which caress and feed her just in proportion 

 to the number of eggs Uiid. 



How did you obtain the fact of this pro- 

 portion Bro. D. D.? 



But the climax of absurdities is readied 

 in No. 6. He says : " Of tiiose (eggs) laid, 

 after mating, produce mostly workers 

 depending upon whether laid in drone or 

 worker cells." So then Bro. P., you liave 

 concluded hereafter, to have the queen lay 

 one kind of eggs only and the character of 

 the bee determined by the nest or place of 

 deposit ? 



Some fellow— genius would be the better 

 word — has already jiroposed caging queen 

 cells and hatching the queens under a setting 

 hen. Now D. D., if you and this Texas 

 genius would unite your forces, and you 

 could induce your queens to lay eggs in a 

 brahma hen's nest, you would at least solve 

 the chicken problem. 1 have not said any- 

 thing about our author's grammar, which is 

 on a par with his statement of scientific 

 facts in relation to bee culture. 



But enough for the present. When En- 

 cyclopjedias are made up of such stuff, is it 

 surprising that they sliould be in disrepute ? 

 A. W. Foreman, M. D. 



White Hall, 111., Aug. 19, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Italian vs. Black Bees. 



Mr. Newman :— In Mr. F. Bangs' plea 

 for Italian bees, he said too much against 

 the blacks or natives. In 1877 I purchased 

 5 Italian queens, 4 of which I introduced 

 successfully in my choicest colonies in the 

 Centennial hive, to test tiieir superiority 

 before venturing to Italianize. 



1st. Mr. Bangs states Italians are at work 

 2 hours earlier than blacks. He might as 

 well say they work 4 hours later. It sounds 

 about as reasonable. 



2d. He says that blacks are always ready 

 to attack man or beast, when the Italians do 

 not pay any attention to them. 1 find no 

 difference when passing through the apiary. 

 Italians are somewhat more docile when 

 handled with smoke, and find it very 

 necessary to use smoke with both, unless 

 you are fond of beina stung. 

 V 3d. I would ask Mr. B., from which race 

 he would prefer to extract honey ? I have 

 extracted from 5 colonies of blacks and got 

 no stinys, but while extracting from a colo- 

 ny of Italians, I have been stung 20 times. 

 The Italian adhere to the combs more 

 closely than the blacks. 



4th. As to robbintr, in my experience, the 

 Italian will rob and not be robbed. 



.5tli. For honey gathering I consider the 

 blacks, under accurate test, superior. My 

 Italians and blacks are of equal condition, 

 but some native colonies stored 3 lbs. more 

 per day than some Italians. 



I agree with Jos. M. Brooks, in Aug. No. 

 page 273; the drones should be uniformly 

 marked like the queen and workers. 



I have some colonies of hybrids which I 

 think hard to excel. If I ever purchase any 

 more queens, I want prolific hybrids or 

 natives. 



I have taken 2,41.5 lbs. from 25 colonies, of 

 which 1,400 lbs. are extracted honey of su- 



perior quality. Am selling in Philadelphia 

 quite rapidly at 25 cents perJIb. 



J. T ALBERT Williamson. 

 Delaware Co., Pa. 



For nie American Bee .Tournal. 



Improved Swarm Catcher. 



To make it, take a bar of iron 1 inch wide 

 and ^ inch thick ; drill a hole through each 

 end ; take a basket of the size desired — IJ^ 

 bushel is the best size ; fasten on each side 



a lug, so that the basket will hang level, then 

 hang it in the crane. If hung right, it will 

 always hang with bottom down, no matter 

 in what position the ci'ane is. For the 

 handle, take a strip of pine 1}4 inches thick, 

 and 3 inches wide ; make the handle any 

 length. I have taken swarms over 30 feet 

 high. If made and hung right, it works 

 well. S. M. Oldham. 



Reynoldsburg, Ohio. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Will Queens Duplicate Themselves? 



ALLEY TO THE FRONT. 



We had concluded not to say any more 

 upon this subject until it was fully settled, 

 but as friend Alley has come to the front we 

 may expect to get this matter fully settled, as 

 our friend breeds from no others but from 

 those that will duplicate themselves every 

 time. Hence he keeps the very kind to foot 

 the bill. This being a tact, you may be sure 

 of receiving the queen in due season, and 

 she will, be under the test ere this. 



STANDARD OF PURITY. 



Friend Alley said he was interested in 

 reading the articles under the above heading. 

 That queens that will produce such wonder- 

 ful results are remarkable queens " indeed," 

 that h s experience covers a period of 17 

 years, but he never had a queen come, up to 

 the standard of purily as pictured by several 

 correspondents, &c. At present, we can 

 form no idea what our friend Alley alludes 

 to, we have no recollections of seeing or 

 hearing of anything that seemed mysterious 



