AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



85 



Responsibility of Queen-Breeders. 



I notice on page 23 that Mr. A. C. 

 Tyrrel thinks that the queen-breeders 

 are a very dishonest class of people, at 

 least as far as qneens are concerned. 

 My experience in getting queens from a 

 distance has been quite different from 

 his. The last season I received queens 

 from seven different breeders, and they 

 were all that was claimed for them. I 

 got queens from six different States, and 

 some from Italy. The queen-breeders, 

 as a general rule, will do what is right if 

 we give them a chance. I hardly think 

 Mr. Tyrrel meant what he said about 

 their iDeing something radically wrong 

 with the queen-breeders of this country 

 — that would mean all that rear queens 

 for sale, and that would hardly be fair, 

 as there must be some honest breeders. 

 Charles White. 



Farmer's Valley, Nebr., Jan. 4, 1891. 



Galvanized Iron Tank for Honey. 



I have a large galvanized iron tank 

 that I wish to use for storing honey. Is 

 it safe to do so ? Will the iron affect the 

 honey in any way ? C. K. Reading. 



Nashville, Tenn. 



[Honey evaporators in California are 

 always made of galvanized iron. We 

 should not hesitate to use your tank for 

 storing honey. Zinc is wholly unfit for 

 such a purpose. In fact, it will not do 

 to have even water stand in a zinc 

 receptacle, but galvanized iron is quite 

 a different thing. — Ed. J 



German or Black Bees vs. Italians. 



Notwithstanding I have expressed 

 myself in favor of Italian bees as com- 

 pared with the Grermans or blacks, yet 

 it is a fact that I am going to eradicate 

 the last golden tinge and yellow band in 

 my apiary of .50 colonies. Queen-breed- 

 ers have, in a measure, caused me to 

 take this step, by my repeated purchase 

 of yellow queens whose progeny had 

 nothing to recommend them save their 

 good looks. I have found out to my loss 

 that belts and rings on bees have but 

 little to do with well-filled section cases, 

 and still less with the snow-white cap- 

 ping of the sections. I can say of light- 

 colored Italian bees, as Goldsmith said 

 of his muse, they "found me poor and 

 kept me so." There is still another 

 reason for this act of mine. I have 

 determined to increase my home apiary 



to 365 colonies, and this will be done as 

 quickly as the bees will pay for it. Not 

 one inch of brood-foundation will be 

 used. The bees will have to build out 

 their own brood-combs from top to bot- 

 tom bar. I never considered that Ital- 

 ian bees were skillful in this direction. 

 But what race of bees will I substitute ? 

 I cannot tolerate cross-bred animals or 

 insects. I am afraid of Carniolans, and 

 lowill not rise to the Punic "bait." 

 Necessity compels me to turn to the 

 German race of bees. Can a good comb- 

 honey apiary be made out of them ? I 

 mean to try it. 

 Beason, Ills. James Hamilton. 



Lovers and Producers of Honey. 



Although I have seen no report from 

 the honey producers of this county 

 (Dodge) in the Bee Journal, I wish to 

 say that our people are great lovers of 

 good honey, and produce it quite exten- 

 sively. I began last Spring with 33 

 colonies of bees, increased to 59, and 

 produced 1,600 pounds of all white 

 honey. Some of my first sales of honey 

 were at 12>2 cents, but the most of the 

 crop went at from 15 to 18 cents per 

 pound. White clover and basswood 

 were our only sources for honey this 

 season. Buckwheat was plentiful, but 

 failed to produce any nectar. The Fall 

 crop of flowers was also plentiful, and as 

 a general rule we get a good supply of 

 honey here in the Fall, but the past 

 season has been an exception. My bees 

 were put into winter quarters with a 

 good supply of white honey. They are 

 very quiet, and I think they are doing 

 well. Foul-brood has never made its 

 appearance in this county, so far as I 

 know. We have a few of the " old-fogy 

 gum-tree" men still amongst us. Isold 

 one of them 10 of the Langstroth im- 

 proved hives last Spring, but he says 

 they are not as good as the box or gum- 

 tree hives. C. H. Pond. 



Kasson, Minn., Dec. 26, 1891. 



The Season of 1891. 



I put 7 colonies of bees into the cellar 

 on Nov. 3, 1890, and took them out on 

 April 12, 1891, in as fine condition as 

 when they were put in. The amount 

 consumed was from 9 to 14 pounds of 

 honey per colony. In 1891 I increased 

 them to 21 colonii'S, lost 3 colonies by 

 worms, and the balance stored 400 

 pounds of surplus honey in one-pound 

 sections — the finest of honey which sold 

 at 15 cents per pound at home. My 



