THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



59 



For the American Apiculturist. 



A COLD WINTER. 



C. \V. Daytox. 



My Fahr. thermometer that has 

 hung on the outside of the house in 

 the shade for five or six years past 

 indicated as the coldest temperature 

 reached in the winter of 1 880-1, 

 34° below zero, 1881-2, 34° below, 

 1882-3, Z(^° below, 1883-4, 2>Z^° 

 below, 1884 and 5, 36° below, 1885- 

 6, 37° below, 1886-7 ^^P to and on 

 Jan. 8, 48° below. In Dec, 1886, 

 it reaches 37° below. I am certain 

 of the foregoing temperatures being 

 the coldest except in 1883 when 

 some reported it down to 40° below. 

 Bradford, O. 



For the American Apiciilturist. 



THE HANDY BOOK EIGHT 

 AFTER ALL. 



C. C. Miller. 



Marevgo, III. 



Friend Ai.lky : From what you 

 j-ay I suspect that if I had not been 

 too .Inzy or too self conceited to fol 

 low all your instructions I might 

 have found no need to change your 

 plan of destroying alternate cells. 

 But that's too often the way ; in fol- 

 lowing out a plan given by some 

 one else, we change something that 

 looks like a little thing to us, but 

 which at the same time is essential, 

 and then when we fail put the 

 blame where it does not belong. 



Ilulbertj, Mo. 

 Mr. Alley : 



I thoiiglit I would write a few lines. 

 Our bees liad a good flight Jan. 19. 

 There is no snow here. My honey 

 tooii tlie premumi at the fair last fall. 

 Father lias about 550 acres of land, 

 and lust fall 25 acres of npple trees 

 were set out. We have 15 acres of 

 bearing apple trees. The apple crop 

 was liglitliist season. 



Please send me a sample copy of 

 the "American x\picnliurist." Saw 

 your advertisement in ''Am. Bee Jour- 

 ual." 



Paul M, FitANCis, age It. 



and Answers by Practical Apiarists. 



ORIGINATION OF THE BLACK AND 

 THE BROWN GEHMAN BEES. 



Query No. 11. I read often of 

 the black bee and the broAvn German 

 bee ; what is the ditl'erence between the 

 same if any, and the oi'igin of both? 

 If the above question can be answered 

 at all, data must be given in support of 

 the answer, else I shall be as much in 

 the dai'k as now. C. B. 



ANSWERS BY DR. TINKER. 



There is no difference between 

 the common l)lack bees and the so- 

 called brown Gernmn. Slight 

 ditference in markings and devel- 

 opment of colonies is observable 

 in all the races of bees. There is 

 said to be a small black bee, a grey 

 bee and the large brown German ; 

 but tl.ey each seem to have only a 

 distinction without a diffierence, 

 since all have had a common origin 

 and all the black bees in this coun- 

 try came from a few stocks brought 

 over bom England by the fathers 

 in the seventeenth century, the 

 first being brought in the Mayflower 

 in 1620. They were Englisli black 

 bees \\hose presumed origin on the 

 continent of Europe in a Aery re- 

 mote period is involved in as great 

 a mystery as the origin of man 

 himself. The term ''German" as 

 applied to black bees is based 

 wlioUy on a presumption that the 

 race of black bees originated in 

 Germany, which may or may not 

 have been the fact. A more ap- 

 propriate name would be "English 

 brown bees." 



ANSWERS BY C. W. DAYTON. 



The German bees first came 

 from Germany ; and, like the Ital- 

 ians in their native countiy, some 

 are brown and others are so dark 

 brown as to be nearly black. Some 

 persons have darker complexions 

 than others, not because they are 



