258 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



'So stocks, all Italiau. He lias now 44 

 full stocks, with 54 nuclei. They are 

 nearly all iu the Laugstroth hive. They 

 are summered out of doors, on the 

 ground, the hives standing some eight or 

 ten feet apart, and well shaded by apple 

 trees. Through the winter they are kept 

 in the cellar under the residence. They 

 are put in the cellar in December, and 

 removed as soon iu the spring as the 

 weather will permit, which last spring 

 was in March. The surplus honey is all 

 stored in boxes of Si lbs. wgight, except 

 four stands, in which frames are used in- 

 stead. Two frames hold just the same 

 amount of honey as one box. His 31 

 stands iu which boxes are used have aver- 

 aged him 01 lbs. of honey the present 

 season. But one of the four stands in 

 Vhich frames are used has had a fair 

 chance to test their merits. Five cases, 

 each containing from 45 to 48 lbs. of 

 honey have been taken from this stand 

 the present season, and another is already 

 partially tilled, and will be quite filled if 

 the present weather holds a week yet. 

 Mr. Schofield puts the weight of these five 

 cases of honey at 235 lbs., which is their 

 minimum weight. He thinks that with 

 these frames his yard would have averag- 

 ed four cases, or 180 lbs. of honey each. 

 One other of these four stands of frames 

 has filled four cases. He has a Bay State 

 hive, a late patent of Henry Ally, near 

 Boston, in which he put a new swarm 

 the 2nd of July last. This stock has fil- 

 led the body of the hive, holding about 

 S5 or 40 lbs., and has also filled 24 boxes, 

 weighing 3i lbs. each, which amounts to 

 about 120 lbs. of honey. 



After visiting this yard, Mr. Schofield 

 ivccompanied the reporter to Port Crane, 

 Avhere is a yard owned by Mr. D. D. 

 Winn, but which is managed by Mr. 

 ■Schofield. This yard was mostly trans- 

 ferred last spring to their present quarters 

 in the Langstroth hive. He uses the 

 frames exclusively. He had 8 stocks in 

 the spring, which have increased by 

 swarming to 10. The yard has averaged 

 fully 100 lbs. per stock. He has one 

 stock which has filled four cases, or 180 

 lbs., and has partly filled another. 



These bee-keepers all send their honey 

 to New York City, where they realize an 

 average of 25 to 30 cents per It. . Their 

 extracted honey is all fed back to the 

 bees, by whom it is converted into the 

 best of box honey. They are men who 

 read bee journals, iu which they are well 

 posted, and who are thoroughly alive to 

 tlie importance of their occupation. From 

 the results of these apiaries it will be 

 evident to all, that bee-farming is a grow- 

 iug industry of Broome County. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Test of Italian Purity. 



ANSWER TO MR. HESTER. 



In the last number of the American 

 Bee Journal, Mr. M. C. Hester asks : — 

 Is there any fixed and certain test of Itali- 

 an purity ? If so what is it y 



I answer : yes ! All the truly pure 

 Italian bees have three yellow bands. 

 During the five weeks that 1 have spent in 

 Italy, I have visited many hundred apiar- 

 ies, I have seen several thousand colonies 

 and I was unable to detect one single bee 

 with but two yellow rings. It is true that 

 I have seen, here and there, a few bees 

 seeming black ; but it is not a proof of 

 impurity, for as far as I could judge, 

 these bees were young, full of feces, and 

 that matter could be formed of dark or 

 even black pollen; for there exists in 

 Italy some plants, such as the red poppy, 

 very abundant iu the field, whose pollen 

 is quite black. 



Every bee-keeper knows that the three 

 first rings of the Italian bee are transpar- 

 ent. Suppose that the abdomen contains 

 a black matter, her wings will be as black 

 as those of a black bee, yet this dark 

 colored worker can become a very bright 

 yellow bee when full of light colored 

 honey. I have seen, sometimes, iu my 

 apiary among my best workers, some 

 young bees darker than their sisters, but 

 afterwards it was impossible to detect 

 these bees among the regular workers, 

 their dark color having been replaced by 

 a brighter yellow. 



In the fall, bees eat dark honey, the 

 result is that they are darker than when 

 they find plenty of spring honey in the 

 fields. 



It is therefore but natural to find some 

 bees seemingly black among thousands 

 of well marked workers, and I contend 

 that such exceptions are not a mark of 

 impurity. Yet, if these black bees were 

 very abundant in the hives, and above all 

 if they were visible among the regular 

 workers such a colony could be consider- 

 ed impure; for it is not so with the bees 

 in Italy, the number of these seemingly 

 black bees iu a hive is very small when 

 compared with the entire population of 

 the colony; may be one or two to every 

 tliousand, j'et I thought that it was my 

 duty to say exactly what I have seen, to 

 prevent complaints from those who could 

 mark such accidents in their hives. 



Mr. Hester, adds that he has received 

 an imported queen, that icas brought over 

 hy me last year, and whose worker pro- 

 geny were two and three banded. I did 

 not go to Italy last year; further more, I 

 did not sell a single imported (lueeu last 

 year ;* my importation having given me 



