256 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



CANS FOR HONHY. 



fpIE young man who japans and letters 

 our extractors astonished me a few 

 ~^ J days ago by bringing in one of our 

 honey cans lettered in gold bronze as in the 

 cut below. 



CAN FOR EXTRACTED nONEY. 



The expense of this .work will be just 

 about that of the can itself. On the 25 lt>. 

 can, we only put the word "Honey'\ but on 

 the 50 and 100 lb cans, we put the name and 

 address, if they are not too long. 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or Letters from Those Who Have Made 

 Bee Culture a Failure. 



F LEASE forward two, "dollar" queens to James 

 Anderson, Farmers P. O., Sanilac Co., Mich. 

 I have but four colonics left out of 130 and 

 two of those are queenless. About how many bees 

 are usually in a two frame nucleus hive? and will 

 they grow to a full colony without aid? 



J ames Anderson. 

 Washington, Mich., May 31, 1879. 



About a half lb. of bees are generally put 

 in a two frame nucleus, and, if started— say 

 in July, and the two frames are fairly tilled 

 with brood, they should build up to a full 

 colony. If they are kept constantly rearing 

 brood at full speed, by feeding, I think they 

 should build up, even if started a month 

 later; but the queen must not be allowed 

 to stop laying, or the colony will assuredly 

 be a risky one. I am very sorry indeed to 

 hear of your severe losses, friend A., but 

 your report may serve a timely caution to 

 beginners. 



ITALIANS ANB BLACKS. 



I 



WOULD advise your correspondent, H. R. 

 Boardman, on paga 215, June No., to introdace 

 pure blacks instead of pure Italians, unless he 

 has had a different race of Italians from any I have 

 ever had. I have had Italians for ten years, and 

 have had home bred queens from many different 

 breeders very much noted for their skill in breeding 

 good queens, and have had imported queens, too, 

 and would say, so far as box honey is concerned, I 

 consider them far inferior to the blacks. For ex- 

 tracted honey they may do, but we don't all want 

 extracted honey. In the way of swarming, I consid- 

 er them a nuisance. They will rush out and swarm 



when the hive is not full of bees, and not enough of 

 honey in the field to keep them from starving. In 

 regard to taking the pure Italians to some lonely 

 isle to breed them in their purity, I would say, take 

 them there and keep them there, so we can have a 

 chance to breed our black bees in their purity. 



I think, if our American bee-keepers would select 

 the best strains of black bees in breeding, and give 

 them the same attention that they give the Italians, 

 we would soon have a race far superior to the Ital- 

 ians. I think we have some as good reports in hon- 

 ey from black bees as from Italians. When at the 

 National convention, in Cleveland, I heard Mr. Quin- 

 by say, the best yield of extracted honey he had was 

 361ft. from one colony, and when asked what kind of 

 bees, he said they were black bees. Black bees 

 make a better quality of honey than Italians, much 

 heavier in body. It was honey made by black bees 

 that took the Thurber gold medal. How is it that 

 the bee cholera was not known in America until the 

 Italian bee was introduced ? at least we never heard 

 of such disasters before. Black bees were very lit- 

 tle hurt with it in this locality, while the Italians 

 were badly used up. 



Is it not true, that many who "toot their horns" so 

 loud for these bees have them for sale, at extrava- 

 gant prices ? The skilful breeder, that selects a 

 superior strain of black bees, and breeds his queens 

 with the same care as he does his Italians, is the 

 man of whom I want to buy. I would say to you, 

 Novice, that I don't belong to that class of unfortu- 

 nates who seem to delight in being contrary. I only 

 want to give facts. 



A. J. FlSHER. 



East Liverpool, O., June 17, 1879. 



I give place to the above, because some of 

 our new readers may think we do not give 

 both sides of every question. Our old read- 

 ers know that the same ideas have been ad- 

 vanced over and over again, and that all 

 those who held them have given up their 

 position and recalled their statements, after 

 a more faithful trial of the Italians. If I am 

 not mistaken, every point mentioned has 

 been refuted by careful experiments. I was 

 present when Mr. Quinby made the state- 

 ment referred to, but our friend does not 

 give all of it. Mr. Q., at that time, very de- 

 cidedly corrected the point our friend' has 

 made." Is it not rather uncharitable, friend 

 F., to insinuate that those who recommend 

 Italians do it because they have them for 

 sale? Are you willing we should judge you 

 in that way? The blacks do make the whit- 

 est comb honey, but it is because they do not 

 till the cells full, as do the Italians. Hed- 

 don, Bingham, Peters, who argued as you 

 do, and all the rest, have now adopted Ital- 

 ians ; and I believe they all keep bees solely 

 for honey. 



HOW TO GET BEES INTO THE HOUSE APIARY. 



I have built a house apiary similar to the one il- 

 lustrated in the A B C as yours. How am I to get 

 the bees from the old box "gums" into the house V 

 Some of them are one hundred feet from it at 

 present. I can transfer from one hive to another, 

 and have done so, but how am I to get the bees over 

 that distance and not lose any ? Dr. Ashton. 



Cuthbert, Ga., May 28, 1879. 



[Transfer them into movable frames first: then 

 leave one comb with a little brood on each old stand, 

 and move the rest of the combs and bees into the 

 house apiary. Every night, carry the remaining 

 bees into the house, until all will stay with their 

 queen.] 



