268 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



experience with them, don't relate it, 

 who shall or can ? 



I have been breeding the five band- 

 ed bees and queens for a number of 

 years, and have had some experience 

 with them . While I have never 

 bred for color before, beauty has been 

 one point in view. I will try to be 

 impartial, and give straight goods 

 only, as one variety is as easily bred 

 as another, at least it is so with me. 

 The live banders with me have 

 brought me to the following conclus- 

 ion. They are a nice looking bee, 

 which we all know. They are very 

 gentle with me, but on this point we 

 don't all agree as some call them very 

 cross. Many a bee keeping friend 

 has been in my five banded yard, 

 and have invariably expressed his 

 surprise at my bees being so quiet. I 

 often open a hive and cage a queen 

 with no hat on and my sleeves up, yet 

 have no trouble with cross bees. 



In regard to robbing and protecting 

 their hives, I find them about the 

 same as the three banded Italians. 

 I find that they do not winter as well 

 as the three banded Italians, which is 

 a strong point against them. Good 

 three banded Italians or hybrid bees 

 have been more profitable so far as 

 honey is concerned. The five banded 

 bees are usually if not always a small- 

 er bee than the three banded or good 

 hybrids. I have not kept the three 

 and five banded varieties in the same 

 apiary or yard, but but have kept 

 them from four to five miles apart ; 

 the location being so that one would 

 hardly have any advantage over the 

 other as far as pasture was concerned. 

 I have never tried to talk up five 

 banded bees to any one, but have bred 

 both three and five banded bees. 



To sum up, if I were asked which I 

 considered the best bee, I would be 

 compelled to say the three banded 

 Italians. In looking over the list of 

 queens sent out during 1893, 1894 

 and 1895, I can plainly see that the 

 five banded variety is losing ground 

 fast, and my expectations are that in 

 1896 five banded bees will be little 

 wanted, and am now making arrange- 

 ments to breed mostly from imported 

 stock. 



In my article in the September 

 number of the American Bee Keeper, 

 page 237, top of the second column, 

 it reads, " This cage should be held 

 in place with two wires wound clear 

 around the frame and hive," while it 

 should read "wound clear around the 

 frame, and not around the hive." I 

 make this correction as some begin- 

 ners might not understand what it 

 meant. 



Steeleville, 111. 



How to Fix up for Winter. 



BY J. E. POND. 



The " wintering on summer stands 

 problem " is a serious matter too bee- 

 keepers generally who live in cold 

 climates, and a problem too that has 

 ever been difiicult to solve ; yet so far 

 as I myself am concerned it has never 

 given me any trouble, and 1 meet 

 with but a very small percentage of 

 loss, not two per cent, in 30 years. 

 Why is this ? I will endeavor to an- 

 swer the question, but premise by 

 saying that I have used both single 

 and double-walled, and deep and shal- 

 low hives, and find very little differ- 

 ence in their value for the purpose, 

 and that for the last twenty years I 

 have used Langstroth hives entirely. 



My opinion in the first place is, that 



