88 



1HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Ed. Am. Bee-Keeper: With your 



permission I will give your readers a 

 few conclusions which I have arrived 

 at concerming Carniolan bees after 

 thoroughly testing them for several 

 successive seasons. 



I have concluded that they are a 

 very much abused race, as I am scarce- 

 ly able to pick up a bee paper or agri- 

 cultural journal whose columns do not 

 contain an article condemning them. 

 They are said to be cross, poor honey 

 gatherers, excessive swarmers and to 

 have many other bad qualities which 

 it is not necessary to enumerate here. 

 As a reason for the various objections 

 I think in some cases perhaps preju- 

 dice may have something to do in the 

 matter, but as the principal reason I 

 think I am safe in saying that many 

 who are not satisfied with these bees 

 have not hadjmre ( 'aritiolcms. Indeed, 

 I find that the number of untested 

 queens sent out that produce pure bees 

 is very small. Last season I purchased 

 some eight or ten untested queens, (of 

 prominent breeders), and not one out 

 of the number produced pure workers. 

 I merely state this to show my experi- 

 ence which has been about on this line 

 since I have kept this race of bees. 

 In regard to the various crosses of 

 this race I find that they vary in many 

 respects from those that are pure, 

 some comparing favorably and others 

 not, which is thn case with all bees 

 which I have ever tried. With the 

 •pure Camiolans I deem it only fair to 



say that they are at all times as peac- 

 able and well behaved and as good 

 honey gatherers as any Italians I ever 

 had (and I have handled hundreds of 

 colonies of them). They cap their 

 comb honey much whiter than the 

 Italians do, and are very hardy to 

 winter, usually coming through as 

 strong in numbers as they were in the 

 fall, which I attribute to the way they 

 have of keeping quiet when there is 

 nothing for them to do in the fields, 

 but when the busy season arrives they 

 just "get there" every time. 



In concluding these remarks permit 

 me to say that I am in favor of Carni- 

 olan bees, but have nothing in the 

 line for sale, as I keep bees for exper- 

 iment and honey only. Yours truly, 

 T. I. Dugdale. 



West Galway, X. Y., April 7, 1891. 



Ed. Am. Bee Keeper, Dear Sir : 

 I find on page 73 of the Bee-Keeper 

 the name of James Andrews signed 

 to the reply to Mrs. Axtell in regard 

 to "Ants in the Apiary." This is an 

 error. It should be signed John An- 

 drews. I therefore wish you to men- 

 tion the mistake as there is a James 

 Andrews living here and he may be 

 annoyed with letters. 



In addition to what 1 said on page 

 73 I wish to say that I have found the 

 white or refined oil to be more effect- 

 ive than the un-refined, and if thrown 

 into an ant hole no ants will come out 

 or go into that hole, but as ants come 

 to the bee yard to ileed on dead bees 

 it takes some patience to keep them 

 down. Yours respectfully, 



John Andrews. 



Pattens Mills, N. Y., May 13, 1891. 



