THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



139 



cessful in protecting their homes 

 against robbers. 



I think that had one-half of the 

 pains been taken to improve our 

 best native bees, that have been 

 taken to procure the foreign races, 

 we should have been fully as well 

 off as regards the general results. 



Of late years I have wintered my 

 bees in a frost-proof building, as I 

 have found it a great saving of 

 honey, and, at some future time I 

 will tell the friends, if they wish, 

 how this building is constructed, 

 so as to carry bees safely through 

 five months of as cold winter as 

 ever visited my section. 



I also consider that it is all 

 wrong to lose bees by having them 

 abscond when they swarm. I have 

 had more bees come to me than 

 ever I have lost in that way. Also, 

 practical knowledge has proven to 

 me that bees do not injure fruit 

 trees ; on the contrary, we have to 

 prop up our plum and peach trees 

 to keep them from breaking down 

 with the weight of fruit upon them, 

 and this right in our apiary. 



D. F. Lashier. 



Hooper^ Broome Co.,N. Y. 



Ed. of Am. Apicultukist : 

 Dear Sir, 



The Holyland bees have been the 

 subject of a great deal of comment, 

 and as I have had perhaps as ex- 

 tended an experience with that race 

 of bees, as any person in the state, 

 I take the liberty to offer to your 

 readers some facts that I have 

 gleaned from that experience. 



I was a near neighbor to Mr. D. 

 A. Jones of Beeton, Ont., when 

 he made his tirst importation of 

 bees into Canada, and I was for- 

 tunate enough to see that ship- 

 ment. Since that time I have 

 watched with considerable interest 



the various experiments that have 

 been tried with them, and have 

 read whatever has been written re- 

 garding their good or bad qualities 

 and I am led to believe by what 

 many persons say, that they never 

 have seen a pure Holyland bee. 

 It is a very easy matter to tell them 

 from the other races when once 

 you have become familiar Avith 

 their peculiar traits and markings. 



I fear that many parties, who 

 supposed that they were purchas- 

 ing pure Holylands, received noth- 

 ing but hybrids, and have been 

 deceived and disappointed. 



Last fall, I put twenty-four 

 colonies of Holyland bees into 

 winter quarters ; after they had 

 been in the cellar 164 days they 

 came out all right and every col- 

 ony went to work bringing in pol- 

 len from the willows, on the same 

 day that 1 set them out of the cel- 

 lar. 



Last season I put Holyland 

 queens in ten colonies for a Mr. 

 Fogg. I prepared them for him in 

 the fall and they are all doing 

 finely now. 



There is one colony in particular 

 to which I would call your atten- 

 tion. It was a good strong colony 

 with eight Gallup frames, and was 

 contracted and packed as for win- 

 ter. Upon examining it after it 

 had been on the summer stand 

 five days, I found that the queen 

 had the combs nearly full of eggs 

 and brood, and the bees had six 

 or seven queen cells well under 

 way. How is that for cold "down 

 east?" 



As regards their honey-gather- 

 ing qualities (which is a matter of 

 great importance to me), I have 

 found them unequalled by any bees 

 that I have tested, and I have 

 such faith in them that I make the 

 following offer : I have twenty 

 colonies of Holylands, and Holy- 

 lands mated with Italians that I 

 intend to run for section honey 



