63 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



few swarms, and no spare honey. In fact bees 

 need feeding now. The early part of the honey 

 season was wet and cold, and the latter part too 

 diy. I hope it may be made np in the fall. 



Most of the drones were destroyed in IMay 

 already, and queens have nearly stopped laying. 



]Many persons are going to sow Alsike clover 

 seed for honey and hay. If I had a supply of 

 seed to sell on commission, I could probably dis- 

 pose of it. 



Joel Curtis. 



Raleigh, N.C. 



[For the American Bee Joarnal.] 



Tlie Yellow Bees and the Black. 



I have watched, with deep interest, the con- 

 troversy going on in the Bee Journals of the day, 

 in regard to Italian bees ; and have endeavored 

 to read the pros and cons of Italians vs. black 

 bees without prejudice, and have thus far kept 

 silent. 



As far as my experience and observation ex- 

 tend, I find that some individual buys a colony 

 of Italians, and his first thought then is — " How 

 shall I handle them so as to reap a small fortune 

 from them in the shortest space of time?" To 

 begin : if he has a few jDounds of broken honey 

 the Italians get it ; if he has two or three frames 

 of choice empty combs, suitable for brood, the 

 favorite yellow bees are the recipients of it, and 

 his inferior blacks are left to starve it out. The 

 result in each case cannot be doubtful. The 

 feeding the Italians have received stimulated 

 them, they increase rapidly, and the timely 

 addition of two or three frames of nice empty 

 worker comb places them weeks ahead of the 

 neglected blacks, and makes a grand difference 

 in the results of the season. 



TAventy-five years ago we thought a box hive, 

 planed, painted, with two boxes on the top, a 

 grand advance in bee-keeping. Then came the 

 sectional hive, with one box on the top of 

 another, and slats between, which was farther 

 followed by a host of other bee traps. But light 

 broke in on all when the movable frame came 

 into use, and bee-keeping then became a pleasure 

 instead of an annoyance. 



From a child I had a passion for bees, and 

 have tried to keep posted on the various improve- 

 ments in hives and methods of handling them. 



When I say that I have the finest apiary in 

 this part of the State, I do not say it to boast, 

 but to show you the result of carefully dividing 

 bees year after year. 



In all my colonies there is hardly a hive that 

 has more than five frames over one year old. 

 For five years past I have endeavored to divide 

 my swarms and renew one-half of the combs 

 each year, dividing them up among the new colo- 

 nies, and cutting out all combs that became 

 thick and discolored, treating my black and yel- 

 low bees alike. I believe that I was impartial. 



I never did and do not now believe that the 

 Italians, under the same treatment for a term of 

 years, will do one wldt better than the blacks. 



"And what is the result of your constant 



division?" says some one. The result is this: I 

 have secured a stock of bees which for size, hardi- 

 ness and working capacity cannot be excelled by 

 anything that stores honey, whether coming 

 from Italy, Switzerland, Egypt, or any other 

 country. They will reach the honey in any cup 

 that an Italian can ; will be found on the wing 

 as early, and retire as late ; will send out as 

 many workers to the frame ; will store as many 

 pounds or boxes of surplus honey as any others 

 in the same locality. 



In fair and impartial experiments my black 

 bees have done the best, two years out of three. 



I am willing to admit that if you neglect your 

 blacks ; keep them in old almost worthless 

 combs ; and divide your Italians ; keep their 

 combs new and clean ; give them the broken 

 honey, &c., they will prove by far the most 

 profitable. 



The first colonies of Italians that were imported 

 from Europe were costly, and the increase were 

 quite naturally sold at high prices, and of course 

 the market price for them ranged high. The 

 price was such that those who had Italians 

 divided them constantly, and but very few colo- 

 nies were allowed to pass over the season with- 

 out being divided, and one half or more of the 

 combs being removed. The natural result was 

 a large, hardy, energetic race of bees. But had 

 an equal number of black colonies been imported 

 at the same time, and treated exactly alike in 

 every respect, I am safe to say that they would 

 to-day have numbered as many colonies ; would 

 have accumulated as great stores, and given 

 their owners as great an ainount of surplus 

 honey, and proved themselves quite as profitable. 



Such, and such only, I believe to be the true 

 facts in this question — axe grinders to the con- 

 trary notwithstanding. 



Let a man go into the street of every town 

 and argue that one out of three men whose arms 

 are just two feet five inches long, each, covild 

 reach two feet seven inches into an iron tube, 

 while the other two could not, and he would be 

 called a lunatic. Yet this is just the position 

 taken by those who advocate that a yellow bee 

 can get honey from red clover, while a black bee 

 cannot. More anon. 



Old Fogy. 



Lake City, July 24, 1871. 



Bee Superstitions in Prance. 



In Brittnny, if a person who keeps bees has 

 his hives robbed, he gives them up immediately, 

 because they never can succeed afterwards. 

 This idea arises from an old Breton proverb, 

 which says, being translated, '■^ No luck after the 

 robber.''^ But why the whole weight of the 

 proverb is made to fall on the bee-hives, it 

 might be difficult to determine. 



In other parts of France, they tie a small 

 piece of black stuft' to the bee-hives, in case of a 

 death in the family ; and a piece of red on the 

 occasion of a marriage — without which, it is be- 

 lieved, the bees would never thrive. 



