564 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 6 1900. 



of the sections which the bees cleaned up that day were so 

 despoiled, as to comb, that they were nearly or quite worth- 

 less as ' bait ' sections." He prefers to put over colonies 

 any sections or comb to be cleaned up. To prevent the bees 

 from putting- back into the same combs the honey cleaned 

 up, he puts a sheet of enameled cloth over the frames, turn- 

 ing back one corner of the same so the bees can get up. 



The plan advised by Mr. Aikin was first given by the 

 late B. Taylor, and others have practiced it successfully, 

 but according to Mr. Doolittle's experience it may not suc- 

 ceed under all circumstances, and beginners may do well to 

 be a little cautious. Let the bees have access to the combs 

 to be cleaned up somewhat late in the day, then if the 

 combs are found to be torn it will not be likely to be so bad 

 as if they had had the whole day for it. If the combs are 

 found uninjured, then access may be given again to the 

 combs. 



Mr. Doolittle, however, is of the belief that it is not 

 necessary to have sections cleaned up by the bees in the 

 fall, differing in this from the experience of many others. 

 He says : 



" I find that where either extracting-supers or sections 

 having comb in them (the honey being extracted from them 

 ill the falli, are placed in position for storing at the time 

 when they should be so placed, at the earliest beginning of 

 the honey harvest, the bees will clean out all of the honey in 

 the cells to these combs, whether candied or not, before 

 they will store any honey from the fields in them." 



Carniolan Bees must differ greatly, if one is to believe 

 the conflicting reports concerning them.. As swarmers 

 they have been reported by a large number to excel. Yet 

 all do not agree. The same difference of opinion seems to 

 prevail outside of the United States. The British Bee Jour- 

 nal has made repeated mention of their excessive swarm- 

 ing, Mr. Webster reporting eight swarms from one hive in 

 a single day ! Mr. Brice says : " Gentleness is the only 

 good quality they possess. Swarming is their bane. Out 

 they come ; prime swarm, first, second, third, and fourth 

 casts, which means good-by to any chance of surplus." Yet 

 C. N. White says : " They are the bees for beginners, and 

 none should start with any other kind." 



Turning to Canada, the following extract from the re- 

 port of the convention in the Canadian Bee Journal shows 

 the same conflict of opinion there, as well as the high es- 

 teem in which some hold the Carniolan : 



Mr. Craig — What about the swarming propensities of 

 the Carniolan bees? 



Mr. Hall — Just as good as others, and no worse. 



Mr. Shaver — Mr. Hall clips the queens ; I know of two 

 different apiaries where they have them, and they complain 

 terribly of their swarming. 



Mr. Post — My experience has been almost identical 

 with Mr. Hall's, with the exception that I have never had 

 any poor ones. They are the best race of bees I ever 

 handled. This was one of the poorest years we ever had — 

 we secured between three and four tons of buckwheat 

 honey. The whole amount was secured by the Carniolan 

 bees placed promiscuously in the yard along with Italian- 

 hybrids. Many of the Italians required feeding, and they 

 were fed with combs taken from theCarniolans. They will 

 beat any bee I ever had in wintering and in building up in 

 the spring, and they are no more likely to swarm than any 

 other bee, in my experience, but you will make a mistake if 

 you put them in a small hive. Give them plenty of room. 

 I believe in a large hive. My hive is equal to 11 Langstroth 

 frames. Thru the forepart of the season until about June 

 14th, I allow the queen one top story and the bottom story — 

 that makes 16 plus .^, equals a capacity of over 19 Lang- 

 stroth frames. As soon as the queen begins to lay a little 

 above, I raise the top story and place another one under, 

 and place the queen-excluder below. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



\ Contributed Articles. | 



Carniolan Bees, Freak Queens, and Plain 

 Sections. 



BY JOHN R. SCHMIDT. 



CARNIiJLAN bees, strange to say, do not seem to be very 

 popular among honey-producers, but there are a few 

 who like them, and I am one of the few. Having kept 

 this bee for a number of years, and also the Italians, I be- 

 lieve I am informed well enough to say a few words about 

 their good qualities, especially for the production of comb 

 honey. 



Carniolan bees have always been noted as of a steel- 

 gray color, and for their superior swarming qualities. Now, 

 both of these statements have always fallen thru with 

 every Carniolan colony I ever saw or owned, and some of 

 mv queens were absolutely pure. As to the steel gray 

 color, I could never discover anything that resembled steel- 

 gray within the past four or five years, either on my own 

 bees or those that I bought. Possibly the piece of steel 

 they were compared with was out in the rain a few days. 

 This color question is wrong, and should be a rusty gray 

 instead. 



As to their swarming propensities, I do not find them 

 more inclined to swarm than the Italians, and I keep them 

 in Danzenbaker hives, which are not Draper barns, by a 

 good deal. 



For comb honey this bee can not be surpast. The queens 

 begin to lay very earl3', and by the first of May ten Danzen- 

 baker frames can easily be filled solid with brood if the 

 honev in the comb was previously uncapt about once a 

 week and placed in the center of the brood-nest where it 

 will be consumed. I was surprised when I read a certain 

 article in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, an extract from which 

 reads as follows : 



" About the first of May I go over the whole yard and 

 examine each hive to see how much brood there is, and all 

 colonies which do not have an equivalent to 2', Gallup 

 frames full are shut up on the frames of brood they do 

 have," etc. 



Why. if I had a colony of bees on the above date that 

 had no more brood than in 2'-2 frames, I should consider 

 such bad enough to brimstone, and our honey-flow is from 

 sweet clover, too. When I read that article, some of my 

 Carniolan queens had already filled 10 frames, and were 

 filling others for weaker colonies. No wonder some bee- 

 keepers favor contraction of the brood-nest to produce comb 

 honey 1 



One verj' favorable trait in Carniolan queens is that 

 they do not allow themselves to be crowded in the brood- 

 chamber like most Italians do. They simply keep every- 

 thing packt with brood during the flow, and thereby every- 

 thing goes into the supers, just where we want it. 



As comb-builders they can not be surpast. No greasy 

 or watery-looking sections with them. I never heard of 

 such a thing. The wintering qualities are excellent. Last 

 winter I doubt if 100 bees died in each colony during the 

 whole winter; while with the Italians I had to clear the en- 

 trance three times, and scraped them out bj- the handful. 



A first or .second cross between a Carniolan queen and 

 Italian drone produces the ideal bee for comb honey. They 

 possess the push and energy which can not be found in any 

 other cross. Some of these crosses are actually wonderful, 

 and I possess one queen now — a Carniolan reared from a 

 pure mother. This queen (the daughteri was crost with an 

 Italian drone, and here is what she has done for me ; she 

 was reared last fall, and everything is from a record I have 

 kept from the time she hatcht, so there is no guess-work 

 about it : 



April 28, brood in 7 frames nearly all solid ; May IS, re- 

 moved 3 frames of brood and adhering bees, and substi- 

 tuted three frames of foundation ; May 25, did the same 

 thing, and with the 6 frames removed I formed a new col- 

 ony. June 12 I exchanged stands with the new colony. 

 This old colony, after being removed from the old to the 

 new stand, continued to work in the supers, and on July IS 

 I removed 32 pounds of comb honey in 4x5 sections. July 22 

 it had just finisht its second super, and the third nicely 

 started. 



Now, this is undoubtedly something extra, but I am not 



