184 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Bee notes from Texas. 



Otto .1. E. Urban. 



When I read the article, " Intro- 

 ducing Queens" in September issue 

 of the Api, I h.id a colon^^ in my 

 yard that killed two queens for me 

 while introducing by the cage system. 

 I thought if Mr. Alley can introduce 

 his queens by using tobacco smoke, 

 I can too. I had just received a fine 

 queen from Mr. Alle}' that morning. 

 I fired up my bee-smoker and mixed 

 smoking tobacco vvith the wood ; took 

 my queen, gave the bees a few whitfs, 

 opened the cage and " let her go Gal- 

 lagher," I said. Her majesty marched 

 in and I smoked more afterwards. 

 Next morning I found her busy at 

 laying eggs. I think I shall never 

 introduce in cages again. 



Bees are doing well in this country. 

 Mr. Alley writes me under Sept. 16, 

 "If it ever stops raining I will send 

 the queens you ordered. This is the 

 eighth day in succession tiiat it has 

 rained." While writing this for the 

 Api (3 o'clock p. m.) I see the air 

 filled with young bees in my apiary, 

 enjoying the warm sun, and tlie old 

 foragers come in heavily loaded with 

 honey and pollen, making their hives 

 heavier every day. Such a thing as 

 feeding for winter we know nothing 

 about here except in extraordinarily 

 poor seasons. 



Another incident I want to tell you 

 about. Have you ever seen a queen 

 that kept ten Langstroth frames full 

 of brood? I have one of that kind 

 in my yard. I use the ten-frame 

 Langstroth hive and she keeps tiie 

 brood-chamber chock f«ll of brood ; 

 the bees are of the prettiest kind, 

 very gentle and industrious. 



I shall make this queen raise me a 

 lot of young queens next season, I 

 think she is as good a one as I can 

 get for a bee mother. 



Thorndale, Texas. 



A pointer for Mr. Hearn. 



Mr. Hearn seems to think that I 

 am the only person who comi)lains of 

 the color of five-banded queens. His 

 attention is respectfully called to an 

 article which ma^^ l)e found in a re- 

 cent issue of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal and from which we take the fol- 

 lowing : 



"My observation and experience the 

 past ten years in purchasing and 

 testing queens from all the principal 

 queen-breeders have led me to the con- 

 clusion that but fevv are pursuing the 

 right course to produce the l)est bees. 



A few years ago the Albinos were 

 all the rage and I have tried many 

 different strains of them ; but I find 

 that the breeders of these bees seem 

 to have nothing in view but the white 

 bands of hair and have neglected to 

 preserve the three yellow bands, so 

 that many show but yellovv on the 

 third band, and not as they should on 

 the first and second. 



Latterly, it seems that the golden 

 Italians are having a boom, and I have 

 tried different strains of these bees, 

 also ; and I find the same fault with the 

 breeders of these bees, as with the 

 Albinos — they seem to be sacrificing 

 all other colors for the golden yellow, 

 I have had bees of this strain that had 

 four or five yellow bantls, with noth- 

 ing on them but yellow, not even a 

 streak of black on the edge of the 

 bands, and the hair as yellow and so 

 nearly the color of the bands that one 

 could scarcely tell there was any hair 

 on tiiem — and some call them beau- 

 tiful bees ! Now, the i<lea of a plain 

 yellow bee, or a plain white, or black, 

 or any other one color making a beau- 

 tiful bee, is not in accordance with 

 my ideas of a beautiful bee. As some 

 one has said, " I want a ringed, 

 streaked, siriped, and all color bee," 

 with a beautiful, flashy contrast of 

 color. 



My experience with different colors 

 and strains of bees is, that the very 

 yellow bees do not cap their honey 

 white. I had one colony in particular 



