382 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Keep the colored gentry away then as 

 the only safe rule where your young queens 

 are " courting " around promiscuously, for 

 they are all "'free lovers" and liable to mate 

 with royalty or the common herd. 



And now shall we do this, is the ques- 

 tion? Like all others,it is more easily asked 

 than answered. 



One prolific source of black or mixed 

 drones is from worker-laying, viz., worker 

 bees laying eggs, as they will often do when 

 destitute of a queen, especially when drones 

 are not plenty, see that not one black or 

 hybrid bee is anywhere about the apiary; 

 for where they are, indifferently colored 

 drones will appear. See to it also, that the 

 drones are bred from the queens that give 

 the best progeny, so far as possible. And 

 the rule is that the yellowish queens give 

 the best drones— the exceptions being few 

 indeed— and the best queens when properly 

 mated. When detected producing darkly- 

 colored drones or workers, or workers of 

 the form of blacks, pinch tlieir heads off. 

 They won't trouble any more. 



So far as my experience goes, the bees of 

 a hive showing the lightest colored queens, 

 drones and workers, are more industrious, 

 give greater profits, both in swarms and 

 honey, and are more easily handled than 

 are the black or hybrid stocks. Not but 

 what I can find swarms of light colored 

 workers that will sting one's hat off, and 

 whose drones often so intrench upon the 

 stores of tlie workers that scarcely anything 

 is left for the bee-keeper, but let no one lay 

 this state of things to the Italians. The 

 fault is with the bee-keeper, who ought to 

 know better than to keep that kind of a 

 c^ueen. If the trouble be found on inspec- 

 tion, in drone laying by worker bees, place 

 in a hive with glass sides separately each 

 frame, keeping watch; let an assistant care- 

 fully and slowly raise out the frame within 

 reach whilst you keep an eye on the culprit. 

 When caught in the act pinch as before, un- 

 til that game is stopped. In this way I 

 have killed 27 in a nucleus of 1,000 bees. If 

 the queen has been only partially fecunda- 

 ted, as sometimes happens, pinch again, and 

 also when becoming defunct wath age, and 

 immediately introduce a vigorous one in a 

 cage— liberating her after 12 or 2i hours. 

 Never leave a stock queenless an hour or 

 more before introducing a stranger queen; 

 for if you do, it is at the risk of her life, or 8 

 to 12 days ot her valuable, time. 



L. C. Root. — It is well known that the 

 crossing and changing of stock is practiced 

 with good effect. I prefer Italians for ex- 

 tracted honey, but for box honey, the blacks. 

 1 want both in my yard. If I had no Ital- 

 ians I would give .$100 for an Italian queen 

 if I could not get her less. 



C. R. Isliam.— How can one get pure 

 queens with both kinds in his yard? 



E. D. Clark remarked that he had 300 col- 

 onies, but not one Italian. He was very 

 successful with blacks, and would like to 

 know which race of bees gathered the honey 

 that took the medal? 



N. N. Betsinger.— It was gathered by the 

 blacks. 



A. J. King— The probosis of the Italians 

 being longer than the black's they get more 

 honey from the bloom. 



N. N. Betsinger— I have kept both side by 

 side for years and know their merits. The 

 blacks are stronger in the spring, but during 

 harvest Italians are far superior for honey. 



Mr. Betsinger then addressed the Conven- 

 tion as follows on 



Preparing Brood Combs for Winter. 



Mr. President :— The question being, 

 "Is it necessary to extract honey from the 

 central brood combs for successful winter- 

 ing,"— I will answer emphatically. No. The 

 fullest combs should occupy the center. 

 Having had vast experience in wintering on 

 summer stands, I think I can describe the 

 position which the honey should occupy in 

 the brood chamber: 



1. By exchanging the partly filled combs 

 generally found in the brood nest, with 

 those at the outside, we not only get the 

 honey where it is most needed, but we get 

 the well ripened honey where it is accessi- 

 ble during the long cold spells in early win- 

 ter, which is very essential in order to retain 

 the healthful condition of the colony. Some 

 may say it is contrary to nature to thus ex- 

 change the combs. Let us see. When the 

 honey harvest is over, where do they com- 

 mence to use the first honey? From the ex- 

 tremities of the hive. After frost no more 

 honey is found, and brood rearing ceases; 

 they then lie in a half torpid condition, and 

 while they are in this state it is absolutely 

 necessary for them to consume the very best 

 of honey, and while the colony is in this 

 condition they can endure the long confine- 

 ment which generally takes place the first 

 two months of winter, with still no signs of 

 dysentery. 



2. By having all full and well sealed combs 

 in the center, (combs should be not less than 

 one half inch apart) we have a body that 

 when once heated will not be affected by 

 the sudden changes for which New York 

 State is noted. To illustrate the influence 

 that heat has upon a mass of sealed honey, 

 I will give a brief description of my honey 

 house. The south side is nearly all con- 

 structed of glass, with a tin roof, and when 

 the sun shines it so heats up the interior 

 that when 1 have several tons of honey 

 stored there the thermometer varies but 

 little during the night, thus curing the 

 honey perfectly and preventing leakage— 

 thus being, with other slight improvements, 

 in the best condition for all mercantile pur- 

 poses. 



3. The bees while thus clustering upon 

 their solid stores, will begin to consume 

 their honey from the central portion of the 

 hive, and by the first of January will desire 

 to re-establish brood rearing; and while the 

 bees are thus employed, feeding the brood, 

 begins the evil, which I call dysentery. If 

 we can keep the center of the hive well 

 filled with honey, so as to prevent the rais- 

 ing of much brood until the middle of April, 

 perfect health will result, with no spring 

 dwindling. 



Therefore, extracting is not only unneces- 

 sary, but injurious to the colony. Out of 

 the number 1 endeavored to winter the past 

 season, those that were fullest of sealed 

 stores were the only ones that survived. On 

 page 230 Bee-Keepers Magazine, F. Benton 

 advises extracting from the central combs 

 to give the bees empty cells on which to 

 cluster. This is very objectionable, be- 

 cause it encourages the queen to lay, and 

 the remaining honey is thrown from its 

 natural position, thus leaving it in a trans- 

 parent state, both being very injurious to 

 the colony. 



