910 



Nov. 1, 1906 



American Ttec Journal 



is a common experience here in Australia. 

 For the last 25 years Australian bee-keepers 

 have been importing and breeding from the 

 best Italian queens. There has been nothing 

 of the kind done with the blacks, which, with 

 a few exceptions, are doomed by every ad- 

 vanced bee-keeper. The only man we know 

 who was partial to black bees got an Italian 

 queen from us. He had it only a short time 

 when he came to complain that the bees from 

 the queen he had from us were robbing his 

 black colonies. From the care taken during 

 the past 25 years to rear good Italian queens, 

 we believe there are none superior to them 

 in any part of the world. 



The loss of 20 to 40 colonies of blacks, while 

 1 or 2 colonies of Italians survived under the 

 same conditions, though being regarded as 

 something a little exceptional, would by no 

 means be considered by the average American 

 bee-keeper in the same light as by Mr. Mac- 

 donald. Nevertheless it will not do to be too 

 hasty in condemning Mr. Macdonald as a 

 giddy-headed ignoramus. If any one may 

 judge from his frequent contributions to jour- 

 nals across the sea, he is a well-informed bee- 

 keeper of good head and heart. Evidently, 

 however, he does not take sufficiently into 

 consideration the difference expressed by that 

 sometimes abused, and yet ever-pervading 

 term, " locality." In Great Britain there 

 seems to be a division of opinion, some main- 

 taining that Italians are superior, but a large 

 number of intelligent men giving the palm to 

 the blacks. In this country there can hardly 

 be said to be any division of opinion. Per- 

 haps there is not an intelligent bee-keeper in 

 the land who wholly prefers black bees; and 



when for experimental purposes specimens of 

 pure blood are sought, the quest is a very 

 difficult one. 



It may not be easy to explain in all cases 

 why apparently conflicting testimony may be 

 true, but when witnesses known to be " good 

 men and true" appear on both sides, we are 

 bound to be charitable enough to accept both, 

 however the discrepancies may be reconciled 

 afterward. It is possible that the climate of 

 our British friends may have something to do 

 with the case. More likely, perhaps, it is a 

 difference in the strain of bees in the different 

 countries. There are some very poor Italian 

 bees as well as some very good ; and all blacks 

 are not alike. It lies easily within the range 

 of possibility that the first blacks introduced 

 into this country were inferior to the average 

 black bee in England, and the inferiority 

 might be expected to be perpetuated. 



There is still another consideration. On 

 account of the prevailing sentiment in favor 

 of the yellow bees in this country, intelligent 

 care of leading bee-keepers has been devoted 

 to keep up the standard and to improve it, 

 while the blacks have been allowed to sink 

 into " innocuous desuetude." Is it any won- 

 der that the gap between the two should have 

 grown wider, and that the same thing should 

 obtain, possibly in a still more marked degree, 

 in Australia? On the other hand, with chief 

 attention in England devoted to the blacks, 

 why should they not advance? 



" In all things charity." 



Miscellaneous 

 fie cos -Items 



could sting, and stored honey, which was 

 very good to eat. 



My first swarm I found clustered on a bush 

 right down near the ground, and I secured 

 them by fastening a long rope, near the middle, 

 to the top of a box, and with the help of one 

 of my boys, we lowered the box down over 

 the swarm. During the summer we captured 

 8 or 10 swarms, most of them found clustered 

 on the orange trees. One of them must have 

 had its home on a limb a year or more, for it 

 had about as much comb as would be found 

 in an ordinary hive, and had reared brood till 

 the combs were dark. 



Well, I got the bee-fever pretty badly, and 

 commenced readiDg up by subscribing for 

 several bee-papers, among which was the 

 "Old Reliable," and I have taken it ever 

 since. Then I learned, among several other 

 things, that the little pellets which the bees 

 bring in on their legs were pollen, and not 

 pure wax. 



My apiary at present is situated in a small 

 canyon about 4 miles from the Bay of San 

 Diego, and contains 125 colonies. I produce 

 extracted honey in varying quantities accord- 

 ing to the season, from an average yield of 

 175 pounds per colony to having to feed 1500 

 pounds of sugar and honey to keep the bees 

 from starving. I have never had any disease 

 in my apiary, except an occasional case of 

 bee-paralysis. I have a small gasoline engine, 

 and make my own hives, and, of course, have 

 invented several things apiarian, more or less 

 useful. I find the cost of the material to be 

 just about one-half the pricecharged by sup- 

 ply dealers for hives in the flat. I use 10- 

 frame hives, and find them as large as I care 

 to handle. F. C. Wiggins. 



