90 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



My own bees, last season, gave 181 lbs. of 

 machine-extracted honeyper hive; asample 

 of which I send you in the above mentioned 

 case. For every one of ray stands 1 have 

 an extra set of combs— every one a worker 

 comb. It requires years to get them in that 

 shape, but now I oon't expect my bees to 

 build combs, except when I think it neces- 

 sary. I have had no natural swarms for 

 the last 9 years, and made only 4 artificial 

 swarms during last season. Hence I expect 

 to commence next season with 26 stands. 

 Should a queen have given out during the 

 winter, I would unite that swarm with its 

 next neighbor; but I don't apprehend losing 

 a swarm on my roof. Chas. F. Muth. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Black or Native Bees -Italians. 



Much has been said and written, for and 

 against, Italian bees. It is claimed by 

 apiarists generally, that Italians are more 

 valuable than native bees, because they 

 produce more honey, are hardier, more pro- 

 lific, etc. I am somewhat slow to believe 

 such assertions without reliable evidence. 



I have observed that several apiarists 

 have Italianized their whole apiaries, sold 

 queens and stocks at advanced rates, be- 

 cause, as represented, they Were so much 

 more profitai)It' tlian the common bee. 



About ten years a^o, having iioney of my 

 own to sell, I used to buy of others, to add 

 to the trade, among whom was a friend liv- 

 ing a few miles distant, who kept about 100 

 colonies; while I kept about 50 — with an 

 average yield of 40 lbs. of surplus box-honey 

 — his averaging only about 25 lbs. per 

 colony. I bought his honey several years, 

 with about the same annual average. Dur- 

 ing this time our bees (his and mine) were 

 all native or common bees. He finally con- 

 cluded to try the " better kind," and got 

 some Italians. He Italianized nearly his 

 whole apiary, and claimed that the Italians 

 produced about twice as much honey as the 

 others. But I failed to see it. I continued 

 to buy his honey as before, and the average 

 yield per colony was not one pound more 

 than when his bees were all natives. This, 

 to my mind, is pretty good evidence against 

 the idea that Italians are more productive 

 than natives. 



The next claim is, that Italians are 

 hardier, will work in cooler weather, while 

 the natives remain idle, etc. But as several 

 writers for the Journal have taken the 

 negative ot this question, I will add another 

 testimony against this claim. 



In tlie fall of 1ST4, another friend of mine 

 having 124 colonies of Italians,' put them in 

 his cellar, in good condition. I had 27 

 stocks of natives in the cellar. We both 

 took our bees oat about the 1st of April, 

 1875, all in good condition, except that I 

 had 4 or 5 swarms rather light and weak in 

 numbers. 



About the middle of April we had a week 

 of winter weather, which tested the hardi- 

 ness of our bees, and the result was that he 

 lost one-half of his bees, and the other half 

 were so reduced, that from 62 stocks he got 

 only 800 lbs. of box-honey in the summer of 

 187r). While from my natives I lost the 5 

 weaker ones, leaving me 22 stocks in good 

 condition, which gave me 1,100 lbs. of box- 

 honey. 



Are not these facts strongly in favor of 



the natives, and against the Italians, as 

 having the superiority over them in produc- 

 tion and hardiness ? So it seems to me. 

 Fredonia, N. Y. P. Miller. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Notes from Tennessee. 



Dear Bee Journal:— The last season 

 was the poorest for honey I ever knew. 



I commenced in the spring with about 

 50 colonies, mostly in good condition; but 

 the cold weather (March 20 to 23) set them 

 back considerably, by chilling the brood on 

 the outside combs. This frost killed a great 

 many of the poplar blooms in the bud; 

 though enough were left from which to get 

 considerable honey, if the season had been 

 favorable. It rained every day during the 

 first week of the bloom, and afterwards it 

 yielded but little honey. From this bloom 

 I took about 1,000 lbs. of extracted honey. 

 About June 1st, I moved all my bees a dis- 

 tance of y miles, to where there is an abun- 

 dance of linn; but rains set in about the 

 time the trees conimenced to bloon, and I 

 only got a little ihore than 1,000 lbs. from 

 that source. 



I had to feed considerably in the fall to 

 keep my bees from starving, and would 

 have brought them through the winter all 

 right, but for the extreme cold weather the 

 commencement of the year. The mercury 

 sank to 20 deg. below zero on the morning 

 of Jan. 3rd, which was 18 deg. colder than I 

 ever knew it before. Several of my colonies 

 froze out entirely, and since the weather 

 has warmed I overhauled the rest and 

 found a great many dead. I am afraid some 

 disease is among them. In some of my 

 strongest colonies I find at least three- 

 fourths of the bees dead, which cannot be 

 altogether from the cold, for in weaker ones 

 I find no dead bees at all; and it is reason- 

 able that a strong colony would stand the 

 cold better than a weaker one. To figure it 

 out the best I can, I will not have more 

 than 25 good colonies to commence the sea- 

 son with. 



I heartily agree with you in your remarks 

 on Barnes' foot-power saw. I used one last 

 season for making hives, and would not be 

 without it for double its cost. For sawing 

 timber for frames, and cutting rabbits for 

 the frames to hang on, it can't be beat. 

 Every person who has a quantity of hives 

 to make should have one. 



After a while I will give you a history of 

 my two-story bee hive law siiits. 



J. K. McAllister & Co. did swindle me- 

 out of that barrel of honey. 



J. F. Montgomery. 



Lincoln, Tenn., Feb. 3, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The National B. K. Association- 

 Its Future. 



Previous to the assembling of this Asso- 

 ciation at the Centennial, at Philadelphia, 

 in Oct. last, it was a disputed question as 

 to whether the organization should not be 

 abandoned. In support of such a proposi- 

 tion, it was argued that the expense of at- 

 tendance incurred by those at a distance 

 from the point ot meeting, would more than 

 over-balance any advantage that could be 



