4 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the qiieeu I carefully examined the hive, 

 and destroyed the queen-cells that had 

 been begun. The queen was warmly re- 

 ceived, and in a tew days the bees released 

 her of their own accord. The stock win- 

 tered well, and was one of the best of my 

 stocks. Towards Spring I found many 

 young Italians. That Summer I made 

 from it five new swarms. My greatest care 

 was, to have these beautiful colored queens 

 purely mated. I separated them half a 

 league from the common bees, and attained 

 m}" object. I could last Summer have 

 raised a large number of queens, but I 

 wished first to test the virtues of the race. 

 I wintered six Italian stocks. As these 

 made their appearance this Spring to my 

 full satisfaction, towards June I made ten 

 artificial swarms, some having most beau- 

 tiful queens. 



The mother swarm I divided three times, 

 and yet it swarmed four times. Through 

 these after swarms I received a number of 

 queens which I substituted for common 

 ones. I do not desire to remove all the 

 common queens, yet it would be possible 

 for me this Summer to have Italianized 

 all ni}'" stocks. 



It is with great sadness that I see L 

 culture so much neglected in this favora 

 ble locality. 



WiLHELM JBORNEMANN. 



Rinteln, July 10, 1873. 



For The American Bee Jourual. 



Bee Anomalies. 



One pleasant afternoon last August, as 

 I was standing near one of my nucleus 

 bives, I observed a commotion at the en- 

 trance, and soon saw that the naughty 

 little fellows had it in their heads to leave 

 their home. I let them have their own 

 way, contenting myself w^ith observing 

 their actions. They soon settled on a bush 

 near by. After requesting my assistant 

 to hive them in a small box, I went to the 

 deserted hive and opened it, and found 

 plenty of brood and honey, satisfying my- 

 self that they did not leave for the want 

 of these. As the hive was well shaded, 

 they did not desert because it was too hot. 



1 put them immediately back into the 

 hive from which they came ; but I had no 

 sooner done this, than another nucleus 

 quit its hive and settled on the same spot 



that the first one did. This I aiNO put back. 



Having some curiosity as to how the 

 "pesky chaps" in the first hive were be- 

 having themselves, I opened it and found 

 them engaged in killing their queen. A& 

 this queen had mis-mated Avith a black 

 drone, I let them alone, and in an hour's 

 time they had her carried out '• a corpse." 



From hive No. 1, I went to hive No. 2, 

 and found them treating their queen ^^ ' 

 similar manner. As the progeny of 

 queen was pure, I caged her, and kept 

 confined until their fiery ardor cc 

 down. She was then kindly received 



I can only account for the strai --e 

 duct of these bees, by sujjpos'" 

 the honey harvest at the tir 

 they became discouraged 

 to leave ; and as I pu^ 

 their will, they be 

 queen, and det' : . 

 raise another- 



Have o*' 

 lar cas' 



r :- .a ., 



i- :";ae I;;'i' ^ . 



:> ,..■- ,.. .one, I fc- 



,!^iit colored') II v/On on the : 

 .vt me, in " \ >'. act of laying. As 

 ^s my eye ca'i*<,'nt sight of her, I con- 

 ' .ded at once that she was a usurper, and 

 had dis])laceil my old. familiar queen (six- 

 teen months old, with one wing clipped ). 

 But on looking on the other side of the 

 card of comb. I found my old queen, occu- 

 pied with her usual pastime of laying, and 

 looking as though she was per: 

 home. I caged the would-be usur 

 gave her to a colony from which ] 

 ken a queen. My queen with the i . 

 wing seems to be as prolific as eve 

 far as I can see, shows no signs o 

 ished vigor. This case, while it e 

 es no rule, ])roves that it is pos 

 two laying queens to be in one hi^ 

 same time peaceably perform ii 

 functions,.- \ 



V '>. J.P. H. I 



Augusta, CvA,. 



Prof. Gerstocker, of, Berlin, Prm 



"The Egyptian bee is nearly a thir ' 



than the common bee. The abd' 



sembles that of the Italian Init the 



is yellow, the downy hairs of the thorax art 



whitish." 



