298 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



answered by 



Marengo, III. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the UO or more apiarists 

 who help to make "Queries and Replies " so 

 interesting' on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners. — Ed. 



Are All 3-Banded Bees Italians ? 



Are all bees Italians that show three dis- 

 tinct yellow bands ? My reasons for asking 

 are these : 



I got a swarm from the woods from which 

 I reared n colonies, and all had three yellow 

 bands, the bees being a dark leather in color. 

 Last fall I got two Italian queens from a 

 breeder in Kentucky, and the bees from 

 these are a very little lighter than the ones 

 I got from the woods. I enclose one of the 

 latter, thinking you might tell whether it 

 was a black or Italian. All our wild bees 

 here plainly show the thee bands. 



Langlois, Oreg. P. M. L. 



AxswER. — If all the bees of a colony have 

 three yellow bands, that's considered proof 

 of purity. In the first cross between blacks 

 and hybrids, you will have some with three 

 yellow bands and some with none. It is 

 not so easy to judge from a dead bee, but I 

 should not call the specimen sent a pure 

 Italian. As nearly as I can tell, the edge of 

 the bands is yellow, but the whole band 

 should be yellow. Look at the living bees, 

 and if all the bees have three bands that 

 are yellow their whole width, then call 

 them Italian. 



Why Do Bees Rear Several Cells ? 



Why do bees rear several queen-cells, and 

 as soon as the first one hatches, the bees or 

 queen destroys the balance of cells imme- 

 diately ? That is the general rule taught, 

 I believe, with a few exceptions, although 

 contrary to my short experience, as I have 

 given queenless colonies a frame of brood 

 and in three or four day's after they had 

 started queen-cells I gave them a young 

 virgin queen, and they would accept her 

 all right and finish up or seal the queen-cells 

 as though queenless ; but as soon as mated 

 they would destroy all cells unless caged. 

 I suppose the extra cells are for a purpose. 

 What is it ? M. W. L. 



Answer. — Nature seems to have a way 



of being rather lavish in her preparations. 

 Hundreds of drones are reared where only 

 one is needed. Most of the blossoms on an 

 apple-tree fail to produce fruit, and, if all 

 should set, the tree could not support it. I 

 suppose it is a matter of safety to have a 

 number of queens started and reared. I've 

 seen many a cell with a dead grub in it. If 

 that had been the only one in the hive the 

 bees might be in bad shape, especially if 

 they had no old queen. Sometimes the 

 bees let more than one queen hatch, then 

 the queens fight it out, and the fittest sur- 

 vives. 



I think your experience is not exceptional. 

 You see you were varying the usual pro- 

 gram. Usually there will be a number of 

 young queens all nearly of the same age, 

 and in your case the princesses were all 

 much younger than the one you introduced, 

 and she was not very jealous of such young 

 things. 



Besides, it is possible that the bees didn't 

 feel quite so sure of a princess that had so 

 suddenly appeared in their midst, and 

 thought it the safer way to keep the younger 

 ones going till they found how the older 

 one would turn out. 



Rape and Simpson Honey-Plant. 



How are rape and the Simpson honey- 

 plant for honey? Is their honey good, and 

 of ready sale? M. S. 



Brentwood, Ark. 



Answer. — At one time much was said 

 about the Simpson honey-plant, but I'm not 

 sure whether anyone ever got enough honey 

 from it unmixed with other kinds to tell 

 much about it. In Europe rape is valued 

 as a honey-plant. I tJiinA- rape honey is 

 dark and the other light, but I may be mis- 

 taken. If you get the honey, I think the 

 market will be all right. 



Bees that Had Tempers. 



In the spi'ing of 1893 I had six colonies of 

 black and hybrid bees that had been win- 

 tered on the summer stands. I took 440 

 pounds of extracted honey from them, and 

 kept a number of combs unextracted. One 

 colony swarmed once, and the swarm got 

 away, as I happened to be away from home 

 at the time. I then divided them, making 

 six more colonies, and gave each of them 

 some of the combs full of honey, and some 

 of the empty ones. The latter part of the 

 summer and all of the fall was very dry, so 

 the honey was almost all from white clover 

 and sweet clover. These blacks and hybrids 

 of mine are busy workers — but oh, they 

 have most terrible tempers ! 



I don't mind that myself, but unfortu- 

 nately, the bee-yard is within 50 feet of the 

 house our tenant lives in. and every time 

 I had occasion to disturb the bees, they 

 would pitch on to the folks whenever they 

 came out of the house for a week after. 

 They did not complain, but i disliked see- 

 ing my bees annoy them so much, and see- 

 ing the advertisements of queeu-breeders 

 stating that their golden Italians were as 



