142 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



queens have met any other but these 

 little drones? 



THE FIVE-BANDED BEES. 



r^ I see that some of the big guns keep 

 giving the 5-banded bees ''down the 

 country." Now I have no " ax to 

 grind," as I have neither bees nor queens 

 for sale, but I have tried both strains 

 for the last two years side by side, and, 

 candidly, I can see no difference as to 

 their working qualities. And why 

 should there be ? 



Some say they have been bred in-and- 

 in so long that they have become weak, 

 and are not hardly like others. Others 

 say they have been bred for beauty until 

 their business qualities have about all 

 been bred out of them. I admit that the 

 latter statement sounds more reasonable, 

 but I hardly think such is the case, at 

 least not with the ones I have been test- 

 ing. 



As to in-and-in breeding, who will say 

 that the Cyprians are not a hardy and 

 an energetic race V And ihey have been 

 bred in-and-in for perhaps thousands of 

 years, on the small island of Cyprus. 



We all admit that in-and-in breeding 

 is detrimental to most, if not all, of our 

 domestic stock, but I don't think such 

 is the case with bees, at least the evi- 

 dence we now have doesn't seem to 

 point that way ; and if the so-called 5- 

 banded Italians have a good share of 

 Cyprian blood in them (and I believe 

 almost all of our best authorities agree 

 that they have), I would rather think 

 that they would be a superior race to 

 the common 3-banded Italians, than to 

 think they would be an inferior race, as 

 some are now claiming them to be. 



I have uot written the above as a fling 

 at any one, but have only tried to pre- 

 sent the case as it appears to me. 



CUBING BEE-PARA.t,YSIS WITH SALT. 



I wonder how much longer this rem- 

 edy is going to be recommended in the 

 different bee-papers. I know that it 

 won't cure the nameless bee-disease or 

 bee-paralysis we have here in Texas, 

 for I have tried it in every way that I 

 have seen recommended In the different 

 papers, but all to no effect. I have 

 tried putting dry salt on the bottom- 

 boards for weeks at a time ; also feeding 

 honey or sugar syrup strongly tinctured 

 with salt, for a month at at a time; 

 then I tried sprinkling the bees and 

 brood with salt water, and giving the 

 bees salt water to work at all the time, 

 but all to no effect. I also tried chang- 



ing the queens, but that, too, was a fail- 

 ure with me. 



I have found but one way that it can 

 be cured, and that is, by taking all the 

 combs and brood from the affected bees 

 and giving them a new hive and frames, 

 and letting them build new combs. This 

 has not as yet failed to cure them, but 

 the trouble is, they will not stay cured. 



Now, who can help us out ? I am 

 very sure that bee-keeping will soon be 

 a thing of the past in this part of the 

 country, if we don't get some remedy 

 that is effectual and sure, for I am con- 

 fident that more than % of the bees in 

 this country have died from that cause 

 alone, in the last three years. 



Lometa, Tex. L. B. Smith. 





DmSlng Colonies for Increase. 



Query 908.— 1. Which is the better plan in 

 dividing swarms, to leave the old queen in the 

 old hipe, or move her into the new one ? 2. 

 How early in the spring would you commence 

 to divide ?-L. W. 



1. I prefer leaving her in the old hive. 

 — J. M. Hambaugh. 



I have had the best success to let them 

 alone and not divide. — H. D. Cutting. 



1. Move the queen. 2. When the 

 hive is full of bees and brood. — Dadant 

 & Son. 



1. Leave the old queen where there 

 are the most workers and the least 

 brood. — M. Mahin. 



1. I would put her into the new hive. 

 2. Just before the time for swarming. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



1. Move her to the new hive. 2. In 

 Michigan, about June 13th, if running 

 for increase solely. — J. H. Lakrabee. 



1. Remove the old queen to the new 

 hive. 2. Not until the bees would com- 

 mence to swarm naturally. — C. H. Dib- 

 bern. 



1. I do not khow as it makes any dif- 

 ference. 2. That would depend upon 



