308 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



habits, living and management, etc., must 

 be reserved for a future number. T. H. C. 



In the late war, one thing seems to be 

 remarkable — the soldiers in most cases left 

 one stand. In October, 1862, during the 

 retreat of Braggs' army from this State,their 

 rear was covered by Morgan's gueriellas, 

 and my bees were not taken till the third 

 day; when the Morgan boys came uji they 

 went for them at once, taking all but tlie 

 largest and strongest. I only had 9 stands 

 at that time. From tliis one stand my in- 

 crease was taken, which, during the last 10 

 or 12 years has brought me from $500 to 

 $1,000 every year, except 1868 — the year of 

 the great bee cholera, that Dr. Clelland 

 speaks of. Though I lost not a single stand 

 with the cholera, I made no profit that year 

 as it was a very poor season here. To pre- 

 vent too much feeding, I doubled up 26 

 stands to 13, and wintered every one, The 

 next season I increased to .52, and took .560 

 lbs. of cap honey— there being no extractor 

 at that time. I sold the honey at 35 cts. My 

 success has been — no loss in wintering, a 

 good sale of bees every spring, besides 

 honey for sale at all times. R. M. Akgo. 



Lowell, Ky., July 7, 1877, 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



Dollar Queens vs. Imported. 



From the last article of Mr. HencVferson, it 

 seems that dollar queens cannot be raised 

 profitably with colonies paid to their real 

 value. If so, somebody loses money in this 

 cheap production. Mr. H. was offered full 

 colonies in Langstroth hives, with 21 

 frames, for .^5.50, and refused, because he 

 could buy cheaper. These parties were los- 

 ing heavily, for the value of these colonies 

 can be estimated thus: 



Hive (21 frames) .$2.00 



21 combs 2.00 



30 lbs. of honey at 10c 3.00 



I tested queen and brood 2.00 



Net value , $9.00 



Then the dollar queen business wants 

 that somebody loses money. 



Now Mr. il. changes his batteries to 

 direct them against imported queens, which 

 had iu)thing to do in this controversy. He 

 quotes Mr. Argo, who has imported impure 

 bees. Mr. H. knows very well wliat has 

 been my answer, and that Mr. Argo did not 

 reply. The bees Imported by Mr. Argo 

 were not Italians, but Tyroiian bees sent as 

 Italians by Ed. Uhle. "I was informed of 

 the fact by our late friend Nesbit, who was 

 in partnership with Mr. Argo, of this im- 

 portation. Mr. Argo will not deny the 

 fact. 



As to Dr. Brown, I have offered to him, to 

 Mr. Andrews, to Mr. King, and I offer now 

 to my opponent, to have an inquiry made in 

 Italy about the purity of bees. If impure 

 bees are found, 1 will pay the cost and give 

 my opponent .$200. If no other but pure 

 bees exist, he will pay the expense only. I 



have received and sent imported bees by 

 the hundred without testing them, and I 

 have had so few complaints that I am satis- 

 fied of the fact. Most of the complaints 

 came from queen-breeders, who owned the 

 old kind of yellow bees. 



Let us see how it is that some queen- 

 breeders do not like imported queens. 

 These breeders are few and amongst the 

 sharpest. They have very yellow bees; 

 some have queens yellow to the tip of their 

 abdomen, and workers with four yellow 

 bands. If a daughter of these queens 

 chances to mate with a black drone, her 

 workers will lose a yellow ring, but will 

 have yet three left. Therefore this j'^oung 

 queen can be sold as pure; although being 

 as much impurely mated as possible. 



Mating with a half-bred drone she will look 

 purer still. The percentage of pure-looking 

 Queens raised from such a stock will be 

 very great; not to say that every daughter 

 of these queens will be pure as to the color 

 of their workers. Of course as to the work- 

 ing and laying qualities, they will partake 

 of both parents. 



It is not the same with imported queens. 

 Their progeny is darker, and the smallest 

 mixture of impure blood in the drones who 

 mate with their daughters will be visible 

 on the workers. Hence the dislike of these 

 shrewd queen-breeders for imported stock. 

 The profits are greater with the yellow 

 stock; that makes all the difference. 



I could show many letters complaining of 

 the small number of pure mating of the 

 daughters of imported queens. If the 

 drone, mating with the daughter of an im- 

 ported queen, is not of absolute purity, the 

 result is impure workers. On the contrary, 

 if the drone mating with the daughter of 

 improved yellow bees, is impure, the im- 

 purity will be drowned in the previous ini- 

 pi'ovement in color. 



I defy all the breeders and lovers of yel- 

 low bees to deny the above facts; for I can 

 prove it by the letters of many of these 

 liard-to-please breeders. Hence the yellow 

 kind is better, and more profitaijle to the 

 (jueen-breeder, while the imported is more 

 profitable to the honey producer. 



Ch. Dadant. 



For the American Bee .lournai. 



Chips. 



One writer in the last number says that 

 not much will be heard of tiie Italian bees 

 after they have been excluded from the 

 mails. You are mistaken, my good friend. 

 There was a good deal said about them be- 

 fore any were ever sent by mail. He keeps 

 black bees, and of course is behind the 

 times. Try the Italians my good friend, 

 and you will have reason to change your 

 nund in regard to them. Your neighbor 

 jnust have a pure lot of Italians, with black 

 bees on your side of the fence and Italians 

 on the other! Most bee-keepers owe their 

 success to the Italians — so say all the bee 

 papers. 



BEES BY MAIL. 



Some time in July I sent 3 queens to cus- 

 tomers in California. I forgot to ventilate 

 the cages, and it did not occur to n\e that I 

 had not done so until they had left the post- 

 office. However, I had an idea that they 

 would go safely. They were 8 days in the 

 mail and laid 2 days in the office after they 



