200 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



winter well on food (no pollen) at 

 four cents per pound, why should I 

 waste pure honey at twelve and one- 

 half cents per pound? You see we 

 are told with great authority that 

 nothing but pollen will hurt bees, not 

 even "fizz" will hurt them. 



THE BEST BEES. 



I have taken great interest in this 

 subject. My articles, published in 

 a number of the bee periodicals, will 

 show that I, like the editor of the 

 "Api," have pointed out the fact that 

 the Italian bee is a hybrid. Really, 

 I believe that I was first to publish 

 convictions of this fact. Still the 

 Italian is a hybrid of respectable age, 

 perhaps two or three thousand years 

 old. Well, now, if these aged hybrids 

 still ''sport" when breeding, as every 

 experienced breeder knows they do, 

 what do you think of the "fixedness" 

 of the "strains" of hybrids of less than 

 a half score years old. 



When we breed the Italian from 

 selected specimens we only breed 

 back towards the original stock on 

 the side of the yellow parent. Of 

 course we may make mistakes by 

 faihng to choose breeders from the 

 strongest and best working stock. 



From long and careful observation 

 I am inclined to think that, originally, 

 there were but the two great families 

 of the honey bee, the yellow and the 

 black. What we see in the ants, 

 wasps, etc., warrants this conclusion 

 to say nothing of the disposition of 

 most types or races of bees to "sport" 

 when breeding them. I advanced 

 this theory some years ago as may be 

 seen by referring to the "files" of the 

 American Bee Journal. If I am 

 correct in this, the inter-breeding of 



the yellow strains, with their varying 

 purity, viz., Italian, Cyprian and Syr- 

 ian, is the correct way to obtain the 

 best bees- of the yellow race. 

 Christiansbin-g, Ky. 



THE NEW vs THE OLD. 



BY T. A. P. 



No branch of apiculture has made 

 more rapid strides in improvement 

 than the shipping and introducing of 

 queen bees. It would seem that we 

 have almost reached the acme of 

 success. The fact of sending a live 

 queen bee by mail to any part of the 

 United States is even now looked 

 upon with wonder by the uninitiated ; 

 but to us of the bee fraternity it is 

 no new thing, except it may be to 

 receive from or send them to foreign 

 countries, which no doubt is about 

 being accomplished, owing to the 

 invention of a food that obviates the 

 necessity of water accompanying the 

 queen. It is only a few years ago 

 that, to ship queen bees from Europe, 

 it was necessary to accompany each 

 queen with a small swarm of bees 

 put in a miniature hive which held 

 some small combs of honey ; resulting 

 often when arriving here in a mass of 

 dead bees and honey, and that too • 

 after undergoing the expense and 

 annoyance of red tape in the custom 

 house. The thing can be done now 

 in a small shipping and introducing 

 cage which can be thrown right into 

 the mail bag, and, thanks to the fast 

 sailing steamers of our day, sent with 

 lightning speed around the world. 



To ship a queen short distances 



