AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



453 



Bee-Notes from Soiitteaslern Kansas. 



THEO. NAANES. 



The "Bee and Honey Gossip" is 

 usually what I read first when the 

 American Bee Journal, arrives, hoping 

 to hear from some Kansas bee-keeper ; 

 but few have reported. I am sure that 

 more of us should write our experience, 

 as I find that many of the plans advised 

 by Eastern apiarists do not succeed 

 here. 



We get honey here every month, from 

 May until October, when seasonable ; 

 but we have two big "mountains" here 

 in Southeastern Kansas, which, it seems, 

 will ever separate the bee-men from a 

 large bank account. These "moun- 

 tains" are, dry weather, and cold nights. 

 When we get around one, the other is 

 pretty sure to loom up. We have no 

 alfalfa, a very little white clover, and 

 no basswood ; and yet we have never 

 missed having some right royal feasts of 

 toothsome honey every Summer since I 

 have kept bees. 



Besides this, the bee-yard is the most 

 interesting spot on the farm. I now 

 have 25 colonies, with the prospect none 

 too bright for them, as each hive con- 

 tains fi'om 3 to 5 frames of brood, and 4 

 inches of snow on the ground to-day — 

 March 15. Bees have eaten lots of 

 honey this Winter, and must nearly all 

 be fed. 



I would not advise any one here to put 

 on a full crate of sections at once. It 

 may do where there are whole fields of 

 white clover, or basswood trees by the 

 hundred, but it will not work for me. 



Italians ? Yes ; hybrids ! every time, 

 before black bees. 



If you are using frames 12 or 14 

 inches deep, just try some about half as 

 deep, and then report. 



Honey comes slowly here, and T have 

 to watch pretty sharp to keep, from hav- 

 ing mcft-e swarms than honey, whether 

 the hives be large or small. 



I always get the most honey from 

 those not allowed to swarm. Right here 

 I once made a big mistake. For several 

 seasons in succession I had no swarms, 

 by using two-story hives with 12 Gallup 

 frames each, and by vigilant destruction 

 of queen-cells and drone combs. I got 

 lots of honey at first, and felt as if I 

 owned a gold mine. 



About the third season my crop of 

 queen-cells and drone-comb was im- 

 mense. So much "eternal vigilance" 

 became monotonous, and ceased to be 

 either interesting or agreeable. It was 



just " monkey, monkey " all the time, 

 with my bees growing lighter and lazier 

 every day. 



Now, they knew better, by all odds, 

 what they needed, than I did. 



I imagine the "Old Vets," when they 

 read this, will smile at my ignorance, 

 and say, "Why didn't he give them a 

 young queen ?" Well, I didn't know 

 enough. 



All my queens were reared from cells 

 built by small nuclei, except some I 

 bought, and perhaps they were, too. 



My very best queens are from cells 

 built and sealed in a colony under the 

 swarming impulse. A good, young 

 queen is "half the battle." 



Galesburg, Kans. 



Propiiy Of MprteJ Italian Queens. 



queen-breeder. 



I notice in the Queries, on page 380, 

 and elsewhere, there seems to be a ten- 

 dency to accuse the bees we import from 

 Italy of not breeding true, and of 

 sporting. It appears to me there is 

 more guessing in this matter than ob- 

 servation, or else the queens received 

 from Italy in the past were entirely 

 different from what we receive now. 



Of all the queens I have imported 

 from Italy, I have never had one that 

 did not show three bands, and their bees 

 were all even. 



That bees become more yellow, in this 

 country, by being bred for any number 

 of generations without the introduction 

 of any foreign blood, I do not believe 

 possible. 



I have no objections to the "golden," 

 " the five-banded," or any other bee, be 

 it as yellow as it may ; but I do not 

 assert as my belief, that if standard im- 

 ported queens are used, in a situation 

 where no foreign blood can possibly be- 

 come mixed with them, their progeny 

 could not be made to produce five-banded 

 bees. 



IIW When we commenced bee-keeping 

 25 years ago we had to buy boards in 

 the rough for hives, and rip out the stuff 

 for frames with a hand-saw. We well 

 remember making sections out of com- 

 mon lath by planing them down. Now 

 all is changed. All there is to do is to 

 send in your order early, and in due time 

 get the "stuff" as good as human skill 

 and machinery can make it.— C. H. Dib- 

 bern, in the Western Plotvraan. 



