238 



THE AMERICAN APICULTUlilST. 



ANSWERS BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



1. My bees are left undisturbed till 

 after the first killing frost which may 

 not come in this climate till the first of 

 November. 



2. No, I have experimented with 

 the Syrians, though I have some ac- 

 quaintance with them. 



3. I think so. Since the "three 

 yellow bands" are common to the Ital- 

 ians, Cyprians and Syrians, they are of 

 no use to distinguish these varieties 

 one fi'om the other. We must look 

 further. The much tallied of" shield " 

 as a distinguishing feature is too ob- 

 scure a mark for practical purposes. 

 The only "mark" by which I can dis- 

 tinguish the Cyprians from the Italians 

 is the color of the underside of the ab- 

 domen. The underside of the abdomen 

 of the imported Italian is markeil with 

 alternate veins of black and yellow the 

 black or dark color predominating; 

 while the under part of the abdomen 

 of the imported Cyprian is nearly a 

 solid yellow color. If I am correct in 

 this, we have a " standard " by which 

 we may know the Italian from the Cy- 

 prian. But how about the mixed races ? 

 As to the " actions and qualities" of 

 the several races, that is a matter of 

 experience and close observation. 

 I think that I could judge correctly 

 what race I was handling by their " ac- 

 tions " regardless of any distinguishing 

 marks. But this is simply a matter of 

 practice. 



I would suggest that a breeders' club 

 be organized in the United States and 

 proceed to mature a system by which 

 purchasers of queens and bees, and 

 breeders themselves, may be protected 

 from imposition. 



4. I am not prepared to give my 

 opinion on this subject as the matter 

 presents itself to me. I am more con- 

 cerned about developing the home mar- 

 kets throughout the country than I 

 can feel concerning the city trade. Cre- 

 ate a demand for honey in the villages, 

 at the farm houses, in the families of 

 the mechanics. Induce the confec- 

 tioner to ofier to the " sweet" loving 

 children pure honey instead of the vile 

 painted cheats sold as candy and the 

 city trade will be all right. 



5. I really believe I have. To my 

 satisfaction, I have learned to control 

 increase by producing my surplus 

 honey with queenless bees. I l)elieve 

 that i have set afoot asystem that will 

 revolutionize the present methods of 



management in the apiary. My experi- 

 ments in this line will be given in de- 

 tail in the bee papers. 



When hiving a swarm of bees remove 

 the cover of the hive, raise the quilt and 

 pour a cup full of bees — dipped from 

 the cluster — on top of the frames and 

 drop the quilt on them. They will run 

 down the frames with a loud roar which 

 will attract the bees on the outside and 

 the latter will literally pour into the 

 hive. This little stratagem has saved 

 me considerable time when hiving 

 slothful swarms. 



Christiansburg , Ky. 



ANSAVKRS BY J E. POND, JR. 



1. I first examine into the condition 

 of every colony, and see that they all 

 have stores enough on which to winter. 

 I then about the middle of the month 

 crowd the bees on to the smallest num- 

 ber of combs they can cover filling the 

 space left with division boards. By 

 the first of November at least, I pick 

 my bees for the coming winter, and 

 then leave them to their fate with the 

 mode of winter preparation I have used 

 for fifteen or more years. I have no fear 

 for results, as during that time I have 

 not lost a single full colony, and I win- 

 ter exclusively on summer stands. 



2. I have had no Syrian nor Holy 

 Land bees. 



3. Prior to the introduction of the 

 new yellow races, a standard for the 

 Italians was possible, but since their 

 introduction, I think it doubtful. We 

 shall have to depend largely upon the 

 moral probity of queen breeders for 

 our knowledge in I'egard to the matter. 



4. I have not given the matter suffi- 

 cient thought to enable me to express 

 opinion that would be of any value. 



5. I have begun, and partially con- 

 cluded several experiments that I have 

 thought might prove beneficial, but 

 have not been able this season to con- 

 clude them satisfactorily to myself. 



I shall continue them another year, 

 and hope to be able to determine posi- 

 tively, some questions that are now 

 somewhat in douot. 



P.S. I believe fully that producers 

 of honey have stood in their own light 

 by trying to rush their products on the 

 market, in order to get ahead of some 

 one else. What we need more than 

 anything is a New England Beekeep- 

 ers' Association, well ofliccred, and 

 composed of men who will endeavor 

 to mutually protect themselves. 



