THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



155 



The Funics are the best race of bees 

 ever imported to Aineriea 



At ail}' rate, tiiey have thus proveil 

 themselves on a short acquaintance 

 in my apiarj-. 



Punic heos, wliile so highly praised by 

 those who sell tlifiii, havt; sti'onic insiiiiia- 

 tions thrown out aiiainst tlu'in by British 

 beek('ei)ors, as beinj; in the liin- of liuui- 

 bujjs. As yet. I can only say that, in ap- 

 pearance, tliey are tlecitledly (lifl'erent from 

 all other bees I have seen. — Slray Straws. 



Tliat's it Dr. ; they are difTerent 

 from all other bees and in all res[)ects. 

 The}' iirow better, as you will tind as 

 your ex[)erience grows with them. I 

 know that tiiey are as good honey- 

 gatherers a.s any race, as they have 

 filled their own brood-chamber with 

 winter stores, and stored enough in a 

 top story to winter another colony and 

 all this since Se[)t. came in. 



LETTERS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS. 



TWO FIXE QUKKNS. 



Friknd Allky : Queens came to 

 hand in fine condition and I am well 

 pleased with them. They are the fin- 

 est ])ees I ever saw. 



I don't see why some of the queen 

 dealers "howl" al)out you. Their 

 queens can't compare with yours, and 

 that is what's the matter. — Josiah 

 Heilman. 



3fanorviUe, Pa. 



A GOOD SIKAIN' OK BKKS. 



Friend Alley : The excellence that 

 3'our queens really possess inclines 

 me to the l)elief that what you say in 

 regard to the good qualities of any 

 strain of bees is correct ; at least I am 

 not afraid to accept your judgment 

 in all cases so far as you have any 

 experience. — Samuel Thralls. 



Blackville, W. Va. 



ykllow c.vkxiolans. 

 Mr. Alley: Carniolan queen re- 

 ceived and introduced successtuUy. I 

 expected to (iud her bees a cioss be- 

 tween dark Carniolan and golden Ital- 



ians. I am now satisfied that there is 

 no Italian blood in them. 



That i)aper E. L. Pratt read before 

 the New England beekeepers' meeting 

 is worth the price of the Api one year. 

 — JuDsoN Dewitt. 



Fore.stville, Out. 



A GOOD WORD FROM CALIFORNIA. 



Mr. Henry Alley : I saw your de- 

 scription of the Punic bees in a bee 

 paper. I now write you for further 

 information as I know your opinion is 

 just as you state it. 



I have received the best queens 

 from you tliat I ever had and 1 have 

 had ihem from a number of piomi- 

 nent queen tlealers. — A. T. Chris- 

 man. Coalinga, Cal. 



building A HONEY- HOUSE. 



Mr. Alley: 1. I want to builtl a honey 

 house. Can you yive me some itlea how 

 it shonhl be built? 



2. Will it do to rear queens this fall and 

 keep them till sprinj; to mate wiih the 

 early drones? — Duncan & Conrad. 



Dupont, Ga. 



As to question 1. Some of our 

 readers can reply to that much better 

 than I can, though I have a honey 

 house or room, in which I keep combs 

 containing honey, and in which nearly 

 all the work we do to bees is per- 

 formed, yet our house was not de- 

 vised for the special purpose of stor- 

 ing honey. A house for such a use 

 should be made bee proof, as well as 

 to exclude mice and vermin of any 

 kind. The room should be well ven- 

 tilated, as dampness is bad for hone^'. 

 However, this question is left to an}'- 

 one who desires to re[)l3\ 



2. No, it will not do to keep vir- 

 gin queens through the winter in or- 

 der to mate in the spring. When 

 queens are twenty da3's old the}' should 

 be fertilized. 



This fall I had about a dozen vir- 

 gin queens that were thirty days old. 

 These (]ueens were crowded out of 

 nuclei and so were ke|)t in cages for 

 thirty da}S. Having room at that 

 time, and desiring to test the matter 