San Antonio National— Last Notice. 



— All arrangements have been completed for 

 the special car of bee-keepers to leave Chicago 

 at 10:37 a.m., Nov. 6, for the National Con- 

 vention at San Antonio Nov. 8, 9, and 10. 

 Berths are being reserved for all who have re- 

 quested them. Tickets can be bought at the 

 La Salle Street Station, corner of La Salle and 

 Van Buren Streets, Chicago. The round-trip 

 rate is $25, with $4.25 extra for berth one 

 way in special sleeper. There will be room 

 for about 50 persons in this car. We hope 

 there will be enough bee-keepers getting on 

 at Chicago and points along the way to fill it. 

 This i6 the last notice that will appear in 

 the American Bee Journal referring to the 

 ■convention, as it will be held next week. If 

 there Is any further information desired con- 

 cerning the special car, we will be glad to 

 .furnish it by letter. 



when going to the National convention in 

 San Antonio. Their Business Men's Club 

 would be glad to entertain the visitors while 

 in their city. No doubt all who go in the 

 special car would be pleased to accept this 

 kind invitation, but there would not be time 

 to do so, as by going right through, without 

 any stop at all, the car would arrive in San 

 Antonio just in time for the Bee-Keepers' 

 Day at the Fair, November S. We have 

 written Dr. Phillips, thanking him for the in- 

 vitation, and expressing regrets that there 

 will not be time to stop off in Waco. 



Dr. C. 8. Phillips, until recently editor 

 of The Apiarist, published at Waco, Tex., 

 has written us, extending an invitation for 

 the speeial car of bee-keepers to " stop off in 

 Waco a few hours and take in the sights," 



The Apiary of F. C. Wiggins, of 



San Diego Co., Calif., appears on the first 

 page. Accompanying the photograph was 

 the following account of Mr. W.'s bee-keep- 

 ing experiences, written Oct. 1 : 



I commenced keeping bees 18 years ago in 

 Paradise Valley, near National City. I was 

 then renting an orange ranch, and the house 

 in which I lived was a large 2-story building 

 of 12 rooms, and contained at one time 12 col- 

 onies of bees, most of them in the spaces be- 

 tween the studding. At that time I knew 

 scarcely anything about bees, except that they 



The Apiary oi Lengst & Koenig, of 



Saginaw Co., Mich., is shown on the first 

 page. When sending the original picture, 

 Oct. 5, they wrote as follows : 



Editor American Bee Journal — 



The accompanying photograph is of our 

 Bridgeport yard. It doesn't show all of the 

 colonies, as there are an even 100 in it. The 

 apiarist is the senior member of the firm, Mr. 

 George Lengst. We run entirely for ex- 

 tracted honey, using shallow extracting 

 frames, 5?g inches deep. For brood-chamber 

 we have both the 8 and 10 frame Langstroth 

 hives. 



In this locality we prefer the Miller nail- 

 spaced frame, on account of propolis. After 

 two years' use of Hoffman frames it is almost 

 impossible to get 10 of them in a 10-frame 

 hive, the bees having gathered and daubed on 

 so much propolis. 



The past season was a poor one here, there 

 being an average of only about 40 pounds of 

 honey per colony, spring count; and those 

 producing comb honey did not 6tore so much. 

 Our honey is mostly clover and basswood. 

 We expected a good flow from goldenrod and 

 asters, but it was a failure on account of the 

 weather being too dry ; but the bees are in 

 good condition for winter. We winter them 

 on the summer stands, packing with chaff on 

 top in an empty super and wrapping tar- 

 paper around all. All colonies with good 

 queens and plenty of stores always come out 

 in fine shape in the spring. 



Lengst & Koenig. 



The National Program, for the San 

 Antonio Convention, Nov. 8, 9, and 10, has 

 been sent to us by Secretary Hutchinson, 

 and is as follows : 

 Program for the National Convention. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 hold its 37th annual convention Nov. 8, 9 and 

 10, 1906, in Market Hall, in San Antonio, Tex. 

 Headquarters for bee-keepers will be at the 

 Grand Central Hotel, whioh has given a spe- 

 cial rate to bee-keepers of 50 cents a berth, 

 and 25 cents for meals. This is a fine, new 

 hotel, nicely furnished, has 100 rooms, and is 

 located only one block from the passenger 

 station of the I. & N. G. Railroad. 



