is absolutely val- 

 ueless. I am inclined to look upon it as 

 possibly an adaptation to environment 

 upon which further evidence is requred. 



The native habitat of the yellow bee is 

 warm open country where the wild swarms 

 take refuge in clefts of the rock, etc. The 

 black bees are normally inhabitants of cold 

 regions or of densely wooded forests and 

 jungle. 



Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, in writing of the 

 honey-bees of India, gives several instances 

 of light and dark varieties of the native 



