132 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Keep them warm, and 3d, Give them 

 plenty of sealed honey to winter on. 

 I believe the first two are best obtain- 

 ed by an outside packing case. I put 

 it on about the first of October and 

 do not take it off until June. For 

 packing I use wheat chaff, pressing- 

 it down as hard as I can. I have 

 been experimenting some with the 

 chaff cushion and the scaled cover. 

 and have decided in favor of the 

 latter. Cushions over the bees gather 

 dampness in the spring. I shall not 

 use them next spring but will have 

 the bees ready for winter early in 

 October, when they will seal the covers 

 down tight. Then I will put on the 

 outside case and put the chaff over 

 the cover to the depth of from four 

 to six inches. My cases are four 

 inches higher than the hive, and I 

 make sure the roofs do not leak. 



I am using the Dovetailed hive and 

 like it better every year. The first 

 lot I purchased of the Falconer Mfg 

 Co. This year I had frames and ship- 

 ping cases from the same firm, and 

 they are satisfactory in every respect. 

 The work is good and the lumber is 

 good ; two things that delight the 

 bee-keeper when the box of supplies 

 is opened. When asked where to send 

 for supplies I always say " Falconers. " 



I also use the bee escape and think 

 it one of the finest things ever invent- 

 ed for the bee-keeper. It is nothing 

 but fun to take off the supers and 

 carry them to the honey room free 

 from bees. 



I had seventeen colonies in the 

 spring and have now thirty three. 

 I had a number of swarms in May, 

 and by feeding a little after fruit 

 bloom they were ready to work on 

 Basswood. 



Canastota, N. Y. 



Fixed or Original Races, 

 Fall Workj Etc, 



BY S. P. RODDY. 



As to the Italian honey bee not be- 

 ing an original or fixed race I beg to 

 differ with Mr. Watkins of Califor- 

 nia, as given in the American Bee- 

 Keeper of March last 



A short time ago I noticed an ar- 

 ticle from the German by Mr. Roese 

 of Wisconsin, which established the 

 fact that the honey bee was exten- 

 sively cared for as far back as the 

 seventh century. Twenty thousand 

 colonies are said to have been at that 

 time in the small territory of Attica, 

 to such a degree indeed had apicul- 

 ture advanced in those remote ages. We 

 are not definitely informed, it is true, 

 what race of bees was thus cared for 

 in that country, which was the most 

 learned and advanced of the then 

 known world. Did they cultivate the 

 Albino, the Punic, Carniolan, "or 

 bees bred for business, etc." AVe 

 think not. These are claimed to be 

 something new in our clay. Those 

 refined and learned people certainly 

 had the most superior original race of 

 bees, which is verified by the re- 

 nowned Latin poet, Virgil, as being 

 our present standard Italian honey 

 bee. It is well known that at the 

 foundation of the Roman Empire all 

 that was worth borrowing from the 

 Grecian code of laws of Solon — all the 

 arts of war, sciences, the knowledge of 

 Horticulture and Apiculture, in fact, 

 all that would in any way assist in 

 making Rome the mistress of the 

 world, was gathered into Italy by the 

 Romans, and here it was that Virgil, 

 while engaged in farming and Api- 

 culture a short distance from the city 



