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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bee-keepers would say a "dry day" or so. 

 A bee-keeper works harder than a farmer, 

 and will wear out quicker. The "enthu- 

 siasm" that Prof. Cook says characterizes 

 them, proves how hard they work with the 

 mind as well as body. Keverses are as 

 necessary to our welfare as success. 



James Heddon. 

 Dowagiac, Mich., Aug. 4, 1877. 



« » ^> I » > 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Read This. 



As some of your readers are having rather 

 hard luck with the Italian bee, 1 send the 

 following story for their especial benefit. 

 Mr. S. G. Rose, of Bluff City, 111., purchased 

 a queen of me in 1876, and here are his own 

 words as to how she has done. In ordering 

 more queens on Aug. 1st, he wrote me thus: 

 "I have six fine swarms from the hive I put 

 that queen in, rA lbs. of extracted and 3u lbs. 

 cap honey up to July 25th. Who can beat 

 this? Blacks did nothing." 



That is the biggest bee story that 1 ever 

 heard off this side of California. Now this 

 is a very good report from one of those 

 "yaller" drone-laying queens. Who can 

 beat it? That was one of those $1 queens, 

 and I don't think she would have done 

 much better had I received .?10 for her. As 

 1 have said before, it is not the price of the 

 queen, but the quality. I am aware that all 

 queens, no matter what the price is, do not 

 come up to the one above spoken of. Then 

 again, it is not always the fault with the 

 queen or hive if a stock don't do well, but 

 a combination of faults. H. Alley. 



Wenham, Mass. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Larvae of Queens and Purity of 

 Drones. 



Bees described by Virgil and Aristotle 

 were a myth. Italian bees were first dis- 

 covered by Latoure and Vinteghriea 

 Baldestein first imported a queen from 

 Milano to Bern, Switzerland, in 1842. In 

 1851 they were introduced into Germany. 

 In 1859 they were brought from Sicily to 

 New York by Mahan, Parsons, and others. 

 In the Island of Madagascar and Cypria 

 there is found a species of bee called, as 

 near as I can tell. Aphis unicolor, having 

 five bands, with dints at side, and of a gold- 

 en color. 



The Cyprian bee was never into America 

 till 1876. The lioney produced by them is 

 of a red color, but becomes dark by getting 

 old. 



Great numbers of bees are kept in Cyprus 

 Island and Candia. The natives hollow out 

 trees for them, laying them down length- 

 wise, or tieing them up in trees to keep the 

 bears from eating the honey. 



How do you tell the purity of the Italian 

 drone ? From what I have seen, I think 

 drones that are three-banded are not pure; 

 but if reared from a queen of pure race, 

 whose progeny are all exactly alike, be she 

 light or dark in color, the drones are pure; 

 even if she meets a black drone, and her 

 progeny become hybrids, her drones are 

 pure. 



A pure drone is one that has only one 

 band and two others with dark spots, and 



spots on the sides. I have tried putting 

 them in alcohol, then you can see them 

 plainly. 



When combs that contain eggs or larvae 

 are given to nuclei hives to rear queens, 

 why do bees eat larvse or eggs? The royal 

 cell or queen eggs laid in royal cells are fed 

 the larvsB of workers or eggs. Why is this? 

 Eggs or larvaj are an ingrediment of royal 

 jelly. Suppose we give a card of comb con- 

 taining eggs to rear queens from,to a colony 

 of black bees— will that queen be pure? 

 We say no. The black bees impart a taint 

 to the young queen, and the queens are not 

 pure, but %ths stock. 



Vermont, 111. Hardin Haines. 



For the American Bee .Tournal. 



Experience with Comb Foundation. 



Most of us have such a mental make-up, 

 that however strong may be the testimony 

 given by others as to a fact, we do not be- 

 lieve it quite so fully from their testimony 

 as we do after seeing it for ourselves. 

 Nearly all the reports spoke favorably of 

 the comb foundation, but I wanted to have 

 the evidence of my own eyes, so I sent for a 

 few pounds to test. It came by express in 

 good condition. It was a good, thick, yel- 

 low article, and, from appearance and odor, 

 seemed to be made of pui-e beeswax. 



On the day the package came the bees- 

 were gathering rapidly from white clover. 

 I filled a frame with foundation and put it 

 in the midst of a strong colony at about 5 p. 

 M. After breakfast the next morning I ex- 

 amined it, and found it all nicely started 

 into comb, tlie cells over the whole surface 

 of the sheet being built out nearly half their 

 length. Just before 10 o'clock that night — 

 being 24 hours after the foundation was put 

 in — I found the comb still further complet- 

 ed, and had the luck to find the queen on 

 the comb, apparently inspecting it, for slie 

 walked deliberately over it, and seemed tO' 

 be examining it. I did not observe that she 

 had then put any eggs into the cells. But 

 the next morning — 36 hours after the foun- 

 dation was put in— there were plenty of 

 eggs. 



Being my first experiment with founda- 

 tion, I took particular pleasure in watching 

 that frame of comb. It filled the frame, 

 except the usual space at the lower part of 

 the sides and at the bottom. Of course, all 

 were worker cells. The queen soon had it 

 filled with eggs away out into the corners. 

 In due time the brood was capped, and 

 hatched, and now it is again filled. 



Since then I have had quite a number of 

 frames of foundation built out just as 

 quickly, and as freely occupied by the 

 queen. The comb so built seems to be 

 thicker and stronger than that built in the 

 usual way by the bees. The foundation 

 has a tendency to stretch slightly in a ver- 

 tical direction, hence I have found it best to 

 let the foundation be at least U-^ in. shorter 

 than the depth of my Gallup frames; then 

 it does not stretch to "the bottom, and there 

 is no danger of bulging. It is best to have 

 the foundation extended across the frame 

 to about half way down from the top, so as 

 very nearly or quite to touch the sides of 

 the frame. Then the bees fasten it at the 

 sides sooner; but if it is left an inch or 

 more from tlie sides they are sometimes 

 slow about building it out laterally. Hav- 



