402 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



price would be consequently lessened 

 rather than increased, if it is to be used 

 for making foundation. 



It seems wiser, therefore, to render 

 wax in the ordinary way, and to make 

 use of the acid process when the wax is 

 very dark, and is to be used for some 

 other definite purpose than that of mak- 

 ing foundation. 



Lapeer, Mich. 



An Experience wltli Soulliern Oneens. 



Written tor the American Bee Jouj-nal 

 BY W. H. NORTON. 



I see in the Bee Jouknal of Feb. 22d 

 the editor asks for experience in regard 

 to Southern queens being hardy, etc.; 

 and as I am pretty well located North, I 

 thought that I would relate my experi- 

 ence. 



First, I will give a little idea of what 

 our winters are here. For the past three 

 days it has been from zero to 35- below. 

 It has been 85- below several times be- 

 fore this winter — in fact zero the most of 

 the time. We have about four feet of 

 snow on a level ; it came on early, before 

 the ground froze up. 



Well, yes, I have tried the Southern 

 five-banded queens. Two years ago the 

 coming spring I sent South and pro- 

 cured half a dozen queens, introduced 

 them successfully, and they built up 

 rapidly in warm weather, but when it 

 came cold in the fall they dwindled badly 

 — reduced to very small colonies. One 

 got so low that I gave them two frames 

 of Punic brood. 



I put them into the cellar at the usual 

 time, with the other bees, and the latter 

 part of January I looked at them ; I 

 found them very quiet — five colonies out 

 of the six were dead, with plenty of 

 honey, etc. 



When spring came, and I put out my 

 bees, the one colony was still alive, that 

 is, the queen, and the Punic bees I gave 

 them in the fall — the yellow ones were 

 all gone — the only yellow bee was the 

 one queen. 



Now I do not claim that they cannot 

 rear hardy queens in the South as well 

 as in the North, but I do not think that 

 they have the interest as a general thing; 

 they go for beauty regardless of hardi- 

 ness. 



Well, with my lone Southern beautiful 

 queen, I was anxious to experiment, so 

 last season I reared my drones from a 

 colony of very hlack bees, that I had in 

 my yard, which had proven to be very 



hardy, always wintering and coming out 

 strong in the spring. My queen I reared 

 from that five-banded Southern queen. 

 The color of the workers produced from 

 this cross was more than up to my ex- 

 pectations — they are all as even three- 

 banded bees as any Italians I ever saw — 

 no black visible. At first I was sure that 

 the queens could not have been mated 

 with the blacks, but out of 25 or more 

 queens they all came out alike. Other- 

 wise than color they have the appear- 

 ance and handle similar to the blacks, 

 and at this date (Feb. 26th) they are 

 wintering in nice condition, every colony 

 apparently as strong as in the fall, and 

 no dead bees on the bottom-boards, nor 

 on the bottom of the cellar. The most 

 of the yellow ones, the winter before, 

 came out and died on the bottom of the 

 cellar. 



This is my experience here, away 

 down East in Maine. 



Skowhegan, Me. 



Tie Result of a Florlla Bee-Hunt. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY C. F. GREENING. 



As per my promise of Feb. 6th, I will 

 now give the result of my Florida bee- 

 hunt. 



On Feb. 7th we started for the swamp, 

 three miles west, equipped with two 

 glass-covered bee-boxes, broken comb 

 honey for bait, and a little fiour to mark 

 bees. 



Arriving at a peach orchard in full 

 bloom, we found bees, and they soon 

 found the honey. In half an hour we 

 had two well-developed lines. Now with 

 our removable bottomed bee-boxes, we 

 soon had a dozen hungry bees caught, 

 by placing the box over the honey, the 

 bees flew to the glass top, and were 

 caged. Away we start on the strongest 

 line, following for one-half mile to a 

 small clearing, put a piece of comb 

 honey in the box, when the captives at 

 once begun loading up. 



Setting all on a stump, the box was 

 removed, and soon we had our line again 

 developed, and a dozen more hungry 

 bees caged. Following the line nearly 

 one-half mile farther, through the great 

 piney woods to the edge of an impass- 

 able swamp of perhaps three-fourths of 

 a mile — here was a dilemma; but an 

 earnest bee-keeper seldom fails. Again 

 the hungry bees are fed, turned loose, 

 and before letting go a little flour is 

 sprinkled on the backs of several. We 



