THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13 



I confoss I have never discovered any 

 marked difference in the tliree varieties, in 

 tills partieiilar. 



Again, it lias been claimed by some that 

 the Italians will gather more honey than the 

 black bees. There has been so nnieh said 

 in their favor, and they look so handsome, 

 I think if a coloney of e(jual strength of eacii 

 kind was otfered me tor choice, I should 

 take the Italian. 



It may, probably, be favorable to make 

 siich a change as tiieir education among our 

 native bees will etfect. Tlie largest amount 

 of box honey I ever secured as surplus from 

 one hive, in one season, ('iiKJlb), was by hy- 

 brids. The largest amount I ever secured, 

 excei)t in that instance, was by a colony of 

 natives (I74ir)). It was in different seasons, 

 and in different fields— liardly admitting of 

 aaiy satisfactory or certain comparison. 



i'rom my experiments, thus far, I have no 

 doubt that nuich more depends upon the 

 character of the hive, than of the (piestion 

 which variety of bees are employed. The 

 most important point to secure is the largest 

 force of workers, through the honey season. 



Take a hive in the early ]iart of the season 

 and divide it into three or tour colonies, and 

 little surplus must be expected. With all 

 the workers operating in one hive, a haud- 

 some surplus may be secin-ed. 



My doctrine is,— Secure a large working 

 force by removing all disposition to swarm 

 from tlie abundant box rooom, given in in- 

 timate connection with and easy entrance 

 from the breeding apartment, and secure 

 from 100 to 200 pounds of box honey from 

 each coloney. Let others do better that 

 can. Jasi'EK IIazen. 



Woodstock, Yt. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Superior Fiddlesticks. 



In the December No. of the Joitknai,, 

 friend Ross pitches into me, and says : "are 

 there not too many that have nothing to re- 

 port but their failures, after trying to keep 

 the Italian bees pure ?" And, " will our 

 learned friend, W. M. Kellogg, please state 

 the condition those four insignificant black 

 stocks were in at the time his Italian queens 

 became fertile ?" 



I do not know what condition they were 

 in at the time, for they were a neighbor's 

 stocks, and I had nothing to do with tliem. 

 But I know that they were medium strong 

 stocks, and but one of them cast a swarm. 

 But their condition just then hasn't much 

 to do with it, for it was not only at that time 

 that the Italian queens were mated with 

 black drones, but all the season through, 

 when they had no need for their drones. 



At the time I wrote, but a few queens had 

 been raised, but later a good many have 

 been raised, and some iiuite late in the sea- 

 son, and fully tiiree-fortlis {%) of the Italian 

 queens were mated with black drones, 

 weeks after the blacks were done raising 

 queens ; wiien, according to friend Ross, 

 they should be out of condition, but still we 

 were " troubled with black drones." With 

 one exception none of us were trying to 

 keep the Italians pure, had no black drones 

 of our own, but plenty of Italian drones. 

 One person was raising queens, and of 

 course wanted to kee]) them i)ure. Tried to 

 buy the black stocks of the owner, or put in 



Italian queens, Init he'd have none of it. So 

 we had to run our chances. We ke])t our 

 Italians in good condition, saved all the 

 drone brood we could get, and I cut out ancl 

 gave to my friend several sheets of Italian 

 (Irone brof)d, so that we had thousands of 

 drones flying. Besides, I killed a gi'eat 

 many black drones while transfering one of 

 the four black stocks, and still we were 

 troubled with black drones, to the extent of 

 three-fourths (%) of our (|ueens. 



I think now as I did then, " Superior fid- 

 dlesticks." 



" What kind of bees has K. got ?" 



The same kind as you have probably, at 

 any rate they have got legs, wings, stingers, 

 etc., and gather honey etc., when there is 

 any to get. Any on(^ who has noticed bees 

 clustering in front of the hive during warm 

 weather, has seen flies around them too : 

 drawn there by the scent of the hive, trying 

 to get in, and continually on the Jump to 

 keep out of the bee-guards way. Then it 

 was the chickens walked up and introduced 

 the flies down their throats, and I never 

 noticed more than one or two that got 

 stung. 



Our bees are very quiet, generally, ancl 

 friend Ross could step up and pick out the 

 flies himself without being stung. 



I think it would not be a good plan for 

 any one to put a chicken inside of his hive 

 if living near to friend Ross, for if he is as 

 fond of chickens as he says, he'd " go for " 

 the chicken if he had to take bees and all. 

 Brother bee-keepers, keep an eye on your 

 hen roosts. W. M. Kellogg. 



Oneida, 111. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



New Bee Pasturage. 



I have been keeping bees in a limited way 

 for the past 27 years, but the lunnber of my 

 colonies never exceeded 40 or 50, until the 

 past season. In the mean time, my experi- 

 ence has met with occasional drawbacks 

 and losses, but I have made the business of 

 producing honey a success, and therefore 

 feel encouraged in my okl days to expand it 

 a little. 



I have been using the Langstroth hive 

 mostly, but I prefer the large Trellis hive 

 of Mr. Simons, of Fairfield, Iowa ; in which 

 I find no difliculty in wintering on sunnuer 

 stands. My Langstroth hives I have to 

 store away in a dark, dry cellar, to keep 

 them safely tlirou'^h the winter. 



In my bee yard I liave growing a few 

 bunches of a perenuel plant known here as 

 the "pleurisy root." It is a pretty and 

 fragrant blooming plant, upon which the 

 bees cluster busily for more than a month, 

 and do not forsake it until the bloom is en- 

 tirely gone. What are they after ? Honey, 

 pollen, or both ? 



I consider it worthy of cultivation for bee 

 pasturage. What do our experienced bee- 

 men know about it ? Will they answer 

 through the Jouknal. Daniel Eidek. 



Fairfield, Iowa. 



No other branch of industry can be nam- 

 ed in wliich there need be so little loss on 

 tlie material emjiloycd, or which so com- 

 pletely derives its profits from the vast and 

 exhaustless domains of nature, as bee cul- 

 ture. 



