770 



OT.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



days before packing for export: Thus one 

 has a good foundation of all j'oung bees to 

 start on when they are transferred to frame 

 hives. 



As usual the stocks referred to were 

 transferred by tirst removing the top board, 

 to which the combs are attached. These, 

 with the mass of bees covering tliem, are 

 then turned over, when, beginning with a 

 side comb, each is gentlj' sliced off, and the 

 bees shaken into the permanent liive pre- 

 pared for them close by. Very little smoke 

 is required; and as a rule one may thus 

 transfer ten or a dozen lots without getting 

 a single sting. 



With bees imported early in the season 

 the c|ueens are of the previous year; but I 

 do not find these bees any more given to 

 swarming than imported Italians, nor a're 

 they likely to supersede the queens more 

 than such Italians are known to do. 



During 1911 we had a particularly long 

 fine pei-iod after a cool spring, and the 

 several imported stocks I retained stood the 

 whole summer without swarming: and even 

 though I cut out no queen-cells they became 

 very populous, and none of the queens Avere 

 superseded. 



But now I must mention a strange pe- 

 culiarity found with these bees. They go 

 and come rapidly in large numbers all day 

 long, but the work done is not commensu- 

 rate with their apparent activity, and they 

 do not store as heavily as my line-bred Ital- 

 ians, which come home more slowly and 

 drop heavily on the alighting-board with 

 their bodies distended with the weight of 

 honey carried. Pure Carniolans do not 

 carry such loads, and, like i)ure Cyprians 

 or Syrians, appear unable to load up so 

 heavily. 



As each of these three races is invaluable 

 for crossing, iiroducing bees that will store 

 heavily in some localities where imported 

 Italians are quite useless, they should not 

 be hastily condemned because of their ap- 

 parent inferiority as pure races. 



Carniolans crossed with our natives pro- 

 duce workers that yield large crops of hon- 

 ey; but the temper of the bees is somewhat 

 troublesome. They are, however, not so 

 unmanageable as Cyprians or Syrians when 

 crossed with blacks. 



Carniolans mated to imported Italian 

 drones are of little value. Such Italians 

 crossed with Carniolan drones are more use- 

 ful, and the workers are superior to either 

 race pure. 



Cyprian and Syrian queens mated to 

 Carniolan drones throw workers that are 

 good-tempered and very strong w^orkers, 

 but are even better when crossed with a 

 good strain of I^r.l'ans. 



It may be taken for granted that Cypri- 

 ans mated to a suitable strain of Italians 

 will produce bees of more general utility 

 than any other strain of Carniolans or Ital- 

 ians, pure or hybridized. Syrians do not 

 lose their bad temper through several cross- 

 es; but it is a strange fact tliat Cyprians of 

 the first cross to an Italian drone of a good- 

 tempered strain will show workers which 

 are more gentle than any pure Carniolans 

 or Italians known. I can vouch for this 

 from many years' experience in crossing 

 these bees; and I am not in the least sur- 

 jjiised that Mr. Burrows has recently been 

 under the impression he has found a sting- 

 less bee. Personally I do not remember 

 ever being stung by any bee of the most 

 populous hive containing this Cyprian cross 

 with Italians, whether in the warm or cool 

 season ; and as to wintering, they are at all 

 times bright, slim, and active, rarely or 

 never showing that somewhat bloated ap- 

 jiearance found with some Italians and 

 their hybrids when long confined. 



For comb-honey production it would be 

 better to cross Cyprians with Carniolan 

 drones, but for heavier results with good 

 Italian drones. 



With over thirty years' experience with 

 Cyprian bees and their crosses I have so far 

 found none with disease of any kind. Ital- 

 ians are more immune than natives to 

 both brood diseases and paralysis; and 

 somewhere about the year 1906 in articles 

 of mine published in Gleanings I showed 

 how Italians were able to overcome brood 

 diseases better than blacks. I also included 

 Carniolans as being able to keep such dis- 

 eases at bay. 



Mr. Frank Benton declared that no foul 

 brood was known, in the locality from which 

 Carniolans are imported; and in your jour- 

 nal for April 1. 1911, p. 203, you will find 

 Carniolans placed ahead of Italians; as Mr. 

 J. T. Dunn says, " Carniolans would with- 

 stand this disease when Italians in the same 

 apiary were infected and reinfected." Pos- 

 sibly these Italians may have been some- 

 what inbred, as usually they do not readily 

 give wav to disease. 



Heatlifleld, Sussex, Eng., Dec. 26. 



MORE COMB HONEY AND LESS OF EXTRACTED 



Importance of Proper Packing of Comb Honey; 

 Conditions in the West 



BY M. A. GILL 



You have been advocating in time past 

 the production of comb instead of so much 

 extracted lioney. Mr. Root, you stand in a 

 position to wield a great influence; and you, 



