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veloped, that will totally eclipse all 

 other races of bees. 



I am bending every effort to improve 

 them, and each year I can see a 

 nih,rked advancement both in repro- 

 duction of traits and markings. The 

 swarming argued so much against 

 them, I am sure can be mastered ; I 

 have in my own yard several large 

 colonies that have put in large amounts 

 of honey, and have not thought of 

 swarming. I have in hand several re- 

 ports from other men where their Car- 

 niolans have refused to swarm at all 

 this season — one covering three sec- 

 tions of the Heddon hive, and the 

 queen keeping the combs filled with 

 brood. 



The colony which I use for queen- 

 breeding, is the gentlest I have ever 

 had, and although cramped for i-oom 

 all the season, they have refused to 

 swarm. They are the greatest bees I 

 ever saw for crowding into the supers, 

 whether baited or not. 



No, bee-keepers, I have no fear but 

 that the Carniolans will make their 

 mark in this country. I can see great 

 possibilities for the race, and a marked 

 advancement under careful breeding. 

 A little time will tell the story. Soon 

 we will be saying, as we do now about 

 Italians — "There is no other race pos- 

 sessing so many desirable points, and 

 so few undesirable ones." 



'■ Purity " should be the watch-word, 

 and I claim that the pure Carniolans 

 should show no j'ellow. There is a 

 type of Carniolans that, wherever 

 lodged, make Carniolan-converts of 

 the men who possess them, because of 

 their beauty, gentleness, proliflcness, 

 and honey-gathering qualities. 



Marlboro, Mass. 



LARGE COLONIES. 



Importance of Having Strong 

 Colonies of Bees. 



Written for the Country Gentleman. 



The chief cause of failure in bee- 

 keeping is the weakness of the colo- 

 nies. The beginner starts with 10 

 colonies, when two are more than he 

 can handle. They dwindle, but he 

 coaxes them and waits, and at the 

 close of the season, although his colo- 

 nies are strong, yet he obtains no 

 honey. 



It is encouraging to have strong col- 

 onies in the fall. There is a better 

 prospect of all-winter life, and more 

 vigor in the spring. But we do not 

 keep bees merely to make them strong 

 for the winter campaign ; we keep 

 them to gather honey in the summer. 

 They must be strong in the spring, 

 and be kept strong through the sum- 

 mer. 



The man who makes a business of 

 bee-keeping — who wants honey and 

 not increase of colonies — is continually 

 reducing the number of colonics — pro- 

 vided, of course, that there are weak 

 colonies, and there are always, in all 

 apiaries, weak colonies, or colonies 

 weaker than others. These are 

 strengthened by uniting. Here are 3 

 colonies that lag behind. It is evident 

 that they will only build themselves up 

 during the summer. Each colony is 

 united with a stronger one, or the 3 

 made into one, and are now ready to 

 I'cnder some service. 



A small farmer and gardener caught 

 the "bee-fever," and bought "at a bar- 

 gain " of a disgusted dabbler, 12 colo- 

 nies of hybrids, set them up, admired 

 them on Sundays, waited till fall, 

 giving them no attention in the mean- 

 while, except to catch 4 runaway 

 swarms, and then expected to reap a 

 great harvest of honej'. 



Not a pound did he find. He and 

 the members of his family, and some 

 sympathizing neighbors, passed a 

 unanimous vote that bees were hum- 

 bugs and ingrates. For their occu- 

 pancy of a beautiful garden, and for 

 many fine words bestowed upon them, 

 they had returned nothing except an 

 occasional sting. They were aban- 

 doned as worthless. 



In the spring following, only 7 colo- 

 nies out of the 16 remained. The bee- 

 keeper wished that none had escaped 

 the winter. Convinced that they had 

 no value, and tired of the sight of 

 them, he decided to unite the 7 colo- 

 nies, or what was left of them, and 

 place them in a large dry-goods box, 

 the presence of which suggested the 

 idea. The bees were on American 

 frames about a foot square, 9 in a hive. 

 Out of the 7 colonies, or the 63 frames, 

 he found enough — 36 — with brood, to 

 cover the bottom of the box by placing 

 them upright, shoulder to shoulder, 

 having the space and frames of 4 

 colonies. 



All queens except one were de- 

 stroyed, and all the bees were united 

 on these frames, after sprinkling them 

 with sweetened water ; inch auger 

 holes were bored for an entrance, and 

 they were left to die or to thrive. Late 

 in June the farmer's attention was at- 

 tracted by unusual activity around the 

 dry-goods box. The bees were not 

 swarming — only going and coming in 

 streams. Opening the box, he saw an 

 immense mass of bees. When the 

 mats, whicli had been thrown care- 

 lessly over the frames to keep the bees 

 down, were removed, the bees "boiled 

 up" till the tops of the frames could 

 not be seen. 



The farmer had no faith in them, 

 strong as they were, but if they wished 

 to make up for their laziness in the 



summer before, he would give them a 

 chance, and he filled the space above 

 the frames with one-pound sections 

 and empty brood-frames. Some of 

 the sections had combs made in the 

 previous season, and all had combs or 

 foundation. At the end of the season, 

 the farmer had taken out of that dry- 

 goods box 430 pounds of honoj-. 



The bees did not swarm — or, if they 

 did, it was when the farmer was not 

 looking. The colony was equal to 4 

 large single colonies, and if they had 

 remained single, or had been separa- 

 ted, it is safe to say that the 4 colonies 

 would not have produced what the one 

 large one did. 



Bees are like other workmen — the 

 greater the number at work on the 

 same "job," the quicker will the job 

 be finished. 



Providence, R. I. 



MINNESOTA. 



The Bee-Season of 1§90 and its 

 Results. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY S. D. HASKI>f. 



Last year opened favorably for 

 honey, and as soon as the leaves were 

 out, we saw that the bees worked 

 largely on the leaves, particularlj' early 

 and late in the day, and close inspec- 

 tion revealed the fact of the presence 

 of innumerable multitudes of the 

 aphides ; and as vegetation advanced, 

 the insects increased, with the ever- 

 present ants to do the pumping, ap- 

 l^arently. 



"Well," says I, " this is something 

 new, at least, to my 15 years' experi- 

 ence in bee-keeping in Minnesota ;" I 

 had sometimes remai'ked that Minne- 

 sota is never favored with the honey- 

 dew, so much talked of in some sec- 

 tions, and I observed it day by day, as 

 the season advanced, and through the 

 heat, or middle of the day, the bees 

 worked more on the flowers, and in 

 the evening and morning on the sac- 

 charine foliage-drip. 



It was not confined to any locality, 

 or class of timber, but on all foliage, 

 even on shrubs and weeds, the insects 

 as well as their product. Sections were 

 filled and caj^ped in June, but oh, my! 

 what dark honey ! But through bass- 

 wood bloom they turned their atten- 

 tion to that, and gave us some white 

 honey ; after that the bees went more 

 for red clover, golden-rod, asters, and 

 fall flowers in general, although some 

 colonies persisted in working on the 

 foliage-drip in preference. 



Then the wintering problem began 

 to confront me, as the bodies of the 

 hives were chock-full of the early- 



