638 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



frame, just as bee-keepers at large pro- 

 nounced it from the time of its inception 

 until quite recently. 



Bee-keepers are not so dull that it 

 takes so many years to discover the 

 merits of a comb-frame ; at least not the 

 large honey-producers. It must be re- 

 membered that friend Root can sell any- 

 thing he advertises in his circulars vi'ith 

 a circulation of many thousands. 



I shall be very glad to have the Doc- 

 tor, or any other bee-keeper, tell us w^hy 

 the partially open-end frames are pref- 

 erable. I have tried them, and cannot 

 find their alleged merits. I am still 

 making honey-producing pay, and pay 

 well ; but to do it I am compelled to do 

 only necessary work, and do that rapidly 

 and well. Fixed frames, arranged as 

 is above described, are an absolute 

 necessity to that end. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Basswool Trees— Italian Bees. 



J. M. PRATT. 



In reply to Mr. J. C. Lillibridge, on 

 page 544, I would say that in March, 

 1884, I asked about planting trees. I 

 immediately set out a lot of them. The 

 following Summer was very dry, yet 

 three-fourths of what I set out lived. 

 They are now from 20 to 25 feet high. 

 I have just measured one, and it was 20 

 inches in circumference, and 10 feet 

 through its bushy top. 



They were 5 or 6 years old when set 

 out, and have bloomed every year from 

 the second year after setting. They 

 grow while I sleep, and I feel that I am 

 already paid for my time and labor. 



I believe the cause of so much dissatis- 

 faction with Italian bees is that bee- 

 keepers buy queens of soome good 

 breeder, and introduce them to colonies 

 of black bee's, and the queens are forced 

 to lay eggs in cells built by the black 

 bees, which are too small for pure Ital- 

 ians. Of course, the bees will then be 

 no larger or better than the common 

 blacks. Remember that bees are fully 

 matured in the cell, that they do not 

 grow after leaving the cell. Nor would 

 I expect to rear fine, large chickens 

 from small hen's eggs, even though they 

 grow after leaving the shell. The large 

 chickens hatched from the large eggs, 

 even in the same brood, will always keep 

 the lead in size. Also too close spacing 

 of combs will produce dwarfed and 

 worthless bees. 



It is best to buy a full colony of Ital- 

 ian bees, on their own built combs, and 

 keep this colony building combs as fast 

 as possible for the queens that are 

 bought ; also give them all the comb- 

 foundation they will work, which is large 

 enough for them, and see if you will not 

 be better satisfied with Italian bees. I 

 have had them side by side in the same 

 yard, with the same attention, and my 

 neighbors have the blacks. I have 

 watched them closely for ten years. 



When we have cold weather during 

 fruit-bloom, and no white clover, the 

 Italians will build up early, and are 

 re^dy for all the honey that may come 

 from other sources^-red clover, iron- 

 weed, the big blue thistle, and golden- 

 rod ; while I have not yet seen a single 

 black bee at work on any of them. 



I was a little amused, not long ago, at 

 one man writing in favor of black bees, 

 and in the same article mentioned how 

 bad the moth-worms were. I knew how 

 bad they were when I kept the blacks, 

 cutting through the honey and causing 

 it to drip, and then robbing would begin 

 in earnest. I once removed three combs 

 of moth and web from a queenless col- 

 ony, to one of my other colonies, and 

 placed them in the second story, at the 

 same time giving the queenless colony 

 three frames of brood and eggs from the 

 same. 



My wife said, " Oh, you will ruin that 

 colony of bees with all those worms and 

 web." 



I told her that we would see to-mor- 

 row. She did not let me forget it, 

 either. I was busy at the time, so I 

 told her to go and look in front of the 

 hive. She went, and said, "There are 

 web and worms outside in front of the 

 hive." 



Then at my leisure I opened the hive 

 and found the three combs all clean, and 

 honey being stored ; the damaged places 

 in the combs were being repaired. I am 

 often asked by my neighbors how to 

 keep the moth out. I tell them to do so 

 by first keeping the black bees out. 



As to the stinging qualities of the two 

 races of bees, the Italians will hurt 

 worse when they sting than the others ; 

 they seem to have the power to strike 

 like a hornet, yet we are seldom stung, 

 with the path to the garden right 

 through the bee-yard. I do my plowing 

 in there just in front of the bees. 



I use the Langstroth frame without 

 the fiat wooden bottom, using a No. 9 

 wire instead. I have used this frame 

 for eight years, and want no other. The 

 combs are built and joined to the wire 

 below, making them stronger and easier 



