'J'UE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



65 



[For tho Ampriran Rcp .Idurnal.l ' 



! 



Experience of u Novice in Bec-Iteeping ; 



No. 7. 1 



J)kau Bei: Juuknal : — I do iint know !iow I 

 (.an beUer mlercst.your leaders in lliis miinbev 

 I hall byanswcriugul leiifflli a number of queries 

 IVoni 11 eoriejpoudeut. lie pays : 



"III perusing the Bee JouunaI/ I obs(;rved 

 your article wriUeii on bee-culture, and as I am 

 a bee-keeper, and u sort, of novice at tlial, I 

 thought I would take tho liberty of -writing to 

 you/ 



Mrs^t. — The main question I wish to know is 

 this : Do beos build combs true in the Langstroth 

 hive ? Some say that bees will not build combs 

 true in any frame uuleis there is a piece of guide 

 comb jmt in." 



I have never used guide rombs, and have 

 never had a hive that I could not remove the 

 combs from readily, allhough in one or two cases 

 I have found it necessary to bend tho combs 

 diglitly when they.had started them a little otT. 

 And as I ahyay^Cswarm artificially, I usually 

 give the new s\*arm two frames ready filled 

 from the old stock, as a start. 



In the improved form of the American hive, 

 A\ liich I amusing now, I have yet to learn of a 

 failure in that respect, without an}' care what- 

 ever. 



" Second. — What do you think of the Ital- 

 ians?" 



I have tliu^ far found them fully up to all that 

 is claimed for them, with perhaps the single 

 exception of red clover. It is true tliej^ are 

 found on it to some extent, but in the last two 

 seasons, one of which was very wet and this 

 one very diy, I have not been able to discover j 

 any increase in weight of their hives while it | 

 was in bloom, and it is quite plenty about here. I 



" Third. — Do you think they can be kept to j 

 much advantage where the black bee exists in i 

 great numbers V j 



If you are going to allow your bees to swarm ' 

 naturally, perhaps not. But if you practice 

 artilicial swarming (by far the most profitable ! 

 way), I think I can show you clearly that there [ 

 is no difllcullj' at all, although there is so much ] 

 said and written to the contrary. [ 



One person in particular, a JSilr. T. B. Jliuer, j 

 editor of the Rural American, I think cjuite ' 

 needlessly exposes his ignorance or something 

 worse, by making the assertion that the Italian i 

 bees cannot be kept pure unless on an island or ; 

 similar place, and that all who claim to the | 

 ••onlrary have queens for sale and are cheats ; 

 and swindlers. ' j 



To illustrate, we Avill suppose that a person • 

 fliets a pure queen to start with, that there are a 

 riundred or more black swarms in a circuit of a 

 mile or two around him, and that he has a j 

 uozen or more hives of black bees himself. 

 The lirst year he can easily supply them all 

 ■♦Pith queens from the ori-ginal stock, which ! 

 r.anuot'any of them be less than hybrid, (-(lually ' 

 »« valuable as honey producers as the old queen, i 

 And so on, as long as she lives (throe or four 



years), he can easily raise all his queens from 

 her; and it would be very strange indeed if 

 some of her progeny di<l not mate Avith Italian 

 drones, and be prejjared to take iier place io 

 furnish queens, as all the drones produced llui.s 

 far must he pure Italians, l)esides coming out 

 tvvo or three weeks earlier tiiiiu the common 

 ones in the spring. 



Simply bear in mind that .•>/> l/^nf/ <tn we, nciar, 

 all our quceiiK from, one cf knovn purity, ire ran. 

 have nothinfjiaore impure than hyhridx.^ and vei-j' 

 soon a large pvoportiim as pure as the original. 



In my case I bad three pure queens the lirst 

 year, out of about eigliiecn raised ; and one of 

 them produced a progeny that, besides having 

 the three bands fully marked, were even brighter 

 colored than those from the original queen. 

 And as my old queen was lost last winter, I 

 selected this one, from which I have raised all 

 my queens this year, I think it even possible, 

 to raise one thousand queens from one pure one 

 in a single year, if necessary. 



Another fact : although we have black bees 

 on all sides, some only a few^ rods away, I have 

 not been able j'et to find one whose; queen liad 

 met any of my diones. At least the' worker 

 progeny does not show it ; and it is my opinion 

 that neither queens nor drones ordinarily go as 

 far from the hive as the few cases we have heard 

 of, when queens were rai.sed at a season of the 

 year when drones were very scarce. 



The pres'ent year when we had drones in 

 great number, the young ([ueens made but few 

 excursions, and were gone but a short time in 

 being fertilized, in comparison with last year, 

 when we bad but few drones 



'■'■Fourth. — There is so much written about 

 this one and that one having impure queens, 

 &c., that 1 hardly know whether to purchase 

 any or not. Langstroth says that all pure 

 Italian Avorliers show three distinct yellow 

 bands, and Quinb_y says that they show only 

 one when empty. Now, do your Italian bees 

 show three yellow bands when empty, or do 

 they show only one ? " 



My Italians assuredly show tJiree yellow bauds 

 at all times ; and not only the pure ones, but 

 nianj'' of the hybrids also ; so much so that I 

 should call some of thcni pure were it not for 

 their temper. 



'■'•Fifth. — Professor Varro thinks Quinby's 

 slocic improve, and Quinby says hi.s. slock of 

 Italian bees is from Langstroth's. , According 

 to that neither had ])ure stock. For my part I 

 hardlyknow whereto get a pure Italian queen. 

 What is your opinion as to where I can get the 

 genuine Italian bee ? " 



I should advise you to send to ]\Iii, Langstroth 

 by all means. Not only that he is perfectly re- 

 lialde and trustAvorthy in every riaspect, but 

 that 1 think all bee-keepers shoulff" remember 

 him with gratitude, as being the one who alone 

 introduceil movable frames and raised bee 

 keeping from v.hat it Avas a fcAV years ago to its 

 present advanced state. Let each one stnve if 

 possible not to have it said, as it has been many 

 times before, that our great original inventors 

 never receive the credit or benefit of their in 

 veutions. Who that has read Langstroth' a 



