THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



141 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



J. W. G.'s Five Questions Answered. 



1. In counting the "three yellow bands" on full-blood- 

 ed Italian bees, is the narrow strip next to the thorax 

 included, or should they have three besides that ? 



The Italian bee bred in Italy has generally but 

 two yellow bands, and including the narrow 

 strip next the thorax, three. But Dzierzon has 

 raised a much more beautiful race. The work- 

 ers of liis full-blooded bees have three yellow 

 bands, exclusive of the narrow strip. 



2. What should be done with a good colony contain- 

 ing a fertile worlier ? Could an unimpregnated queen, 

 or a fertilized one be successfully introduced ? 



A good colony has no fertile workers, and as 

 soon as such make their appearance the colony 

 must be regarded as diseased. Colonies without 

 queen and with fertile workers, behave various- 

 ly. Some accept introduced queens, and some 

 do not. In any case a fertiUzed queen will be 

 more easily received. 



3. Will bees with fertile workers build drone or work- 

 er comb ? 



Such colonies generally do not build at all ; 

 but when they do, they build drone comb, witli 

 very rare exceptions. 



4. Wliat is the greatest age at which a queen can be or 

 is fertilized. 



Generally it may be said that she is able to 

 be fertilized so long as she continues to fly 

 out. In Germany there are unquestionable 

 cases on record, where queens which were 

 forty days and more old, still became fertil- 

 ize(l. 



5. What is the average numbei- of times a good bee- 

 keeper will "go into" (open and examine) his hives in 

 the course of a season ? 



This question is not to be detinitely answered, 

 for the opening of liives depends on cu'cuni- 

 stauces; and tlie special purposes of the bee- 

 keeper. For instance, if he is desirous of 

 multiplying stock, he opens his hives more fre- 

 quently than when he simply wishes to obtain 

 much honey. 



LiNA Baroness von Berlepsch. 



Munich, Nov. 20, 1869. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Peed. 



I have used the following for a number of 

 j^ears : About one quart of water, two tea- 

 spoonsful of starch, made the same as ladies pre- 

 pare it for starching clothes. Wlien boiling, 

 add five pounds of white sugar ; stir it until it 

 boils again; take it ofl" the tire, and add as 

 much honey as you can spare. 



John Winfield. 



Canfield. Ohio. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Querist's Question, No. 7, Answered. 



Mr. Editor : — I beg leave to answer one of 

 Querist's questions on page 83 of the Bee Jour- 

 NAXi. He says that I guarantee all tlie Italian 

 queens I sell, and if any fail to produce workers 

 with three yellow bands, that I will replace them 

 free of charge. So I do, and will. 



My reason for saying this, is — I liave often had 

 queens of my own rearing, and some I have 

 bought and paid high prices for, that produced 

 workers witii three stripes for some months, and 

 then failed to produce all three striped workers, 

 as occasionally there would be a two striped fel- 

 low. Such queens I consider not pure. As my 

 customers are generally in a great hurry to get 

 their queens, I, like many others, and perhaps 

 all queen raisers, send queens to those that are 

 in. such a hurry, after the worker progeny of the 

 queen has been hatching a week or ten days ; 

 and if all have the three yellow stripes, they are 

 considered pm-e and sent off to the customer, 

 and in case they are pm-ely fertilized, are pm-e. 

 But, as it is evident that the queens often mate 

 with two or more drones, their progeny may all 

 show the marks of purity for a time, and after- 

 wards show^ the mixed blood, as one of the 

 di-ones may have been of the black race. 



Querist asks are three yellow bands a proper 

 test ? That is considered a proper test by the 

 best apiarians, both in America and in Em-ope. 

 So what further test does Querist want? 



Querist says, suppose I was to raise a hundi-ed 

 Italian queeiis, and should produce workers 

 thus marked, how many of those queens would I 

 be willing to use for queen breeding pm-poses ? 

 Well, sir, I would give them all a thorough trial 

 (pro^'ided I needed so many to breed from), and 

 if all continued to produce workers with the 

 three yeUow stripes for some months, and no 

 variation, I would be willing to breed from all 

 the hundi-ed. 



I think bees, like all other stock — sheep, cat- 

 tle, &c — are susceptible of improvement, though 

 they are thorough blood; and to improve 

 my bees, I would select such queens as produce 

 workers most quiet to handle and most prolific, 

 and produced young queens that were all like 

 their mother in color, or lighter. 



Querist seems to take exception to me and 

 some others, for selling queens at knock-down, 

 prices, by the quantity. I explained in my cir- 

 cular the' reason why I coidd afford to seU queens 

 so cheap this season. It was because all the 

 black bees had died last winter for some miles 

 around me, and of course I had no trouble in 

 getting my queens impregnated by my own 

 drones. Don't grumble, ]VIi-. Querist, I wiU not 

 sell any more queens so cheap, as some black 

 bees have emigi-ated from parts unknown, and 

 located in the woods around me; and I wiU 

 cliarge higher prices next season, just in 

 proportion to the trouble I have in raising 

 them. 



I hope to have my queens all fertilized, next 

 season, by the cb-ones I may select, by the new 

 process which I suppose ^yiW. soon be published. 



