174 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Speaking of Punic bees the Cana- 

 dian Bee Journal remai-ks : 



"We are fully convinced that Mi". Benton 

 should be reli ible authority on tlie Panics, 

 as he was the first to send them from 

 Tunis. 



Yes, Mr. B. was first to start them 

 fromAfiica; but how far did lie get 

 with theui? Wasn't Mr. B. taken sick 

 soon after he shipped tlie bees? and 

 didn't tlie Funics all die before his 

 recovery ? 



Well, there are such bees as Funics 

 notwithstandingtiie factthatone of the 

 editors of the British Bee Journal^ 

 T. W. Cowan, never saw them. 



We are much amused at ihe booming; of 

 the so-called 'Punic bees," in America. I 

 am pretty well acquainted with the bees 

 of nortliern Africa, l)ut do not know of 

 such a race as "Punic ;" nor is tiiere such 

 a species as ApU niger l<nown to ento- 

 mologists.' T. W. Cowan. 



The above is from the American 

 Bee Journal of Nov. 12. 



There are people who would believe 

 that two and two make five, and would 

 so advertise it should T. W. Cowan 

 say so. 



There will be in the spring of 1892, 

 five hundred colonies of Funic bees in 

 America. 



Though the writer has never been 

 stniig by Funic bees, they will sting 

 all the same. No bees, however, are 

 so easily controlled by a small amount 

 of smoke as the Funics. 



A few items have lately appeared 

 in the different bee journals regarding 

 the introduction of old virgin queens 

 into full colonies, also something has 

 been said about introducing virgin 

 queens to colonies that have long been 

 queenless. With the use of tobacco 

 smoke there is not the least trouble in 

 introducing virgin or fertile queens in 

 either of the above cases. It can all be 

 done in one minute with tobacco, while 

 by any other process, it requires a 

 week's time, and then such methods 

 are unreliable. 



Some one has taken hold of the 

 Canadian Bee Journal who must have 

 had some considerable experience in 

 running a paper. That a great and 

 marked improvement has been made 

 tlie last few months no one who has 

 read Jones' paper of late will deny. 



IT IS SAID 



Tliat the November issue of the 

 American Beekeeper is as much of a 

 l)ooming circular as was the August 

 Api. Well, what of it? What says 

 Bro. Hutchinson ? 



That we are about to pass through 

 an unusually hard winter. Ar'n't they 

 all hard enough? 



That some of the croakers always 

 make such predictions. Let them 

 predict calamity winters as often as it 

 suits them. 



That the North American beekeep- 

 ers' convention will be a big affair. 

 So let it be. 



That all who can should attend. 

 Suppose thej' will do so. 



That the thin, double-wall winter 

 case as used in the Bay State Apiary 

 the past ten 3'ears is now coming into 

 general use. That is natural. 



That two of the largest bee supply 

 dealers in the world are booming them 

 in their (ofiicial) bee publications. 

 Where else should they boom them? 



That these hives winter bees much 

 better on summer stands than any 

 cellar or beehouse. 



That wintering bees in cellars will 

 soon be an unheard-of thing. 



That spring dwindling is the natu- 

 ral result of wintering in a temperature 

 above the freezing point. 



That they raise large heads of let- 

 tuce in the state of Washington as 

 shown in the cut on page 858, Nov. 

 Gleanings. 



That Edmund K. Belcher has an 

 idea that when tarred paper is placed 



