THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



27 



" How much honey have you been able to 

 sling out in one day with it?" 



" Why not any, I told you ; because you 

 see these tarnal queens persist in laying in 

 all shapes." 



" Allowing me the usual liberties my 

 British cousin, may I ask what that stock 

 of stuff is just piled up there by that 

 fence? " 



" Oh, those are a few of last season's 

 ' apiarian supplies.' " 



" But are they not going to decay there? " 



" I guess so." 



" Well, are they not useful? " 



"W— e— 1— 1, y— e— s, I suppose so, some 

 of them." 



Approaching nearer, I said, " What are all 

 these things? You know I am only a box- 

 hive man." 



" This is a sack to hold queens in, while 

 clipping their legs and wings." 



'* Their legs ? " said I. 



" Oh, yes, in many cases we cannot pre- 

 vent swarming, storing of surplus honey 

 and prosperity generally, unless we clip the 

 left hind leg as well as the right wing. 

 Scientific bee-keepers have discovered that 

 natui'e made a mistake in putting on so 

 many legs on a bee, when the noblest work 

 of God has but two, antl elephants and sich 

 only have four, besides you see we nnist cut 

 off a wing, and tlien an opposite leg, just 

 balances the bee." 



" Well but—" 



" No use of your trying to be so contrary, 

 you have got to come inside the ' ring.' " 



" Now friend Ileddon let me tell you some- 

 thing confidentially, if you ever expect to 

 make money out of our fascinating pursuit, 

 you must write up frame-hives, kettle-feed- 

 ers, queen-nurseries, and to make a long 

 story short, everything you see in this pile 

 here, and of course tlie unsuspecting pur- 

 chasers, must find you using them when 

 they call on you, but tlien you see, even if 

 these fixtures do get so much in the way 

 that you don't get any honey, the money 

 you will receive for supplies will pay al- 

 together the best, and mind you, don'tott'er 

 any ' money back,' for now bee-keepers are 

 getting their eyes opened considerably." 



" Well my friend, to say nothing of the 

 honesty of the course you propose, I think 

 the day is nearly past, when bee-keepers of 

 this country are to be gulled by trinket-sup- 

 ply venders. He who can furnish a good 

 hive, simple, but embracing all the requi- 

 sites of success, at a lower price than snuiU 

 apiarists can make them, will find a place 

 among us. Bee-keeping never did, nor never 

 will, pay for $.5.00 hives. One who is favor- 

 ably located, can sell hives at a paying pro- 

 fit, and accomodate the apiarists at "the same 

 time." 



" But Mr. H., how are we to decide when 

 a hive is a successful one? " 



"In this way, a successful honey-pro- 

 ducer will not use an unsuccessful hive.— 

 Josh Billings, wisely says, 'a reputation for 

 good-luck needs looking into.' Kothchilds 

 says, ' never have anything to do with an 

 unsuccessful man,' referring to business, of 

 course. The man who cannot succeed as a 

 producer, is not lit, to devise and vend sup- 

 plies for others." When you come across 

 the line to visit Michigan bee-keepers again, 

 please abstain from the use of oin- forty-rod 

 whisky, and tell your readers more about 

 the contents of our honey house, than about 

 our hives. James Heddon. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Cyprian and Carniolian Bees. 



Having read, in the bee papers of Europe, 

 the favorable reports of a Mr. Cori. on the 

 Cyprian bees, we resolved to get some 

 queens from this Island. In consequence 

 we wrote to our Italian correspondent to 

 send an order for five queens to Mr. Cori, to 

 introduce them in his apiary, and to send 

 them with his queens to us. But Mr. 

 Cori had too many orders to fill and was un- 

 able to send the queens. Besides, as we 

 stated our preference for queens coming 

 directly from Cyprus, that they may be of 

 unquestionable purity ; and as we had given 

 carte blanche (full leave) as to the cost, our 

 correspondent managed to get the address 

 of an Italian gentleman living in Cyprus, 

 and wrote him to send the Cyprian bee 

 colonies. 



The purchase of these colonies was very 

 difficult. The bee-keepers there do not like 

 to sell their bees ; they think that if bees 

 are sold, the remaining colonies will be dis- 

 satisfied and will quit the apiary. Yet, after 

 some delay, five colonies were bought and 

 sent. 



When they arrived in Italy, all the combs 

 were smashed and mixed in the broken 

 earthen hives. A few workers were alive 

 yet, but no queens. We will try again. 



We had ordered, at the same time, some 

 queens from Dalmatia, from Smyrna and 

 from Carniolia. Our Italian correspondent 

 was unable to get any of them, but the Car- 

 niolian ; that we received in October, with 

 a lot of Italians, three of these Carniolian 

 queens were alive, out of the five sent. 



These queens are very dark ; as dark as 

 the darkest hybrids. But they are very 

 large. 



In .Germany the Carniolian bees are 

 greatly appreciated, some think them more 

 prolific than the Ilalian, and of course giving 

 more honey. We will try them and report. 



We have not seen their workers, for these 

 queens were introduced for a few days, in 

 the apiary of our correspondent and were 

 sent accompanied with Italian workers. 

 But if we are to judge of the workers by the 

 look of the queens, they will resemble our 

 hybrid two-banded bees. 



As these queens were received for 

 experiment, we have none for sale. 



Ch. Dadant. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Which is It ? 



Mk. Editor: R. R. Murphy (see page 250, 

 Oct. number A. B. J.) certainly met with a 

 freak which, had he closely attended, would 

 have been of great value to apiarian science. 

 There are three things which may all have 

 an effect upon the development of the 

 organs of procreation in the young queen, 

 viz., space within which to develop, the na- 

 ture and quality of her food, and the posi- 

 tion in which she is while developing. His 

 workers were reared in drone cells. Now 

 were they more than common workers? If 

 not, then space alone has no influence upon 

 such developments. Were they not proba- 

 bly egg-layers? As one writer to the Jour- 

 nal found 8 or 10 egg-laying workers in 

 one hive, may tliey not be more common 

 than we generally suppose? May not the 



