AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



141 



body has a bad, fighting Cyprian queen, 

 to just send her to you. If I could go 

 back five years, I think I could give you 

 satisfaction about Cyprian bees. I have 

 tried them, and never expect to try them 

 again. I never found but one real, good 

 point with them, and that point was 

 near their tail ends I 



Mrs. Atchley, I can handle any bees 

 that can be handled at all— in fact, I 

 have never seen any bees that I could 

 not perform any operation with, that 1 

 wished to, but if I had to go back to the 

 Cyprians, I would surely quit the field, 

 unless I should do like A. I. Root says — 

 keep them away off in the woods. 



I have seen colonies of these Cyprian 

 bees so vicious that all one had to do to 

 start them was to get within about a rod 

 of their hive, and stamp on the ground. 

 They would do the rest. They would 

 come like shot — not just a few, but by 

 the hundreds, and if you did not make 

 quick your retreat, they would come by 

 the thousands. 



CONDEMNING SOUTHEKN QUEENS. 



I have noticed in the bee-papers of 

 late, several articles condemning South- 

 ern-bought queens, which I think is very 

 damaging to Southern queen-breeders 

 that rear good queens. I know, and so 

 do you, that as good queens can be 

 reared in the South as can be reared 

 elsewhere, and that there are some 

 breeders at least that rear such. 



Now as the majority of the Southern- 

 reared queens go to the North, I think if 

 such articles must be published, it would 

 be better to give the breeder's name as 

 well. I do not mean to say that every 

 time a customer complains that the 

 breeder's name should be put before the 

 public — some will find fault, no matter 

 how the queens are. 



James Cleveland. 



Decatur, Miss. 



Friend Cleveland, I do not wish to 

 eonvey the idea that every cell was saved, 

 but the greater part of them. Some cells 

 are injured and never hatch. We do 

 not now use any cell-protectors — they 

 proved a nuisance to us. We keep our 

 breeders penned off, but we use their 

 eggs, or a greater part of them, in graft- 

 ing, and keeping up nuclei, and always 

 have at least one comb for her to lay on. 

 I have not noticed two eggs in a cell of 

 any of my breeders for. a long time. It 

 is owing to how you keep them, about 

 that. 



Yes, I am in love with stinging bees. 

 I had Cyprians ten years ago that would 

 run cattle off the prairie 200 yards 



from their hives. I had no trouble in 

 handling such bees, and I always found 

 a well-filled hive at harvest time. I have 

 not had any Cyprians for nine years, but 

 I am sorry that I discarded them. While 

 the Italians are superior for almost all 

 purposes, I will take Cyprians for honey. 

 They are bees that always take care of 

 themselves, and if properly handled they 

 are not bad stingers. 



Jennie Atchley. 



Drones from Fertile Workers, Etc. 



Are drones from fertile workers cap- 

 able of fertilizing queens ? 



From careful observations made sev- 

 eral years ago, I claim that they are 

 just as much so as drones from any 

 queen, and for the benefit of those who 

 think differently from myself, I will here 

 give the facts in the case that led me to 

 think as I do. 



Several years ago I had nothing but 

 pure Cyprian bees, and, as all know who 

 have had them, they are very apt to 

 have fertile workers when from any 

 cause they become queenless. So, late 

 in the fall of 1885, I believe it was, I 

 had a very strong colony that became 

 queenless. I at once sent for a queen, 

 but failed to introduce her, and fertile 

 workers set to work at once, and soon 

 had the combs filled with drone-brood. I 

 thought to myself, "Now will be a good 

 time to see if these little 'Bantam' 

 drones are capable of fertilizing queens." 

 So I gave them a frame of brood from a 

 good queen, and they at once started 

 queen-cells, and just before they hatched 

 I put a division-board in the hive, and 

 gave each portion a cell, and in due time 

 they both had queens; but, mind .you, 

 these little "Bantam" drones were 

 hatching by the thousands some time be- 

 fore these queens hatched, and I posi- 

 tively know there were no other drones 

 in my apiary but these little fellows, 

 and there was no one else in the coun- 

 try at that time that had any yellow 

 bees but me — a very few bees of any 

 kind were in the county, as I lived in a 

 very poor place for bees at that time. 



Now for the result of these two 

 queens : They both took their wedding 

 flight Christmas week, and showed signs 

 of having met the drone. (It was a 

 very mild and open winter up till and 

 after Christmas awhile), and early the 

 next spring these two queens went to 

 laying just the same as other queens, 

 and their bees showed all the markings 

 of pure Cyprians. Now, how could these 



