THi© MimmMicmM mM.m jo^u'Rin^ti,. 



843 



very white and use little or no propolis, 

 so that it is a pleasure to liaiulle frames 

 and sections ; they gather as much 

 honey as any race of bees, and are 

 excellent defenders of their hives 

 against robber bees. Do you have 

 any trouble b}' bees robbing here in 

 j'our apiaries ?" 



' ■ No, bees don't rob here ; at least 

 none of mine ever have. I have heard 

 that some bee-keepers have great 

 ti'ouble by robbing." 



" It is only in certain localities that 

 bees rob each other very badly. I ob- 

 served. •• As long as there is sufficient 

 pasturage for them to work on, there 

 will be no trouble. In Placerville we 

 sometimes liave considerable trouble 

 with robber bees, but liigher, in the 

 mountains, bees rarely if ever rob. I 

 see your hives are the Harbison style. 

 Do you practice artificial swarming, or 

 do you allow your bees to swarm 

 naturally ? " 



"No; I divide .all my colonies of 

 bees. I divide them once, and then 

 try to keep down all natural swarming 

 afterward. There is considerable in 

 knowing the right time to divide. I 

 wait until the hive is overflowing with 

 brood and bees and then divide. Some 

 bee-keepers divide too early in the 

 Spring, which I think puts them back 

 too much and takes them too long to 

 get started again. I want all my colo- 

 nies strong — every one of them." 



■But don't your bees still persist in 

 swarming after being divided?" I 

 asked. 



"No; "after being divided once, I 

 give tliem plenty of room, and they 

 generally settle down to business, and 

 very few of them ever svvarm. Run- 

 away swarms have a hard time in 

 seeking a suitable habitation in a 

 country like this, where there are so 

 few hollow trees ; they will go in old 

 buildings, barns, chimneys, almost in 

 any place where there is not much 

 noise ; sometimes they build out in the 

 tules. but are generally swept away by 

 the high water in the Winter-time." 



Grizzly Flats, Calif. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



A Business ComparisiOii ^villi 

 ■laliaii Bees. 



Written fur Du; American Dee Journal 



BY JOHN B. BLACK. 



I otter the following in the contro- 

 versy on Carniolan bees : 



Mr. Shuck, on page 633, says : "I 

 have consulted three volumes of Glean- 

 ings, and two volumes of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for reports con- 

 cerning Carniolan bees, and I fail to 

 find any figures to show that any one 



has ever eon)pared the results of tliesr 

 bees with the results obtained from 

 Italian or black bees in tlie same 

 apiary." 



This is jnst what I have been iloing 

 this year. I had 4 colonics of Carnio- 

 lans in the Spring. No. 1 gave me 50 

 jjounds of surplus honey, and one 

 swarm. No. 2 yielded 40 pounds of 

 surplus and one swarm. No. 3 gave 

 50 pounds of surplus and two swaruLS. 

 No. 4 pi-odueed 12 pounds of surplus 

 and one swarm. 



1 Iiad 10 full colonies (3 blacks. 12 

 of ordinary Italians, and 4 of my best 

 Italians). They stand on my Register 

 as follows : No. 5, 5 pounds of sur- 

 plus. No. fi, 20 pounds. No. 1 gave 

 one swarm. The bees in a five-cham- 

 ber hive, containing three queens, 

 gave 20 pounds. The rest gave 

 notliing. 



My object is to satisfy myself an<l 

 those who keep but one kind of bees. 

 If my Italians fall behind next year, I 

 shall procure stock from another 

 breeder, and give them one more trial. 

 I have no advice to give, and no queens 

 to sell. 



I procured a fine Benton queen ; two 

 from Pennsylvania : and six from Ken- 

 tucky ; but my best queens are of my 

 own rearing. I keep a minute record 

 of each colony, and I write this with 

 my Register before me. This has been 

 a poor season for honey, particularly 

 the early part of it ; but my bees in- 

 creased to 30 colonies, and I have 

 them all snugly stored in the cellar, 

 witli plenty of food to winter them 

 over. I use the Simplicity hive, and 

 produce only comb-hone}". 

 Pattonsburg. Mo. 



HONEY EXHIBIT. 



Preniiiiiiis at llie Illinois State 

 Fair. 



Written for the American Dee Journal 



BY MRS. L. HARRISON. 



When I was a child, my parents 

 (who were very orthodox) taught me, 

 that the devil would get me if I told 

 lies. I have always been very much 

 afraid of that terrible monster, who 

 "goeth about like a roaring lion, 

 seeking whom he may devour," and 

 switching his tail. 



With reference to the premiums ob- 

 tained upon the product of the bees at 

 the late Illinois State Fair, I said on 

 page 707, that --Iowa carried ofl' the 

 blue," which means in fair parlance, 

 that she won the first premium, on 

 both comb and extracted honey. 



This exhibitor from Iowa (I do not 

 remember his name), had more hbnej' 

 there than all other e.xhibitors put to- 



gether, and Mrs. Harrison was one of 

 them. When 1 first saw this Iowa 

 exhibit, I said to the owner: "You 

 will carry of! the blue." He said : 

 " Do you think so ? " " Certainly." I 

 said. " It is the largest and best."" 



He had made crates of one-pound 

 sections, so many that lie could not 

 obtain space to exhibit them. His 

 extracted-honey was put up in eiite 

 little glass-pails, which were strung on 

 wire, in front of a large window, and 

 presented a very fine appearance. I 

 do not know liovv many gross he had 

 of them, but I do know that he could 

 not find room to exhibit them all. I 

 am in hopes that he found space enough 

 at the St. Louis Fair, where he took it 

 from here. 



I have never seen a printed list of 

 those who obtained premiums, in the 

 apiarian department at the late Fair. 

 If I had thought it of enough import- 

 ance for the world at large to know, I 

 would have copied them from the 

 secretary's book. 



I am "posted" thus far — Mrs. L. 

 Harrison had on exhibition one dozen 

 and a half of Mason jars, of one and 

 two quarts, filled with choice extracted- 

 honey, of the crop of 1880. and the 

 same honej' drew "the blue" at the 

 fair 1889. This year it was awarded a 

 short piece of red ribbon with Illinois 

 State Fair printed upon it. and three 

 dollars in money ; the money was the 

 best part of it. 



Some bee-keepers complained that 

 they could not attend the sessions of 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, at Keokuk. Iowa, because their 

 honey-crop was a failure ; but I went, 

 for I was awarded three dollars at the 

 Illinois State Fair. 



I am glad that Aaron Coppiu also 

 drew three dollars (see page 828) so 

 will all bee-keepers be, aud it is quite 

 important that thej'shouUl know it. It 

 is something to be prouil of, that a 

 little bit of comb-honey drew the 

 second premium, because there was 

 none to eonie in competition with it. 

 Aaron should have also said in the- 

 American Bee .Iournal, that he was 

 awarded the blue, for being the best 

 grumbler at the Illinois State Fair. 

 Peoria, 111. 



If you have a desire to kno-w 



how to have Queens fertilized in upper 

 stories, while the old Queen is still laying 

 below — how you may safely i)Uroduce any 

 Queen, at an,j' time of tbe year when bees 

 can fly — all about the different races of 

 bees — all about shipping Queens, queen- 

 cages, candy for queen-cages, etc. — all 

 about forming nuclei, multiplying or unit- 

 ing bees, or weak colonies, etc. ; or, in fact 

 eveiything about the queen-business which 

 you may want to know, send for"Doolit- 

 tle's Scientific Queen-Rearing;" a book of 

 1 70 pages, which is nicely bound in cloth, 

 and is as interesting as a story. Price, $1.00. 



