1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



769 



Looking among ihose who condemn them, I 

 do not find any thing more striking than I no- 

 tice in the difference between "Reports En- 

 couraging " and " Reports Discouraging," where 

 we find, from localiti(>s in the same State, and 

 often quite near together, directly opposite re- 

 ports. These differences are laid mostly to the 

 season. But if any of the persons making them 

 should have happened to be trying a new strain 

 of bees, the latter would have come in for a 

 large share of the blame or praise. Note what 

 the majority of German bee-keepers say re- 

 garding blacks vs. Italians. Prom their prefer- 

 ence we might think that nature, in breeding 

 for three yellow bands, had produced an inferi- 

 or race. 



I do not go principally for fancy in bees. No 

 bee-keeper, large or small, if he is sensible, will 

 want less profitable bees because they look 

 prettv. But if any one would not choose a 

 handsome race in preference when the dollars 

 and cents come in just as well, then he is lack- 

 ing in a taste for the beautiful ; and while we 

 may not expect to cultivate taste in him, we 

 are not expected to give it up ourselves. 



I should like to have all, who can giv^ facts 

 to show that five-banded bees do not differ as 

 to profit from three-banders, to send them in to 

 add to what we already have, and see how 

 much of a showing can be made. If these facts 

 really can not be produced, then I will say, stop 

 breeding them. 



Monterey, Cal., Sept. 4. 



[No publisher has tried harder to give the 

 five-banders fair play than we. While I have 

 not published all the adverse testimony. I have 

 given, so far as I know, all that was in their fa- 

 vor. I myself at first felt quite kindly disposed 

 toward them ; but when I saw repeatedly their 

 bad temper, their lack of hardiness — when, in- 

 deed, this was further corroborated by letters 

 continually, with few exceptions, I felt that it 

 was simply the duty of Gleanings to set forth 

 the facts. You may show why yellow stocks 

 should not be any worse; but good theory on 

 this point can hardly offset real practical obser- 

 vation of what they are. I have letters from 

 two queen breeders who say that, as soon as 

 they get rid of them (the five-banders) they will 

 sell them no more. One of these men says he 

 has tried stock from all of the best breeders, 

 with results larsely the same. Another blames 

 us for not scoring the yellow stock more than 

 we do. These men do not wish their names 

 used, because they still have stock to sell. 



T don't think myself that the ordinary stock 

 of Italians is invariably uniform: but the point 

 is right here: It is so difficult to breed real five- 

 banders, that, in order to get four, and perhaps 

 five, every other point is very liable to be sacri- 

 ficed. It is not so easy to select out certain de- 

 sirable qualities so that they may be plainly 

 shown in the daughters of a breeding-queen. If 

 the goal is hard to reach, is it not better that 

 we take that which is the most desirable— that 

 quality or qualities that will bring to their 

 owner the most money? Color may bring the 

 most money to the breeder: but to the honey- 

 producer, nothing. I don't believe it is practic- 

 able to breed for every desirable quality at 

 once. The most we can expect to get at one 

 time, in bees, is energy, hardiness, and gentle- 



ness, from a prolific mother. If the same time 

 and thought were expended on these rather 

 than on something that appeals to the eye, we 

 should see more honey. 



Of course, if we can have color at the same 

 time with these other qualities, no one will be 

 more pleased than 1 ; but so far I don't see a 

 V( ry good combination that is from the proge- 

 ny of the average run of yellow stock. 



I,atcr.— Since writing the above, neighbor 

 Vernon Burt, who lives two miles north of us, 

 reports that his five-banders were good honey- 

 gaiherers. We have a couple of colonies at 

 our out-yard that have done well also. But if 

 I am any judge these seem to be an exception. 

 -Ed] 



SECOND HAND SftUAKE OIL CANS. 



now TO PREPARE THF.M FOR HONEY; ALSO 



SOMETHING IX REGARD TO THE 



WATER WK DRINK. 



By S. S. Butler. 



I for some time have had in mind writing an 

 article on cans, new and old, for storing honey. 

 After a 20-years' experience, using thousands 

 of cans, I am better satisfied with good oil-cans 

 than to buy new ones. I have bought Lower 

 California honey in new cans that were made 

 of poor or lead tin, and so poorly put together 

 that nearly all were in a leaky condition; but 

 good oil-cans, always rejecting those that are 

 rusty inside, being crimpled at the seams, very 

 seldom leak there, and, if well cleaned, I like 

 better than the new ones made on this coast. 

 I give 8 to 10 cts. for them. I melt oft' the four 

 faucets by setting four cans, with the corners 

 that have the faucets, together, putting a shovel 

 of hot coals on them. A good worker can clean 

 about 100 in a day by putting in a handful of 

 unslacked lime in each, with .3 or 4 quarts of 

 boiling water. After it is slacked, rinse it well, 

 and afterward rinse out twice with cold water, 

 washing them twice with lime. In that way it 

 will clean them perfectly. 



Having noticed your article on water, and 

 in other places where you have spoken of nice 

 cool pure spring water, I should like to say a 

 word about nice pure spring water, i have 

 made pure water a study for about 30 years, 

 and have made up my mind that one can hard- 

 ly ever find a spring or well of perfectly pure 

 water. I have a fine spring. Two years ago 

 I put in a cistern just where the spring was, 

 going about .30 feet above, cutting off the sever- 

 al veins of water, and running them into the 

 cistern. We dug down to hard clay, about 10 

 feet, through decayed vegetation, rotten roots, 

 etc., that smelled almost as bad as a pig-pen. 

 Pure water? Ugh! 



I have invited people to come and see my 

 simple apparatus that I have used for over 20 

 years on our stove to distill or condense our 

 drinking-water— the only pure water. 



We should purify the water we use outside, 

 not inside our bodies. Our bodies being compos- 

 ed of over seven-tenths water, just as much as 



