Italian queen, if pure, is a mark of 

 perfection, for the simple reason that 

 good nursing, plenty of food and heat, 

 develop the brightest queens. So the 

 bright color seems to be a mark of 

 perfection. 



CYPRIAN BEES. 



If Cyprians are better than Italians, 

 let us have them ; if not discard them 

 at once, as .they will adulterate our 

 fine Italians. I had 2 last season, that 

 when tested, proved to be worthless. 



Camargo, 111. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Shade for Hives— Wintering, &c. 



BY J. H. MUKDOCK. 



I had 51 colonies last spring; took 

 1,500 lbs. of comb honey, 100 lbs. of 

 extracted and 15 lbs. of wax from them, 

 besides 18 colonies of increase. These 

 I have now put up in boxes packed in 

 shavings, for the winter (a model of 

 which I have sent you,) all have plenty 

 of stores, and I feel sure they will come 

 out strong in the spring. 



I see that a correspondent, says that 

 bees need no shade. It may be that 

 with the chaff hive, he does not need 

 any, but with a single-walled hive, they 

 need shade, if you wish to keep down 

 the swarming fever. I have used a 

 cloth shade for 3 or 4 years. I take H 

 yards of cotton cloth a yard wide, hem 

 the ends, putting on some loops made 

 of number 20 annealed wire on each 

 corner, large enough to go over the ends 

 of stakes, get some strips of waste lum- 

 ber 1 or H inches wide, cut them into 

 strips about 4 feet long, sharpen one 

 end, and drive 4 of them into the 

 ground around the hive to hold the 

 cloth and keep the sun from the hive 

 from 9:30 a.m. till 4 p.m. I have tried 

 grape vine shade, and trees, but like the 

 cloth best. These shades will cost about 

 10 cents each and will last 5 years. I 

 take them in before it rains, and in 

 cloudy weather. 



WINTER QUARTERS. 



To prepare a hive for winter, I bore a 

 H inch hole in the center of the back 

 end of the hive, 3 inches from bottom, 

 take off the cap and boxes, and place 

 over the frames a quilt made thus : 

 Take 4 strips lxll inches and make a 

 frame the same size of the hive, 1 inch 

 high, putting 2 or 3 strips i inch square 

 through the center of the frame to cross 

 the frames in the hive, to let the bees 

 run under them ; fasten these up even 

 with the top of the frame ; put on two 

 thickness of cotton cloth ; bringing it 

 over the edge of frame, tacking it all 



around ; put this on the frames, and the 

 hive is ready for the box. 



The box for winter quarters is made 

 thus: Have the sides, bottom, top, 

 front and back made independent of 

 each other. The front is 6 inches 

 higher than the back, and the sides 

 slant to fit. This box is made of rough 

 lumber, except the cover or roof, which 

 is planed on top and the cracks covered 

 with planed lath and painted. The 

 cover is 8 inches long and 6 inches wider 

 than the top of the box. The tube is 

 li inches in diameter with a I hole and 

 6 inches long. The alighting board is 

 made of a 2x4 and cut 6 inches long ; 

 run this crossways, to give the board a 

 pitch and it will keep dry. Drive 2 

 nails without heads, half way into the 

 thick part ; make 2 holes in the box 

 under the tube to correspond with the 

 nails, so that it can be placed on any 

 box. These should be painted different 

 colors, to prevent the queen or bees 

 from mistaking their hives. 



I get shavings from the planing mill 

 which lie closer together than those 

 made by hand. Four cents will pay for 

 a barrel of them, which will pack one 

 hive. The space around the sides of 

 the hive is 4 inches ; and 6 inches above 

 and below. 



I have used them for 5 or 6 years and 

 have never lost a colony in wintering. 

 I have made 45 of such boxes this fall. 

 They cost about $1.00 each, and will 

 last, 10 years. 



Dexter, Mich. 



[The model is placed in our Museum, 

 and we confidently await the result of 

 the present severe winter. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Imported Italian Queens. 



BY AARON BENEDICT. 



By my experience as well as information 

 received from Italians and those who have 

 visited Italy, I conclude that nearly all the 

 bees there are crossed with the blacks. In 

 some districts they may be lighter. Select- 

 ing such to breed from would save years of 

 lanor in improving the race. 1 would not 

 breed from an imported queen, unless she 

 was far above the average of those now sent 

 to this country. 



My opinion of the markings of pure-bred 

 Italians is that a queen should produce 

 workers all having three distinct yellow 

 bands, and duplicate herself. 



If we rear queens from one that produce 

 all shades from black to three-banded work- 

 ers—should the bees take larva that would 

 have been a black worker, to rear a queen 

 from, it will be black ; if they take larvae 

 that would have produced a three-banded 

 worker, then the queen will be light-colored. 



Bennington, Ohio. 



