114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



[From the (Albany) Country Gentleman.] 



Egyptian Bees. 



As several have lately made inquiry about 

 the Egyptian bee in your columns, I will, for 

 their gratification, give the facts I am in pos- 

 session of. Early in 18G6, Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 strotli honored me by consigning to my care 

 some Egyptian queens he had ordered from the 

 Berlin Acclimatization Society. It so liap- 

 pened that on their arrival Mr. L. was in New 

 York, and took charge of them. They arrived 

 in fair condition; but I do not know what suc- 

 cess he had in propogating from them. The 

 first week in September last, I had more con- 

 signed to me for Mr. Langstroth, and they ar- 

 rived in perfect condition. On the 28th, I re- 

 ceived two nuclei on my own account, and 

 have been successful in introducing queens. I 

 will rear a few queens this season to test their 

 progeny. Mr. W. W. Cary, of Coleraine, 

 Mass., has an interest in this importation, and 

 he has assisted me in their management. I 

 mention this fact as it will give confidence to 

 all who know his high reputation, that every 

 exertion will be made to breed them in purity, 

 which will be done in an apiary five miles from 

 iiis Italian stock. Mr. Gary's success in breed- 

 ing Italians pure is owing to his great care, and 

 very favorable location — his large and constant 

 sales to other breeders show their high appre- 

 ciation of his stock. 



I can only write of the appearance of the 

 Egyptians, having had but little experience with 

 them. They are smaller than the Italian, but 

 of similar markings. The Avorkers have a 3^el- 

 low spot on the back, partially masked by hair, 

 but brilliant when the hair is wet and laid. 

 Their abdominal rings being fringed Avith white 

 hair, and the black being more glossy, gives 

 stronger contrast of color, and I think, would 

 be pronounced by all more beautiful than the 

 Italian. The drones are handsome, the poste- 

 rior portion of the abdomen being heavily 

 fringed. I have seen some Italian queens hand- 

 somer than the Egyptian queens I now have, 

 but reserve my opinion until I have seen more 

 of them. As to Mrs. Tupper's test of an Italian 

 queen's purity, "duplicating herself" in her 

 queen progeny, I have no faith in it, for every 

 close observer knows that the native black 

 queens vary very much in size and color, where 

 there was no possibility of any admixture of 

 foreign blood; and we have yet to learn how 

 much may be done by careful selection of queens 

 for breeding. I have a few live specimens and 

 some in alcohol, now on exhibition at the fair 

 of the American Institute. 



European writers describe the Egyptian bee 

 as being less docile than the Italian, which may 

 be owing to not fully understanding their habits 

 and how to handle them. Prof. Vogel, who 

 lias had the largest experience with them, finds 

 no difllculty, and I apprehend none. Their 

 industry and fertility, and all other points, can 

 be fully tested next season. No one can fail to 

 be charmed with their beauty. — Ehrick Parmly^ 

 New York. 



For the American Bee Journsl. 



Building Combs and Storing Honey. 



Editok Jouenal: — Rees will commence at 

 the base of frames of a certain size to construct 

 combs. About the middle of July last, I put 

 on my hives a number of boxes containing each 

 fourteen frames, each nine inches deep, with 

 the top slat provided with the usual triangular 

 strip, but without any guide-combs, nor did I 

 rub them with beeswax. The result was that 

 in four-fifths of these boxes, thus put on for 

 surplus honey, the combs were built from the 

 bottom upAvards, in the usual shape, with the 

 exception that the combs thus built Avere from 

 two to three inches thick and very irregular. 



Another class of frames Avas six and a half 

 inches deep, but precisely similar in all other 

 respects. All of these contained good-shaped 

 combs, built in the usual Avay. Now, as I am 

 a subscriber for your most A^aluable Journal, 

 and have perused its pages in vain for some- 

 thing on the subject, giving tlie experience of 

 others, I have been led to try a number of ex- 

 periments, and have come to the conclusion 

 that more surplus houcy can be obtained by the 

 use of a set of shallow frames than can bo ob- 

 tained in the same length of time, from a hive 

 arranged Avith a crown board on which four or 

 six small boxes are placed. And for this rea- 

 son: the croAvn-board has atendency to confine 

 the animal heat, too much to the bee-chamber 

 below. Bees require a certain aniount of ani- 

 mal heat to enable them to build comb after the 

 Avax has been secreted in tne rings of the abdo- 

 men, and there is a deficiency of this heat in 

 the surplus boxes thus placed. 



I have used t-he Langstroth movable comb 

 hive for several years, and found that though 

 with the crown-board and small box arrange- 

 ment, I had very populous colonies with the 

 beG-ciiamber Avell-stored Avith the precious nec- 

 tar, still from some unknown cause, the bees 

 frequently failed to store surplus honey in the 

 top boxes. I am aware it Avill be said that 

 some of the requisite conditions were Avanting. 

 I have not been without bees for the last six- 

 teen years, and for some seven years past, I 

 have been a tolerably close observer; and if any 

 of the needed conditions were wanting, I haA^e 

 not been able to discover it. 



The best mode of securing surplus honey 

 should engross the attention of the bee-keeping 

 public. I would not be understood as discourag- 

 ing the propagation of the Italian and other 

 varieties of the honey bee, the multiplication of 

 colonies, &c. That is all right and projier, and 

 just as it should be, for very much depends on 

 it. It is in fact one of the essential elements of 

 success. The principles of apiculture have been 

 as well defined as they could be; but the prac- 

 tice is still in its infancy, at least in the western 

 and northwestern States. 



James McMullen. 



OSKALOOSA, Iowa. 



The construction of the combs of a bee-hivO is 

 a miracle which overwhelms our faculties. 



KlfiBY. 



