THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



129 



crushing the bees. It is also very conveni- 

 ent to set a nucleus, by simply taking tlie 

 front and back off tlie inner hive, and set 

 them up with as many frames as desired 

 between tlieni. 



It is very convenient to "pile" or "sling," 

 as one set of frames can be set on top or 

 under anotiier set, or can be taken off and 

 put on honey boxes. 



It has an outer case with plenty of room 

 to pack around the frames, as well as over 

 and under, and double entrance, too. 



The honey boxes set close over the brood 

 chamber, where they should be. 



There is no spot a worm can hide inside, 

 not readily accessable by the bees; asun- 

 der the ends of frames, or between frames 

 and surplus boxes in Langstroth hive. 



My best swarm in the Bingham hive gave 

 14 boxes full— 5X to 6 lbs. in a box— and 

 several scraps and spare frames of brood. 

 My poorest— a late nucleus swarm— nearly 

 filled their hive, by being helped some Avith 

 comb and brood. My best in the Langstroth 

 gave 5 boxes full and 1 scrape. My poorest 

 gave nothing, and eat 4 frames of honey. 



The lioney season was the poorest ever 

 known here. John O. Sheakman, 



Allegan Co., Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Natives vs. Italians. 



I find in the last issue of the .Journal an 

 article from friend Miller on the respective 

 merits of native and Italian bees. I think 

 his comparisons prove nothing from the 

 fact that several miles interview between 

 his apiary and those he compares with; for 

 as we all know that 4 or 5 miles makes 

 nearly as much difference in the value of an 

 apiary as in that of a farm. Allow me to 

 state a few facts and then people can draw 

 their own conclusions. 



When I first came to this place, 14 years 

 ago, I purchased 8 stocks of native bees and 

 a lot of Langstroth hives; but after trying 3 

 years, I sold my hives to a neighbor who 

 was meeting with success, and I had three 

 stocks in box hives as the result of my 

 enterprise. 



In 1868 I determined to try tlie Italians, 

 and obtained of M. S. Snow, of Hanover, 

 one stock, by express, which was so much 

 injured by the agents' careless handling 

 that they did not swarm that season. In 

 1869 I purchased of Mr. Snow five morp, so 

 I commenced the spring with six rather 

 light stocks, while a neighbor about 80 rodss 

 from me had 30 stocks, and was considered 

 the bee man of the town. I was surrounded 

 by ten others who had from 1 to 4 times my 

 number, so you see it was impossible to 

 keep pure Italians. 



Now for the result. In this part of the 

 country 1869 was a cold, wet season. I did 

 not feed any until autumn, and my first 

 swarm came off just three weeks earlier 

 than niy neighbor's. Neither of us got any 

 surplus honey. My 6 increased to 13; his 

 30 increased to .37. The next spring I had 

 13 stocks of Italians, but one proved to be 

 queenless, and 2 of the 3 stocks of black 

 tliat I had left, died. My neighbor com- 

 menced the season of 1870 with .30— his 

 original number. In 1870 and 1871 my first 

 swarms issued about 5 weeks earlier than 

 his first. At the end of the third season I 

 had more bees and surplus honey than this 



neighbor. It will be remembered Ave were 

 side by side, only about 80 rods apart, and 

 he experienced; I not experienced, and a 

 failure with native bees. • To-day tiiere are 

 not 80 stocks of bees within 3 or 4 miles of 

 me. 



I admit that friend Miller for the past two 

 seasons has been more successful than me. 

 But let us look at the subject a little. He 

 ■ tells us that long before I commenced with 

 my 6 Italian stocks he had .50 blacks (I un- 

 derstand he had at one time 100), and in the 

 fall of 1874 I had 124 stocks, while he had 

 only 27. He makes a slight mistake in the 

 next statement. I sold 4, put about 60 in 

 cellar and the others (except one in double- 

 vrall hive) in bee-house with 4 in. walls fill- 

 ed with tan bark. The winter was extrem- 

 ly cold, and cellar contained frost a long 

 while, and the house was frosty nearly all 

 the winter. AVhen I took them out in the 

 spring, 8 or 10 stocks were quiet, but most 

 of them seemed to be strong in bees, and as 

 we had splendid Aveather the first part of 

 April, I thought they were all right, but 

 those Avho read " Sad History," in the .lune 

 number, 1875, Avill remember the result. I 

 have a theory which I think accounts far it, 

 it is this: The cellar and house were so 

 cold up to about the time of putting them 

 on their summer stands, that no young bees 

 Avere i-aised, and the old bees became so 

 diminished during the Avarm weather that 

 they Avere unable to Avithstand the cold that 

 followed. One neighbor lost all he had; 

 another thought he had wintered 30 out of 

 32, but finally came out Avith 12. I had but 

 42 that were good for anytliing; 40 lived 

 through the summer, but only 26 gave any 

 surplus, from Avhich I got a little over 900 

 lbs. of box honey. I think Mr. Miller's bees 

 must have been in much warmer quarters 

 during Aviuter than mine. 



We see from reports in the Journal that 

 location makes a great difference with sur- 

 plus honey. The past season in some 

 localities was the best, and in others the 

 poorest for years. Mr. Miller says that 

 June was splendid, Avhile only 15 miles 

 west the ground was parched Avith a drouth 

 and bees did notiiing until about July. We 

 had a light rain on June 27 Avhich made the 

 parched fields put on a green appearance, 

 and set our pets humming, and on July 4, 

 we had a splendid rain which helped so 

 much that from .50 stocks I got 1200 lbs. of 

 box honey, although in June it looked as 

 though I would get none. I think one 

 needs two hands to run an apiary tor ex- 

 tracted honey, and as I have lost the use of 

 my right hand, I shall have to stick to the 

 boxes, but I would like a cheap extractor to 

 extract honey in the combs of partially fill- 

 ed boxes, if there is one adapted for that 

 purpose. H. B. Rolfk. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees of the same Colony Fighting. 



On page 47, February number, R. C. 

 Cameron makes a statement of his exj^eri- 

 ence in this matter, and Ch. Dadant says in 

 ansAver that he never kncAV of bees of the 

 same colony fighting each other. I liave 

 known of many such instances and will 

 give the reason. Queens should not be 

 handled at any time, if it can be avoided; 

 as they are liable to contract an odor from 

 the hand, and sometimes from the cage, 



