THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



153 



ever, (Low) master is about right for 

 the name of any one who can make 

 such base, mean, lying statements as 

 ai)peare(l in a hite issue of the B.B. J. 

 He said Alley is the man who is sell- 

 ing Carniolan bees crossed with Ital- 

 ians (or siolden Carniolans. 



The editors of the B. B. J. have 

 had snlllcient acquaintance with me 

 to know that the statements of this 

 Lowmaster are devoid of all semblance 

 of truth or fact. No editor has a right 

 to publish such (intended to be) dam- 

 aging statement from a stranger. No 

 i"esi)ectable paper will do it. 



This honest man (?) Lowmaster, is 

 the queen dealer who sent me two com- 

 mon l)lack queens for imported Car- 

 niolan mothers. Al)out half the work- 

 er progeny of these queens showed 

 yellow bands, anti both queens were 

 inferior in all res[)ects. Who cares 

 to deal with such a man? We will fur- 

 nish his full ad(b-ess to any inter- 

 ested parties. He does not live far 

 from Belle Vernon, Ohio. If any 

 reader of the Api has an idea that this 

 charge is made for this occasion, I call 

 upon Lowmaster to publish my let- 

 ters to him in reference to the matter. 



While I am on the Punic bee ques- 

 tion, I ma}^ as well get it all in under 

 one head. Here is another item : 



I wrote to my brotlier, wiio lives near 

 SheftieUl, Enu;., to make iiiqiiiriL's about 

 them, aiul lie writes me some very straiiire 

 things in reference to tlie Punic bees. He 

 assures me tliat tlie wliole tliini>' is a farce, 

 that ihey are iiothiiiir hut small l.>lack bees, 

 have no woiuiei fnl trails, and that the best 

 beekeepers of EiiiiUmd wonder why Ainer- 

 iciiiis are so jiuUible. — W. Johnson in the 

 Canadian Bee Journal. 



Well, they really do have Punic 

 bees in England after all. Where is 

 Bro. Cowan ? Wonder why he never 

 discovered the fact. Our friend John- 

 son must have had on his mind those 

 C3'prian and Holy Land bees Jones 

 imported, when he wondered why 

 Americans are so gullible. 



No such man is known in England 

 as W. Johnson. — Eo.]. 



"Punic bees are setting some hard 



blows from good apiarists," saysTlios. 

 G. Newman. 



This I deny, though it comes from 

 T. G. N. Name one good apiarist who 

 has had anj' experience with Punic 

 bees that has said one word against 

 them ; ndvic him/Vhomas, or-or, well, 

 go into your hole again. 



To conclude, will say that the Punic 

 bees still maintain their good reputa- 

 tion and I am more pleased with them 

 than ever. 



1 want it understood, however, that 

 should these bees not do as well as 

 they now promise I shall say so, and 

 in such terms as no one can mistake. 

 I shall not wait for our customers 

 to condemn them. So, friends, do not 

 be afraid to invest j'our money in Pu- 

 nic bees. 



After testing the Cyprians and Holy 

 Land races and found them wanting 

 I condemned them. Bro. Jones, I be- 

 lieve, has not done so up to this date. 



If the Punic bees had no other good 

 points but hardiness and mild dispo- 

 sition, I should propagate them for 

 cell-lniilding if for no other pui'pose. 



Pure Italians are the poorest race 

 for rearing queens or cell building of 

 any we have. Any other race is bet- 

 ter, and the Panics are best of all. 

 It will pay queen dealers to introduce 

 the latter race for this one purpose. 



I have been expecting some one to 

 say "wonder if Alley will not rear 

 golden Punic queens?" I am not sure 

 1 shall not as I have already found that 

 not all the Punic queens I have 

 reared produce "•typical" Punic bees. 

 Many of the young queens produce 

 more or less yellow-banded bees, 

 think I can hear Dr. Miller sav, "there 

 it is, Alley is mixing the yellow and 

 black Iiees again." 



Don't l)e too fast, friends, in form- 

 ing an oi)inion on this point. Tell 

 what you think about it when I have 

 explained how it is that thei'e are 

 yellow-banded bees in the Punics. It 

 seems there are about as many differ- 

 ent races of bees in Africa as there 

 are languages spoken in that far-off 



