38 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



cans, and it is certainly' my opinion that 

 tliey are sucli. 



I would not claim tliat tliere could be 

 no improvement, and would be sorry 

 to have this idea go out from this con- 

 vention to discourage all the attempts 

 tliat have been and are being made to 

 introduce these new races of bees. 

 All honor is due to those who will leave 

 their homes and go to foreign lands to 

 secure to us those different races of 

 bees, and I believe that we appreci- 

 ate their eftbrts. 



Silas M. Locke.- — While with Mr. 

 Jones I discovered that the Holy Lnnds 

 and Cyprians work farther from the 

 apiary than do the other races, and that 

 they will work striving to obtain lioney 

 when there is a houey dearth. There 

 was, quite near the apiary, a little 

 patchof red clover which, being in rich 

 soil, had grown very rank and with 

 large heads. During an abundant flow 

 of white clover honey we noticed the 

 Holy Land bees working in numbers 

 on this red clover, and in their eflbrts 

 to secure the nectar they would force 

 their heads into the corolla tubes; 

 then came the continued pulsation of 

 the abdomen which showed that they 

 were filling with honey, and they would 

 visit but a few heads of clover before 

 returning to the hive. 



Mr. IsHAM. — We want the bees that 

 will gather the most honey, whether 

 they be Italians, Cyprians or blacks. 

 We wish to give the black bee credit 

 foif all the merits it possesses. 



Mr. Balch. — I have had in my apiary 

 Cyprians, Italians and pure German 

 bees. I think the Italians superior. 

 I have found that my Italians come 

 through the winter stronger in the 

 spring than the native Germans, and 

 that the Germans were weaker in spring 

 than the others. 



Mr. Chapman. — I have tried the 

 pure Italians and find that they are 

 good. 



This was followed by 



Intuoducing Queens both Laying 

 AND Virgin. 



By J. P. H. BuowN. 



I AM not aware, from the records of 



apicultural history, that any attention 

 was ever paid to the interchange of 

 queens prior to the experiments of 



that greatest of investigators Iluber. 

 If there was, it was certainly not done 

 with a view to the improvement of the 

 race or condition of the bees. Huber 

 did it to ascertain the disposition and 

 behavior of worker bees toward strange 

 queens. 



The readiness with which a mother- 

 less colony of bees will accept a strange 

 queen, seems to depend, first, upon the 

 temper or disposition of the bees at 

 the time of her introduction; and. sec- 

 ond, upon the disposition of the queen 

 at tiie time of her release, or admission 

 to the bees. T\w secret of success de- 

 pends upon the degree ofJcnowledge and 

 tact the operator can bring to bear to- 

 ward controlling all feeling of antago- 

 nism, and reducing both bees and queen 

 to a state of pacitlcness. 



Every beekeeper of tlie most limited 

 experience knows that bees ditt'er ver^' 

 much in disposition. Some colonies 

 will accept a strange queen more read- 

 ily than others when the conditions, to 

 all appearances, are the same. Queens 

 dift'er also in disposition. Some are 

 more timid than others. When such 

 are released in a strange colony they 

 run and act in a manner that directs 

 the attention of the bees toward them 

 as strangers, and adds to their danger. 

 As a general thing, Cyprians, Syrians, 

 and hybrids, take to a strange queen 

 with greater reluctancethan either Ital- 

 ians or blacks.' Cyprian and Syrian 

 queens are wild and scary, and are con- 

 sequently not as readily received as 

 matronly Italian queens. The season 

 and condition of the colony also make a 

 great difference in the way of successful 

 introduction. When the bees are gath- 

 ering plentifully of honey, and working 

 with a vim, most any plan will succeed ; 

 but at times when they are idh;, they 

 seem to possess more perversity of dis- 

 position, and show more hostility to 

 strange queens. 



Notwithstanding I have introduced 

 my thousands of queens, and have tried 

 nearly every conceivable plan of doing 

 so, yet I fear I cannot otter anything 

 new, nor different frou) what you al- 

 ready know. I cannot boast as some 

 can, that they never have a failure. Any 

 plan is liable to fail at times when tlie 

 operator relaxes his vigilance, or ne- 

 glects to observe all the indications re- 

 done well known blnckbee wlii'-li -(vas oiig- 

 iiiiilly imported into this (^oiiiitrv IVoni Ger- 

 many, is now sometimes ternicii (icrinan bee. 

 Tliis'iipplication ot " German" as an adjei'.live 

 qualifying bee is correct; but" brown Ger- 

 man, "is not only farfetched, but is calculated 

 to mislead and deceive. 



