AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



405 



A Horse-Blanket that Ang;ered 

 the Bees. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY CHAUKCEY REYNOLDS. 



I wish to relate an incident which 

 happened to me last September. 



On returning from a camp-meeting, I 

 drove up near the apiary and took a wet 

 horse-blanket, that had been used to 

 wrap around ice, and hung it on the 

 fence to dry, about 12 feet from a hive 

 of pure Italian bees — not in front, mind 

 you, but oflf to one side of their line of 

 flight. The bees were working strong 

 on heart's-ease at the time, and, in fact, 

 the only time they did work during the 

 year. 



In a couple of minutes I happened to 

 notice that there were a lot of bees 

 around the blanket, but I thought noth- 

 ing of it, as I thought perhaps there 

 might have been some sugar spilled on 

 it, and they were after it. In a very 

 short time I again noticed the blanket, 

 and then there were a large amount of 

 bees on it, and around it in the air for 

 perhaps 20 feet or more high, and they 

 were pouring out of all the hives and 

 making straight for the blanket. By 

 that time it was a perfect uproar — in 

 fact, I thought for a moment that every 

 colony was swarming. 



Still I continued to think there was 

 sugar on the blanket, and started to go 

 and get it for fear it might start rob- 

 bing. When I got near it, I saw it was 

 covered with bees with their stings fast, 

 and thousands more trying to get a 

 chance to get a sting in, too. In fact, I 

 could hardly see the blanket for the bees 

 that were fast on it. I made three or 

 four grabs for it, but was driven away 

 each time severely stung ; and as I am 

 a man who was an involuntary visitor at 

 Andersonville during '64, and am nat- 

 urally rheumatically inclined as the re- 

 sult of my visit, I do not go far out of 

 my way to avoid stings. I hastened to 

 don the "Globe" veil and buckskin 

 gloves before I could get the blanket. I 

 then ran with it some distance before I 

 threw it down, and I believe there was 

 then a fair-sized swarm of bees sticking 

 to it. 



I am confident if I had left the blanket 

 hanging on the fence, it would entirely 

 have ruined my apiary, as I never saw 

 bees so mad in all my life. In fact, I 

 could go nowhere near them the balance 

 of the day, and they hung around and 

 over where the blanket had been, for a 

 long time, and it was lucky for me that 



my hired man removed the team as soon 

 as I hung the blanket on the fence, or I 

 might have lost a couple of horses. Who 

 can account for it ? 

 Fremont, Ohio. 



Something; in Favor of the Car- 

 nioian Bees. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY JOHN ANDREWS. 



I am inclined to join issue with some 

 of the writers in the Bee Journal on 

 the question of " the best bee " for the 

 masses. My experience has been some- 

 what different from the most of them. 

 It may be locality, or it may be in the 

 management. 



I kept the native or black bees 15 

 years, after which I bought over 30 

 Italian queens (some at a big price) to 

 change my blacks so that I might get 

 rich in a short time (by honey alone), 

 but I never saw my " pile," but the first 

 winter's loss was 65 per cent., going 

 into the cellar with a fair amount of 

 bees, and a good supply of honey the 

 fall before. 



I kept the Italians 12 years, but 

 could never succeed in wintering them 

 as well as I used to winter the blacks 

 by (at least) 50 per cent., and they 

 never gave me any more honey to the 

 colony than did the blacks; but were 

 much more gentle (when pure) and 

 easily manipulated, but as they became 

 somewhat mixed with the black bee, 

 I often was stung 50 times a day when 

 I was crowding my work, and honey a 

 little scarce, I concluded to change 

 again. So eight years ago I bought im- 

 ported Carniolan queens, and have made 

 them since that time (as far as I am 

 concerned) "the coming bee." For ex- 

 tracted honey, they will out-do any Ital- 

 ians I had during those 12 years ; and 

 neither are the Carniolans behind any 

 other bees for comb honey, but, I con- 

 fess, it took me 4 or 5 years' study to 

 know just how to work them. 



On page 567 of the Bee Journal for 

 1892, we find Mr. Wm. S. Barclay 

 wants a " rest from the black bee agita- 

 tion," and wants to know how to winter 

 bees successfully. With his Italians I 

 cannot tell him, but with the Carniolans 

 I winter, commonly, without the loss of 

 a colony ; but 1 cannot say that in the 

 springing I do not lose some ; though I 

 have about come to the conclusion to 

 set them with their hive entrance north, 

 and then as the season advances I will 



