154 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



coniitry. Some of these races of bees 

 are yellow iii color. Now out of about 

 forty queens imported direct from 

 Africa but two or three of them were 

 suitable to rear queens from. Would 

 advise no one to claim that these 

 queens were mismated in our apiary, 

 as the nucleus colonies used for fer- 

 tilizing the queens were more than two 

 miles fi'om all other bees, and drone- 

 traps were i)laced on and had been 

 on for months all the hives in the vi- 

 cinity; and what is more, there were 

 no drones in any of the colonies even 

 where the traps were used. Then 

 again, the Punic (b'ones were as black 

 as black could be, and the mothers 

 from which both drone and queens 

 were reared produced only the black- 

 est bees, or what any one acquainted 

 with the Funics would call pure. 

 Well, friends, do 3'ou see any reason 

 why I cannot rear golden Punic bees? 

 Why cannot any one select the yel- 

 lowest Punic queens and drones and 

 produce golden Punic bees? 



Now this was precisely the state of 

 things I found with the dark Carnio- 

 laus. The queen and colony of dark 

 Caruiolans, Ancb'ews and Lockhart 

 sol 1 me were as dark and pure as any 

 Caruiolans I ever saw, not a striped 

 worker l)ee nor a drone that had the 

 least tinge of yellow about them. Yet 

 the queens and worker bees of the 

 daughters from the 3'oung queens did 

 show more or less (not bands) yellow. 

 Now does any reader of the Api see 

 any reason wliy I should be accused 

 of mixing Italians and Caruiolans and 

 selling tliem for golden Caruiolans ? If 

 there is any Italian blood or other mix- 

 ture in the golden Caruiolans it got in 

 before the queens came to me, and the 

 man who sold them is following me 

 from one bee iiaper to another claim- 

 ing that the Carniolan colony he sent 

 nie was pure. His claim of purity 

 makes it all the more "wonderful" 

 that I was able to produce yellow bees 

 from pure black ones. Don't 3'Ou 

 think so, reader? 



It has been very dilTicult to keep 



all of the foreign races of bees as pure 

 and as typical as when first received 

 except the Italians; with them there 

 was no such thing as purity. All the 

 Italian queens ever imported, and 'tis 

 so ui)to this da3% showed more or less 

 bees marked with from one to three 

 bands. 



The oidy way to get queens to pro- 

 duce uniformly marked bees, whether 

 they be Italian, Carniolan or Punic, 

 is to breed by selection. To bieed 

 Italians for yellow, select the lightest 

 queens and drones; to get the gray 

 Carniolan, or steel-colored worker 

 Carniolan bees, select the darkest 

 queens and diones; to get all black 

 worker Punic bees we also must se- 

 lect th'C darkest queen and drones. 



American queen dealers have had 

 but little ti'ouble to produce beautiful 

 golden Italian bees, and before an- 

 other season ends, I have no doubt 

 about getting Punic queens to produce 

 all black worker bees. 



Now, friends, you who have re- 

 ceived queens that show a few 3'ellow- 

 banded bees can rear by selection 

 just as good and pure queens as 1 can. 

 Let us see who will get lliem first an<l 

 also produce the best queens and bees. 



A GOOD UEPOnr FOR TIIK PU.MC BKKS. 



I observe you think the .statement of the 

 superiority of tlie Panic bees is colored. 

 I have not seen tiiat stateineiit, but I as- 

 sure you tliiit, if they are asyood as some 

 I have luul for two years, it will not be 

 easy to exaiigerate their good qualities. 

 With me they are tlie best of all imported 

 varieties of l)ees. 



I also observe that some speak of extra 

 colored Liguriaii (It;dhui) bees. Similar 

 beauties I had weie neither more nor less 

 than Lignri.ins crossed with Syrums, Cyp- 

 rians, or IIoly-Lund bees. 



Wm. Thompson. 



Auchinralth, High Blantyi e, Scotland. 



The above is exactly mj^ experience 

 with the Punic bees. It seems that all 

 those who have tested them are of the 

 same o})iniou. Those who never saw 

 them say they are worthless and a 

 humbug. 



