1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



125 



ous races. The trouble is, they are so very much 

 mixed. It matters little what race you select, the 

 trouble is to depend on getting them pure. Car- 

 niolans are the last foreign race in great demand 

 —if I except the Minorcan— and most of us had 

 hoped an effort would be made by the queen-breed- 

 ers to keep them pure; but it soon became evident 

 to those who watched what was going on, with a 

 critical eye, that the same old game had reached 

 Carniola also. I do not wish to blame any one 

 man for doing this, but T at least did expect some to 

 endeavor to keep their hands clean of such prac- 

 tices by keeping the yellow races out of the breed- 

 ing-grounds, instead of introducing stocks in num- 

 bers to breed from. 



I presume you are not aware that our law of li- 

 bel in England makes it a crime to write and pub- 

 lish the truth, if it is calculated to injure a man in 

 his business. Dishonesty with us, as everywhere 

 else, does not succeed in the end; but we have not 

 the ready means of showing up any " fishy " tricks 

 that you have in America, as the parties would 

 soon down upon us and get heavy damnges; con- 

 sequently one has to be very cautious, and so have 

 editors. 



Now as to the Carniolan bees. Why are they 

 such favorites with us? To understand the rea- 

 son, you must understand the class of people who 

 compose a large number of our bee-keepers. First, 

 we have the farm laborers, who keep bees in the 

 old-fashioned straw-skep hive. They are very nu- 

 merous in the pai-ish (township, an area of 4000 

 acres) in which I reside; there are quite 40 who 

 keep from two up to a dozen such stocks each. 

 They never buy a fresh queen or swarm, but sim 

 ply hive whatever increase comes naturally, and 

 take the swarms in autumn, and return the bees 

 (or in some cases even brimstone them), and ap- 

 propriate what honey they may have stored, and 

 allow the old stocks to stand over winter. The on 

 ly good thing about this method is, they have al- 

 ways young queens at the head of their colonies. 



Next we have a class of people socially a stage 

 above these, who keep bees in bar-frame hives on 

 modern methods and read the bee-papers, and keep 

 the bees for what they can get out of them, as well 

 as a relaxation from other labors. In my parish 

 I have two other such besides myself, but the three 

 of us would not keep 50 stocks between us, as we 

 can not find time from other duties to attend to 

 more, and I keep the greater portion of that num- 

 ber, the other two not being such lovers of it as 

 myself. 



We next have a class of people who keep bees for 

 pleasure and profit, who enjoy moderate incomes, 

 who keep a daughter of the laboring classes in 

 their houses to do the work as a " slavey," and a 

 lad out of doors to do the pleasure-ground and 

 garden, clean boots, and do odd jobs generally. As 

 a rule, these people live fully up to their incomes, 

 are very poor and very proud. Indoors the wife 

 would not wash a cup or light a fire on any ac- 

 count, while out of doors the master would not hoe 

 a weed in his garden, or run a lawn-mower, for a 

 fortune, if he thought his neighbors would see him. 

 These people keep poultry for the sake of the eggs 

 they lay, as well as to have something to interest 

 themselves in outside of their duties. They also 

 keep bees for a similar purpose. These are the 

 people who use the bee dresses and gloves, etc., 

 that form a part of bee-gear with us, and a real 



good stinging from a fiery-tempered stock of hy- 

 brids would really be serious to such people, as well 

 as inconvenient. I remember meeting one such 

 one day who offered to sell his five colonies in bar- 

 frame hives cheap, to be rid of them quickly. He 

 was dreadfully disfigured; and on my inquiring 

 why he wished to sell them he replied he could not 

 bear to walk up the street, as every one he met 

 "chaffed" him so— "What! been out late?" 



Having said so much about our social habits, and 

 bearing in mind the fact that Carniolans are re- 

 markably docile bees, you will readily understand 

 why they are such favorites with this class of peo- 

 ple. As honey-gatherers they are as good as many 

 sold here for Italians; they are also better comb- 

 builders, as a rule, and they certainly are far more 

 reliable in temper. 



Our farmers, with extremely rare exceptions, do 

 not keep bees, nor do their sons, daughters, or 

 wives, seem to take to it. This with you is the con- 

 trary, I believe. Many of us are compelled to keep 

 our bees very near our houses and pleasure- 

 grounds, consequently their tempers often have to 

 be a great consideration with us. The characteris- 

 tics of Italians, Cyprians, and Syrians, that you in- 

 quire about, I must leave to a future letter. This 

 is " Boxing-day" with us, and consequently a gen- 

 eral holiday spent in feasting and idleness, so I am 

 spending it by putting up arrears of correspon- 

 dence. December has been a month of mild, damp, 

 foggy weather. The air is saturated with moisture; 

 and in places where there are no fires you can wipe 

 the moisture off painted woodwork and such like 

 articles, so you may imagine what the hives are 

 like on their summer stands. Amateur Expert. 



Friend E., although your letter was di- 

 rected to Ernest, I want to express to you 

 my thanks for your kind letter to our read- 

 ers. I am very glad indeed that you have 

 taken hold of this matter of false pride in 

 regard to doing necessary household duties, 

 and that you have handled it without 

 gloves. Although there are not very many 

 in our country, so far as my knowledge ex- 

 tends, who are ashamed to wash the dishes, 

 light the fire, weed garden, or run a lawn- 

 mower, there is a constant tendency here in 

 that direction— that is, there are certain 

 people who are ashamed to be found doing 

 these things. I suppose that you are well 

 aware that I have been strongly opposed to 

 any such romantic notions. A great many 

 times, when well-dressed runners inquire 

 for the " boss " they are surprised, and may 

 be now and then disgusted, to find him not 

 as well dressed as some of his workmen, 

 and perhaps engaged in " weeding garden," 

 as you express it. There may be such a 

 thing, however, as too great extremes in 

 this matter. My wife thinks many times I 

 ought to take more pains to be tidy and 

 neat than I do. Doubtless she is right; but 

 she prefers to do her own housework ; and 

 when you pay us a visit, which I hope you 

 sooner or later may do, very likely she will 

 light the fire and cook the breakfast for us 

 with her own hands. I often tell my help- 

 ers that I shall never ask them to do any 

 tiling that I should be ashamed to do my- 

 self, and I think this contributes greatly to 

 the pleasant relations that exist between 

 myself and all who are working for me. 



