816 



GLEANIN*GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



hilarity at my oxpense. whon at that instant I 

 secured a pliotdgrapli. Tlie place being a little 

 shady and dark, tiic picture is not clear enough 

 to reproduce; but I never saw broader grins 

 on the faces of a party than are shown in this 

 little miniature photograph. That afternoon 

 we went out in a row-boat, and we were shown 

 a place where a certain man-of-war was sunk 

 during the French and Indian War. The wa- 

 ter is as clear as crystal: and wlien the lake is 

 still enough, I am told that this old relic of our 

 forefathers can be seen at a depth of 40 feet. 



That afternoon I was obliged to leave, al- 

 thoutrh some good fishing was promised me if I 

 would stay. The rest I will leave for the Ram- 

 bler to relate, which he will do in a forthcoming 

 article soon. 



To he continued. 



PURE ITALIANS VS. HYBRIDS. 



DR. C. C. MILLER VOTES IN FAVOR OF ITAL- 

 IANS. 



Like yourself, friend Root, I was a little sur- 

 prised at the answers on page 7.53 to the ques- 

 tion whether pure Italians or hybrids would do 

 a better season's work. And now, upon making 

 a careful canvass of the replies, I am again 

 surprised to find my first impressions were so 

 far from correct. The impression left on my 

 mind, after reading the replies, was that the 

 general consensus of opinion was that hybrids 

 are bett.er for work than pure stock. Instead 

 of such being the case, I find that, of the six- 

 teen replies, aside from my own, seven prefer 

 Italians, four prefer hybrids, one thinks there 

 is no difference, and four are non-committal. 

 Having kept bees solely for the sake of having 

 the honey to sell, I have never cared for color, 

 whether yellow, black, or green, only so they 

 gave me the most honey. The reports of others 

 settled me in the belief that hybrids are just as 

 good workers as pure Italians; but every year 

 or two I got an imported queen for the sake of 

 infusing fresh blood. Most of the queens I 

 raised were daughters of these imported queens, 

 but for the last two or three years I paid less 

 attention to the matter, leaving the bees to a 

 great extent to raise queens to suit themselves. 

 As I had for so many years been bringing in 

 imported queens my bees were all either pure 

 or hybrids, and the few bees surrounding me 

 would be pretty well Italianized. Not rearing 

 queens for sale, and believing that hybrids 

 would give me just as good results as pure Ital- 

 ians, why should I ti'onble myself any more 

 than to throw in a little fresh blood now and 

 then? The yellow blood being in the ascen- 

 dency. I could reasonably expect it to remain 

 so, even if I never got another imported queen; 

 and by bringing in a fresh inipoi'ted queen 

 every year or two, the black blood ought soon 

 to work itself all out. But I was surprised to 

 find the number of very dark hybrids on the 

 increase— a good many of that sort that kind o' 

 hang along without getting ahead much, and 

 allow the worms to take possession — and in 

 1889 I actually found two or thi-ee colonies that 

 110 one would suspect of having any yellow 

 blood in them — pure black. I also found that, 

 instead of wearing a veil on my hat, to be pull- 

 ed down only occasionally, l" had gradually 

 come to wear my veil down all the time. 



In the A B C. friend Root speaks of the vin- 

 dictiveness of hybrids. In my comments there- 

 on I say, '■ My hybrids do not' and never did de- 

 serve the reputation you give them. Perhaps 

 one in two hundred' may, and then a queen 

 loses her head." But the "one in two hun- 

 dred " became quite a number in one hundred. 



and there were times when I dreaded to go 

 near them. 



One day as I sat working at a hive, having 

 had a little more than the usual quota of stings, 

 I looked up from my work, and, with suppress- 

 ed groans (and, I presume, with unsuppressed 

 lugubriousness of countenance), said to my as- 

 sistant, " If I knew that this thing were to con- 

 tinue straight along in this way, I think I 

 should want to give up the business." Instead 

 of giving me the hearty sympathy I had a right 

 to expect, she merely looked at me and laughed 

 very heartily. To this day I don't know just 

 what she laughed at. There was nothing tun- 

 ny about it. 



In that same summer of 1889 I had a good il- 

 lustration of how much trouble some people 

 will take to avoid trouble when a pet theory is 

 involved. I had a visitor wliom I will not 

 name, further than.to say he came from Medi- 

 na, and was somewhat baicfooted on the top of 

 his head. While among the bees I urged him 

 to put on a veil. Not he; it was too much 

 trouble. Do you know that, all the time that 

 man was among the bees, he spent his whole 

 time blowing a smoker about his head, puffing 

 first: on one side then on the other. If he had 

 been obliged to work at a hive he would have 

 taken a good many stings, or else would have 

 taken to his heels. 



However well he stuck to his theory, I had to 

 give up mine. I concluded hybrids were not as 

 good for me as pure Italians. However good a 

 first cross may be. if such are encouraged they 

 are sure to be followed by second, third, and 

 sixteenth crosses, among them such crosses as 

 are cross and very poor workers. So this last 

 sumini'i'. wherever a colony showed the least 

 taint of black blood either in color or disposi- 

 tion, the queen of such colony was remorselessly 

 destroyed and replaced with one of pure origin. 

 This brought death into some of my best colo- 

 nies. The queens were killed, not because of 

 what they were, so much as because of what 

 might come after them. As a general rule I 

 am kept too busy to keep close track of the 

 qualities of each colony; but in one case I did 

 give close observation. I had an imported 

 queen whose workers, in appearance, pleased 

 me less than any I had ever had. This led me 

 to watch narrowly their conduct for some days, 

 to see if they were any more industrious than 

 others in the same apiary. There was no mis- 

 taking it; there was not only a difference, but 

 a rmirked difference. Especially in the morn- 

 ing was this noticeable, for no other colony in 

 the apiary sent out so strong a force, although 

 some were more populous. 



Hereafter, if a colony of hybrids be found 

 among my bees it will be by no design of mine. ■ 



Marengo, 111., Oct. 22. C. C. Miller. 



Friend M., if you had had decent bees, in- 

 stead of the kind you did have, I should not 

 have needed a bee-veil or smoker either, at the 

 rate your bees were getting honey during my 

 visit. Very likely that is your opinion, as well 

 as mine, so we can di'op it right there. 



A WINTER REPOSITORY. 



pIjAnks for ceiling boards. 



I have recently built a bee-cellar which I 

 should like to describe, and have an expression 

 of opinion from yourself and others as to its 

 wintering qualities. 



My apiary is situated in a valley and near a 

 small swamp. The soil is sand and gravel, and 

 there is just enough rise so I could dig down 



