THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



January 



tended to Italianize my stocks this 

 summer but this person and sereral of 

 his opinion have about scared me out, 

 for the present at least, although I am 

 not a convert to their belief yet, for if 

 I kept bees entirely for the profit I 

 should certainly try the Italians, but 

 we only keep a few colonies for our 

 own use and perhaps it would not pay 

 to try to keep pure Italians when sur- 

 rounded by all blacks. I noticed the 

 bees last week carrying in loads of 

 bright dark red pollen and have been 

 wondering from what source they pro- 

 cured it this late in the season. 



Here is a curious incident which I 

 would like to hare explained : One 

 afternoon last summer, my wife being 

 occupied wsth some household work 

 on the back porch, noticed » bee or 

 bees (she thinks it was only one bee) 

 carrying small pieces of green leaves 

 in among the loose folds of a rag car- 

 pet that laid there. She did not dis- 

 turb it but waited till I came home 

 when we investigated the matter and 

 found a perfect cylinder open at one 

 end, about the size of a small lead 

 pencil and one inch long, formed of 

 small pieces of what we took for leaves 

 from pea vines, which were wrapped 

 around each other so firmly and neatly 

 that it retained its form when handled. 

 Looking inside disclosed the bottom of 

 the cylinder covered with a yellow 

 substance which on being tasted prov- 

 ed to be pollen. Now what could have 

 induced this one bee to desert her 

 home and set up housekeeping all by 

 her lonely self after such a fashion? I 

 might state that we did not notice any 

 subsequent returns of the bee. 



Will close this rambling letter by 

 saying that the bees and I are mutu- 

 ally advancing along peaceful lines, 



and the present indications are that 

 we will yet become good friends. 



Yours, &c., A Studekt. 

 Titusville, Pa. 



Ed, Am. Bee Keeper, Dear Sir, — 

 If those men at Lincoln, Neb., who 

 condemned the convention at Ontario, 

 N. Y.. for importing the Apisdorsata, 

 lived some years ago, with the same 

 backward spirit, then we should not 

 have any Italians, or other good work- 

 er bees, or the Cyprian, Holy Lands 

 or Carniolians. The bee keepers of 

 our land can therefore congratulate 

 themselves that this condemnation 

 comes now in the age of progress too 

 late. Honor, and respect, and grati- 

 tude to those men who risked their 

 money and their lives for importing 

 other species of the honey bee. 



Dec. 20, '96. A. Forward. 



Ed. Am. Bee Keeper, Dear Sir. — 

 The past season has been a rery good 

 one for me, as a whole. I made one 

 experiment, which was a failure. I 

 tried running the forces of two queens 

 under one super. They worked well 

 for a short time until one got the 

 swarming fever, then out came a large 

 double swarm, leaving two sets of 

 queen cells to look after with little 

 prospect of surplus honey. So I came 

 to the conclusion that one good queen 

 and one swarm is enough for one sur- 

 plus case. 



It is admitted by most bee keepers 

 that comb, or partly drawn out comb, 

 is a necessity in getting bees started 

 in the sections. How to get a supply 

 of this comb may be a question which 

 is hard for some to solve. At first I 

 had no difficulty in securing them, al- 

 though I did not know their full val- 

 ue. During the houey harvest I pick- 



