built out over the sticks and finished up in 

 ■worlinianlllie order. Wm. C. Pelham. 

 Mason Co., Ky., June 1878. 



[The sheets of wax are of very bright 

 color, quite brittle, and almost odorless.— 

 Being pressed in plaster moulds, of course 

 the corrugations are not as perfect as those 

 made by roller machines. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Standard of Excellence. 



Friend Newman :— The highest stand- 

 ard of excellence to which Italian bees can 

 and should be bred, according to my ideas, 

 would be about as follows, commencing 

 with the 



Queen. — She should be a bright yellow 

 in color, good size, with large, strong wings 

 and legs. Her queen progeny, when reared 

 naturally, or under the swarming impulse, 

 should be exact duplicates of their mother. 



The Woi!kei:8 should show 3 very dis- 

 tinct, bright golden bands. The wider the 

 third band, the purer I think them to be.— 

 If the dark edge on the bands can be bred 

 off, which I think can be done, all the 

 better. They sliould have large, long, 

 tapering bodies, wings coarse and strong, 

 and be very gentle to handle, and Indus- 

 trious. 



Drones : — Now I think we come to one 

 of the severest and best tests of all. They 

 should have 3 wide, golden bands, and 

 every drone be alike, as uniform in color 

 and markings as are tlie workers. When I 

 say 3 bands, I mean that each of the 3 bands 

 be yellow its full width. Merely 3 nar- 

 row, brassy streaks won't do at all. The 

 larger we can breed the drones, the better. 



Brother bee-keepers, how can we expect 

 improvement, as long as we allow these 

 poor, little, insignificant drones, with per- 

 haps one and two, narrow, brassy, hair 

 streaks to mate our queens ? We stand in 

 our own liglit, just so long as we allow it. — 

 This is no theory with me, but practice, as 

 my bees will show. I have made great 

 Improvement in my bees, during the last 

 few years, and hope to see the day when 

 every colony I have will come up to this 

 standard, as a few I now have does. 



To prevent useless correspondence, I will 

 say that I have no queens of this kind to 

 sell yet. Must keep them for " seed," as 

 queen mothers, as well as mothers of those 

 fine drones. 



Will some of the knowing ones please 

 explain through the Journal, why Italian 

 queens do fiot, and if they sliould not pro- 

 duce drones as even in color and markings 

 as are the workers, when it is claimed that 

 the drones are the true offspring of the 

 queen, and are not affected in the least by 

 tne drone that impregnates the queen ? — 

 Gentlemen, speak out. Give us your ideas 

 upon this matter. 



My opinion is that the Italian bee is not 

 a pure race at all ; but I am very sure that 

 by careful selection we can breed them up 

 to perfection, carrying along all the good 

 qualities, hardiness, prolificness, size, color, 

 gentleness, &c., until finally we breed every 



trace of impurity out of them ; then we will 

 see one of the finest races of bees in the 

 world, that will breed queens, workers and 

 drones, constant in markings, color, size, 

 &c. The majority of my queens produce 

 beautiful workers and drones, but the 

 queens themselves are rather dark and the 

 drones are not as uniform as I would like 

 them yet. 



Who will be the first one to offer queens 

 up to this standard ? Time only will tell.— 

 We hear of drones wit'.i " red heads " and 

 " gray heads," and 1 often find them not 

 only with "red heads," but their whole 

 bodies red. Being of one solid color 

 throughout, they look beautiful among the 

 yellow workers. Hoping to see through 

 the Journal the ideas of others on this 

 subject, I will close. Jos. M. Brooks. 



Elizabethtown, Ind., July 4, 1878. 



[Friend Brooks sent a few of his "fancy" 

 drones to this office. They look nice, with 

 their "three golden bands," while living, 

 but after death they lose their charms like 

 all other " things terrestrial," and appear 

 just about like "the common herd." We 

 have some in one of our colonies that look 

 just like them. Perhaps it is just about 

 right to have the subject of "tlie improve- 

 ment of the race" discussed now ; and, if 

 possibJe, let the most remote traces of im- 

 purity be rooted out, breeding this race of 

 bees up to perfection. We fully believe 

 that the time is not far distant when the 

 American strains of Italian bees will be 

 sought after the world over— for in no other 

 country are they devoting so much attention 

 to scientific bee culture, or the improvement 

 of the race. Let us give the subject a full 

 and free discussion. — Ed.] 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Rust's Excelsior Bee Hive Entrance. 



I claim for this entrance as follows : 



1. Its wide and easy range of adjusta- 

 bility. 



By simply operating the wire handle, 

 by drawing as far as possible to you, you 

 then have it closed so that workers only 

 can pass ; this is to shut the drones out 

 when too numerous. Now push }4 of an 

 inch, and you close it entirely up, with but 

 very little ventilation ; this is for moving.— 

 Push 3^ of an inch more and you open 4 

 holes ; this is to be used when there is 

 danger of robbers. Push }4 of an inch 

 more, and you open 16 holes for general use, 

 when not too hot nor too cold. Push 3^ of 

 an inch, and you have but one hole open, 

 with half as much ventilation as when the 

 16 holes are open ; this is used to prevent 

 robbing in the worst cases. Push }4 of an 

 inch, as far now as you can, and but 2 holes 

 are left open ; this is to prevent robbing 

 when they are not too mad. 



When more ventilation than can pass 

 through the holes is wanted, the whole 



