160 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



dovetailed hive is coming into general 

 use here. I think it is the coming hive 

 on account of its cheapness and strength, 

 as well as its hardiness. I am in favor 

 of adopting a standard size of section, 

 and that size to be the 4}^x4Jixl%, 

 and the 7 to the foot. Two widths I 

 believe to be sufficient, and the above 

 sizes seem to suit retailers a'nd consum- 

 ers in general. We have to suit those 

 who buy our product, as well as our- 

 selves. Of course,* there are a great 

 many who would not change, as the cost 

 would be too great, but it would help 

 those that are just starting, or those 

 buying large quantities of hives, to have 

 a standard size of section. The Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal should be taken by 

 every bee-keeper. A person who cannot 

 aflford to take it, cannot afford to keep 

 bees. There are many old fogies that 

 keep bees, and that is the reason why 

 honey is so cheap — because they obtain 

 a poor article, and then take whatever 

 they can get for it. I think that having 

 honey graded is a good thing. 



WiLLAED A. Saul. 

 Denison, Iowa, Jan. 16, 1892. 



Experimenting with. Albino dueens. 



On Aug. 14, 1891, I introduced five 

 Albino queens in my apiary. Three of 

 the queens that I superseded were less 

 than four months old ; two were over 

 two years old — daughters from the old 

 queens, and disappeared by Oct. 15. 

 From the three young queens there 

 were plenty of daughters that were put 

 into winter quarters with the Albino 

 colonies. Is it possible that bees from a 

 young queen will live longer than those 

 from an old queen ? In the above case 

 such is the fact. As I noticed this by 

 changing queens, I will experiment with 

 the same next year, as I am breeding 

 Albinos and lialians. If any person 

 wishes to experiment with the same, he 

 can do so with Italians, hybrids and 

 blacks, and from my observation of the 

 facts, I think it is worth the experiment. 

 Thos. Johnson. 



Coon Rapids, Iowa. 



The Mating of Queens. 



I want to know how far virgin queens 

 leave the hive to meet the drones. From 

 my experience with, young queens the 

 past Summer, fertilization takes i)lace 

 n<'ar the home of the queen. In my 

 locality no one has Italian bees but my- 

 self. There are black bees all around 

 me, from one-half mile to further away. 



I also had one colony of black bees in 

 my yard. Under the above circum- 

 stances all my young Italian queens 

 were purely mated except two. This 

 pi'oves to me that young queens mate 

 near the hive, or else the Italian drones 

 are more active, stronger, and ever on 

 the alert. But there is something con- 

 nected with the above that puzzles me, 

 and that is, I find that a good many 

 young queens owned by the neighbors as 

 far as a mile away, mated with my 

 Italian drones, right where there was 

 nothing but black drones. Will some 

 one please explain in the American Bee 

 Journal why a large percentage of my 

 neighbors' young queens mated with 

 my Italian drones? Only two of my 

 young Italian queens were met by black 

 drones when they were around in such 

 abundance. John D. A. Fisher. 



Woodside, N. C. 



Colonies Short of Winter Stores. 



My bees are in the 2-story simplicity 

 hives. They gathered honey-dew very 

 fast the past season, filling both stories. 

 I extracted all in the upper stories, 

 thinking that I would get a lighter 

 quality of honey, but I was mistaken, as 

 it was all dark. The honey from asters 

 was but a little lighter than the rest, 

 and but little different in the taste. The 

 honey is not unpleasant to eat — I prefer 

 it to last year's crop. When I took the 

 frames out of the upper stories, I did not 

 lift up any of the lower frames, but 

 took it for granted that they had an 

 abundance of honey to winter, as all, or 

 nearly all, had the combs at the top of 

 the frames sealed over. As I winter my 

 bees on the summer stands, and just 

 before the weather becomes severe I 

 commenced packing them, and then for 

 the first time I discovered they were 

 short of stores. I commenced feeding, 

 but it was too late to save all. I have 

 lots of frames full of honey, but cannot 

 get it to the bees. The weather is so 

 cold that I have already lost 4 colonies. 

 I had 45. They gath(>red between 

 1,500 and 2,000 pounds of honey the 

 past seasou. Joseph Dunbark. 



Scott's Mills, Ills., Jan. 18, 1892. 



Winter Protoleoi in bee-keeping; 

 by G. R. Pierce, of Iowa, who has had 

 25 years' experience in bee-keeping, and 

 for the past 5 years has devoted all his 

 time and energies to the pursuit. Price, 

 50 cents. For sale at this office. 



