1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



103 



What is the probable cause? No syrup was 

 fed till after that time. C. H. Lutson. 



Bridgewater, Mass., Dec. 20. 



[Honey from ordinary sources does not candy 

 before cold weather ; but certain kinds will 

 granulate very shortly after being put in the 

 combs. The fact that the honey was gathered 

 in August (after the usual flow from basswood 

 and clover) shows that it must have been from 

 some unusual source.— Ed.] 



WEKE QUEEN- EXCLUDERS USED IN THOSE TWO 

 AND THREE STORY HIVES? 



I read in Gleanings for Nov. 1.5, 1894, where 

 they tell of those big honey-yields in two and 

 three story hives. The question in my mind is, 

 did they let the queen have the run of the 

 whole hive, or did they use a queen-excluder? 

 Please tell me, is it best to use a queen-excluder 

 for extracted honey ? Fred Card. 



Burns, Mich., Dec. 1'). 



fl can hardly answer in the case of the hon- 

 •ey-yields in question; but I should ftxippose that, 

 in most localities, the excluders would be put 

 on top of the second story. In localities less 

 favored it would doubtless have to be put on 

 the first story. The strength of the honey-flow 

 would have to decide the matter largely. — Ed.] 



the crosses of five-handed bees. 



I see on page 23, Gleanings for .Tan. 1st, 

 that the editor has something to say in regard 

 to the crossing of five-banded bees with blacks. 

 My experience and his are not alike, as I have 

 never yet seen a five-banded queen mated with 

 a black drone make all yellow bees. On the 

 contrary, they always make some black bees, 

 the same as any other hybrid queen or mismat- 

 ed queen. Now, a five-banded queen can mate 

 to a three-banded drone or to a hybrid, or to any 

 ■drone whose mother has any yellow about her, 

 and. likely, she will not make any black bees. 

 My experience along this line is. that any yel- 

 low queen, it matters not what stock she is, will 

 make some black bees, or nearly so, if she is 

 mated with a pure black drone. I was of the 

 ^ame opinion as Ernest till I thoroughly tested 

 this matter, and now I feel convinced that, 

 when the bees of a five-banded queen show no 

 black bees, she has mated to a drone that had 

 some yellow blood too. 



I have asked the opinions of two or three of 

 ■our most extensive breeders of five-banded 

 queens, and they take sides with me. I think 

 that, when a five-banded queen mates with an 

 impure drone, her bees as a rule will be cross, as 

 most other hybrids are. Not, will the queens 

 make some black bees? but they will make 

 some of the blackest black bees I ever saw. 

 We had one yard out last year, and thought we 

 were putting them out away from other bees, 

 and we soon found that there were black bees 

 near them, and moved them away out on the 

 prairie, and some of our queens were mated be- 

 fore we found out that blacks were close; and 

 I tell you we had some of the blackest black 



bees we ever saw, and the queens were from our 

 best five-banded mothers, and they made bees 

 from pure blacks, as far as color goes, up to five- 

 banded, and the bees were as cross as hornets. 



I fail to see where the five-banded bees, cross- 

 ed with any other race of bees, makes them 

 more cross than other hybrid bees. This I 

 mention as 1 thought of it. 



Now, Ernest, you and I will have to fight it 

 out, and I am going to hold my ground as long 

 as I can honestly; and when I see you are get- 

 ting the best of it I will give it up; but I must 

 say that I think you are away off on this state- 

 ment, and do not see where you are going to 

 get out unless you walk backward. As for 

 breeding bees for color alone. 1 think one 

 should be ashamed to do such a thing, and sell 

 the queens, as such a breeder would soon play 

 out, and at the same time injure his fellow-man. 

 I have come to the belief that queen-breeders 

 should be the most careful of apiarists, as they 

 have the reins of the honey-producer, and may 

 lead him to ruin by breeding from any and all 

 kinds of queens. I tell you, it is a serious 

 thing, as well as a matter of dishonesty, for a 

 queen-breeder to use any thing but the best of 

 queens for mothers. I know that I have got off 

 the track, but I just thought of these things, 

 and made mention of it. I should like to hear 

 from others on this subject. 



Beeville, Tex., Jan. 17. Jennie Atchley. 



Friend E. R. Root: — I notice in January 1st 

 Gleanings, page 23, an editorial stating that a 

 cross between a queen of five-banded stock and a 

 black drone or a five-banded drone and a black 

 queen will, according to your experience, result 

 in all the bees showing at least three bands, 

 etc. I am quite surprised to hear you say this, 

 as my experience does not coincide with yours. 

 Last season I gave the cross-mating of several 

 difl'erent strains of bees a thorough trial; and I 

 find, so far as my experience goes, that a cross 

 like the one you refer to will result in produc- 

 ing bees that show from one to three yellow 

 bands, and quite often there will be bees that 

 are produced in this same colony that are as 

 black as the blackest bees I ever saw. Please 

 bear in mind that I am speaking of a cross 

 between five-banded stock and pure (German) 

 bl8ck drones. I should be pleased to hear from 

 some other queen-breeder in this line, through 

 Gleanings. F. A. Lockhart. 



Beeville, Tex., .Ian. 17, 



Dear Mr. Editor: — Did your hand tremble a 

 little bit when you wrote that editorial on mis- 

 mated five-banded queens in last Gleanings? 

 I have had numbers of them mated with black 

 drones in the past four years, and not in one 

 instance have I found one producing all straight 

 three-banded bees. Who told you about that? 



Chrisman, Tex. C. B. Bankston. 



[See editorials.— Ei).] 



