THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



35 



which to me is both pleasant and profitable. 

 Perhaps some may not fully agree with the 

 ideas set forth in Mr. Langslrotii's work ; but 

 that cannot be a good excuse for bodily aiipi'o- 

 printing that which they do admit is correct. 



Hoping that every reader of the "Journal" 

 will appreciate the justice of Mr. Langstroth's 

 claims, and aid him in the maintenance of 

 them, I subscribe myself, ever for the right, 

 J. E. Pond, Jr. 



FoxBORo' Mass., July 3, 1869. 



[For the American Bee Jourual.] 



Italian Bees.— A. Grimm's Apiary. 



Mr. Editor : — By your permission, I will 

 give the readers of the Bee Journal some of 

 my experience, observations, &c. First, I 

 would like to say a few words aout the Italian 

 Bee. About seven years ago, I bought a queen 

 of Mr. Langstroth, and paid ten dollars for her. 

 About five years ago I bought another of him, 

 and paid him twenty dollars for her. I was 

 well satisfied with the queens, for I think tliey 

 were pure. I succeeded in raising some pure 

 queens from them. Ever since that time I have 

 pure Italians, hybrids, and natives to manage, 

 and I must say that the Italian bees are much 

 superior to the natives, with but one excep- 

 tion — that is, when they once thoroughly 

 aroused, they are great deal worse to sting. 



We are determined to Italianize our whole 

 apiary this seacon, (What I mean by our, is 

 myself and brother own the bees jointly — two 

 hundred stocks — but I have the care of them.) 

 For that purpose we have just bought forty 

 swarms of Mr. Adam Grimm, of Jefferson, 

 Wisconsin ; and as it fell to my lot to go and get 

 them, I would like to say a few words about 

 what I saw. I happened to be at Mr. Grimm's 

 a year ago last fall, at the time he opened the 

 boxes in which he brought in his imported 

 queens I helped him some two or three days, 

 to pick out the native queens in his hives and 

 introduce the Italians. As for the queens, Mr. 

 G. had very much handsomer ones in his own 

 stock. The imported ones looked to me like 

 little dark things. He did not have, I think, 

 more than one or two well-marked queens. I 

 made some allowance, in my thoughts, for them 

 at the time, as having been confined so long. 

 But this spring I recogized the same little dark 

 things, with but little improvement since then. 

 Mr. G. designates them as Mona queens ; and I 

 will do so likewise. 



I was at Mr. Giimm's from the 11th to the 17th 

 of May, 1869. During that time we examined 

 a great many colonies, and when we came to a 

 Mona stock, we almost invariably found those 

 queens mucli more prolific, and the hive much 

 stronger with bees and heavier with honey, than 

 were the hives of his former bees. Another 

 thing we were very sure to find— that is, they 

 were a great deal crusser. About the progeny of 

 those queens. The drones are black, witli three 

 narrow light-colored stripes. The workers are 

 darker and browner; and some of them have 

 very dark brown stripes. On the whole, they 

 are not as handsome or bright as his other stocks; 

 but are stronger and better workers. 



Mr. Giimm has his bees in three places. 

 Before selling any this spring, he had in his 

 home apiary three hundred and sixty-two colo- 

 nies, all pure Italians except twelve. Those 

 twelve he let a Mr. Foster, who lives some miles 

 away, have on shares. He is determined to 

 have no opposition in his own apiary, so that 

 all who purchase of him can depend on pure 

 stock. In his northern apiary, he had one hun- 

 dred and twenty-two colonies, nearly every hive 

 in real good condition, and among them about 

 six hybrid stocks. The southern apiary con- 

 tains one hundred and sixteen stocks, all but 

 two in good condition. I think his bees had too 

 much honey for that time of the year. Nearly 

 every hive contained one or more cards of 

 comb completely full of honey. What I mean 

 by good swarms at that season of the year, is 

 four or five cards of comb, well filled with brood, 

 and bees endugb to cover it ; with a few pounds 

 of honey. 



TWO FERTILE QUEENS IN A HIVE. 



While I was at Mr. Grimm's we found two 

 fertile queens in one hive ; and without doubt, 

 they had lived together since swarming last sea- 

 son ; as it was too early for one to be a young 

 fertile queen. Mr. G. said they were in a hive 

 where more than one swarm went together last 

 year. We are positive they both laid eggs, 

 for we separated them, and put one part of 

 the bees with one queen in one hive, and the 

 rest of the bees with the other queen in another 

 hive. We afterwards examined both, to see if 

 all was right, and they had both been laying. 



SIZE OP HIVES. 



I have used several kinds of hives. I first 

 used the Langstroth hive, 10 inches deep, 14 

 inches wide, and 18 inches long, all_ inside 

 measure ; and used ten frames to a hive. I 

 now use a hive the same size, only 12 inches 

 wide, instead of 14, with eight frames; and find 

 it to work better in this locality tban any hive I 

 ever used. The honey boxes we use are about 6 

 by 6 inches and 5 inches deep, holding from four to 

 five pounds of honey. We expect to put in twelve 

 to a hive. The way we will manage it, is to 

 take off the honey-board and lay strips of wood 

 on the frames, thick enough to come up level 

 with the sides of the hive, so that the boxes will 

 sit level. We will then lay a two inch strip 

 lengthwise and in the centre of tlie hive ; then 

 set on six boxes, three on each side ot the strip. 

 These boxes will have holes in the botton. 

 Then when we want to put on six Ijoxes more, 

 we will take out tlie two-inch strip, suspend a 

 brood comb above where it lay, and then set 

 on the other six boxes. Their entrances will be 

 at the inside lower corner, next to the suspended 

 comb. We expect the bees will be led directly 

 to the boxes by the comb spoken of. 



I have made this communication full long 

 already, and will close by vt^ishing all bee-keep- 

 ers a better season for bees this year, than the 

 last was, which was very poor indeed with us. 

 I also wish the Bee Journal much success, as 

 I consider it a great help to the bee-keepers, and 

 think all should take it. 



Issachar Crowfoot. 

 Rubicon, Wisconsin, June 9, 1869. 



