540 



GLEAKmcS IK UEE CULTUKE. 



AVci. 



or were stubborn about it ; but for all that, I believe 

 that n p-i-ont niaiij- times wc call in the services of a 

 doctor, or, worse still, take upon ourselves the 

 responsibilitj- of taking- drugs, or " tinkering-" in 

 other ways with these bodies God lias given us, 

 when Nature would fix it if she had a fair chance, 

 and were let alone. Of course, babies (ire seldom 

 able to decide what course of treatment is best. 



UK fAREFUr. or VOUU MAILlXr.-CAGKS. 



t)NE of the friends sends us a queen-cage which 

 he received tiy nuiil, which should have contained 

 samples of live Carniolan bees; but the cage was 

 made of pine, and the hole was made so near the 

 end of the block that a piece of the pine split out 

 and let every bee loose into the mail-bags. He asks 

 the question, "How many such cases as this would 

 be necessary to again banish bees from the mails'/" 

 The point is well made. I would under no circum- 

 stances use pine for a queen-cage. It splits alto- 

 gether too easily. Use basswood or whitewood, 

 and have them made in such a way that bi-eakage is 

 next to impossible. Wo have no right to risk the 

 loss of this great privilege to bee-keepers, by slov- 

 enly made cages. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



OiTR thanks are due to several of the friends for 

 sending us samples of the above bees. If they had 

 been sent to me without an explanation saying- that 

 they were Carniolans, I should have decided with- 

 out hesitation that they were our common bees and 

 nothing- more. Whatever good qualities they may 

 have, there will be this objection: No one can tell 

 whether they are pure or not, and I do not know 

 any means of telling whether we have got one or 

 the other. Friend Jones spoke of finding common 

 black bees in Italy. I should say judging from the 

 lonhs only that they had black bees in Carniola. 



JuJy ?.9.— We have to-day received two Carniolan 

 queens from Frank Benton, with an explanation 

 that the queens sent to other parties were ordered 

 before ours were, and I heartily beg pardon for not 

 having had a little more charity, which I so often 

 recommend to others. The workers with our 

 queens are all Italians, but the queens look more 

 like Italian queens than they do like common black 

 queens, though the color is perhaps rather a copper 

 color than yellow. This will afford us at least one 

 slight means of distinguishing the two races. The 

 queens reached us in perfect health, and but one 

 worker-bee was dead in the two cages. This is in- 

 deed wonderful. Wo notice a little improvement 

 by putting a piece of fdn. over the apartment con- 

 taining the candy. This piece of fdn. is waxed 

 down to the wood so as to make it air-tight, thus 

 preventing evaporation fiom the candy. Friend 

 Henton stands at the head of the world in this mat- 

 ter of making cages to stand long journeys, and I 

 presume he has had more experience than any oth- 

 er man in the world. Just as soon as uggs can be 

 had from these queens we shall start for untested 

 Carniolans. At present I can not say what the 

 price will be— probably about the same that others 

 charge. Neither can I say how soon we shall be 

 ready to ship them, but we will fill all orders in ro- 

 tation. Of course, they will be ci-ossed by Italians. 



USINO A BEE TENT TO STOP ROBBING. 



Last Sunday morning was somewhat wet and 

 rainy; but for all the wet, the bees seemed starting 

 off with quite a roar, which I at first thought must 



be the reranents of basswood-bloom. Pretty soon, 

 however, I decided the roar was on too high a key; 

 and by the time I saw a few bees hanging about 

 the ventilators of the chaff hives, I concluded it was 

 robbing somewhere. I passed one apiary after an- 

 other, glancing uj) the avenues of grapevines 

 (which are now quite bushy, and are about six feet 

 high or more). "Oh, yes! here they are." It was 

 one of the last artificial colonies made, and all aljout 

 it was a perfect hubbub of activity, while the other 

 ;itXI or 4iK) colonies were comparatively still. The 

 apiarist Mr. IC, soon got a bee tent, by my instruc- 

 tion, and placed over the hive. He remarked that 

 it had a liole in the top, but I told him 1 guessed it 

 would do no harm. The robbers collected in large 

 numbers in the top of the tent. As soon as they 

 f(niiid the hole they buzzed out and started home- 

 ward rejoicing over their heavy load of ill-gotten 

 gains. The point was, did they take their point to 

 come back and get in at this hole? I told Mr. K. 

 what had been reported in the journal, that a tent 

 was better with such a hole in it, and we found that 

 it worked all right. Of course the great body of 

 bees came back and besieged every hive in that 

 vicinity, but not a bee had sense enough to go to 

 the top of the tent and crawl in that hole out of 

 which the robbers were coming. After thej' had 

 satisfied themselves that no more plunder was to be 

 had. either by Iwa}: or crook, they one after another 

 went quietly back to their homes; and when I came 

 home from meeting, there stood the tent without a 

 robber-bee inside of it, for they all got out at the 

 hole in the top; and neither was there a robber-bee 

 outside of it, or anywhere about the apiary. All 

 you have to do is to put such a tent over the bees 

 being robbed, and go back about your other work. 

 No bees will buzz their wings off inside of the tent, 

 or die of sutt'ocation. 



We have to-day, July ;51, G5S1 subscribers. 



LOOK HERE! 



To introduce my strain of pure bright Italians, 

 equal to any in the United States, I will otter lor 

 August, tested queens, ."?1. 00 each; extra fine, select- 

 ed, *1..50 each; one-frame nucleus, consisting of one 

 extra select queen, one frame of brood, Vi lb. bees, 

 for PZ.M. ]f you want any bees, send me your ad- 

 dress on postal and I will send you sample by re- 

 turn mail, liecsw ax or honey taken in exchange. 

 Uitfdb 'IHOlUAS HOKIM, 



Box 691, 81ierbui-iie, (lieu. Co., N. V. 



WARRANT FREE 



On dollar queens in August and September. There 

 is not a black or liyl)riil stock near my apiary. Take 

 notice thereof, and g(i\eni ^-Dursell ueooidinglv. 

 b'>d J. B. HAirVS, IttMllord, <'iiy. I'o., O. 



SisrCheap! Cheap! Cheap! \m 



During Aimust aud Scptciiilicr I will sell at the 

 following low i)riecs, one unlesl.-d (|ueen, reared 



I II). pure Italiim bees, two Simplicity frames tilled 

 ^vi^ll brootl and hone>', all woi-Kcr couib, in three- 

 frame nucleus hive, all in jjooil sliapc, and worth 

 Jftf.OO for only ^'.i.aO. This adv. will not apiu-ar again, 

 so remember it. Make inonev ordeis payable at 

 Sherwood, O. F. \V. iUOAT.s, 



l.")d Tlie Bend, lletiunec Co., Olito. 



PURE ITALIAIT QI7EE1TS. 



100 RKAUV ICVKKY 30 DAYS. 



Untested at 7.') cents; 10 fen- $7.0 ). Tested queens. 

 $1.;)() each. All bretl from a selected imported 

 mother. Cells raised in full colonies. 

 12-16d D. G. EDMISTON, ADEUM, LEW. CO., MICH. 



