THE A M ERIC AN BEE-KEEPER. 



95 



bly suppose is not the case. History 

 states that bees were introduced into 

 Italy first from Egypt, and that while 

 the Italian bees radically differ from 

 theEgyptian beesof today, these chang- 

 es are doubtless owing to the natural out- 

 growth of the climatic changes and 

 different methods of handling. 



By a new ruling the importation of 

 queens into this country by mail is 

 prohibited, and they are subject to a 

 duty of 20 per cent, ad valorem when 

 sent any other way. This practically 

 prohibits the importation of queens this 

 season. Nothing can be dime to help 

 matters at present, but Prof. Cook will 

 make a personal appeal to the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, so soon as he can 

 find an opportunity to do so, which 

 will probably be about the middle of 

 August. We trust lie will succeed in 

 having the ruling changed. 



The weather during the past six- 

 weeks has been exceedingly dry and 

 cold in this locality, so that 'bees have 

 done very little. They began brood- 

 rearing several weeks ago and were 

 doing nicely until along came the cold 

 snap, with the mercury down below 

 freezing several nights, killing from 

 two to four frames of brood in each 

 hive. Apple trees and some other 

 fruit trees are now in full bloom and 

 the bees are getting a nice start again, 

 and are storing some surplus. There 

 is still an excellent out look for a good 

 huiiey season. 



We are in receipt of a new mailing 

 and introducing queen cage from the 

 Messrs. Dewey, of Wesifield, Mass. It 

 is of a diamond sh;q>e and has four 

 compartments, one of which is filled 

 with candy. Into this compartment 



are three J in. entrances from the out- 

 side-, so that in introducing the queen 

 can be more quickly liberated. It 

 seems to us to be a very safe and cheap 

 cage. It weighs less than one ounce. 

 We are al-o in receipt of a sample 

 cage from Jenkins & Parker, Wet- 

 utnpka, Ala,, which has some ven <le- 

 sirable points. 



G. M. Doolittle, in the Mkmuri Bee- . 

 Keeper, gives some very reasonable 

 ideas concerning the purity of the Ital- 

 ian bees. He thinks, and backs his 

 opinions with good arguments, that 

 the Italians are but a hybrid race after 

 all and that the original races are the 

 Egyptian, Cyprian and German bees. 

 This is in line with our arguments con- 

 cerning the purity of the Carniolan 

 bees. 



Judging from the circular which our 

 friend E. L. Pratt sends out he has at 

 last found the ne phi* ultra of the hon- 

 ey bee in his so-called Punic bee's. If 

 we are to believe all that is written of 

 them they embrace all the good quali- 

 ties which we have been looking for so 

 long, including that of being practi- 

 cally non-stinging and have no bad 

 qualities. 



The A. B. J. for May 21st contains 

 a description of the swarm hiver in- 

 vented by Mr. Petrie, which was illus- 

 trated and described in the Am. Bee- 

 Keepee several months ago. The A. 

 B.J. has the illustration up side-down, 

 ami we doubt if many of its readers 

 will be able to make much out of it. 



We are in receipt of the 1890 annu- 

 al report of the Lancashire and Ches- 

 hire Bee-Keeper's Association (Eng- 

 land) through the kindness of Col. 

 Heme. It contains a list of 503 mem- 

 bers. 



