1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



,;in remember now, the large-colony bee-keep- 

 <Ts are more liable to get the honey, if there is 

 any. ihan their neighbors with tlieir small col- 

 onies. Witness, for example, the Dadants, the 

 Frances, the Axtells. Ehvood, Helherington, 

 HofFman— large and successful bee-keepers, all 

 with large colonies, but not all of them having 

 ihose colonies in large single chambers. The 

 Frances, besides their " shot-tower" hives, use 

 three eight- frame Langsti'oth bodies for a col- 

 ony. The senior France prefers the latter, be- 

 cause he can handle "em in sections. Well, we 

 often hear of the small-colony bee-keepers 

 getting little or no honey; but do we hear of 

 the other class being so often unfortunate? 

 I tell you, brethren, if these are facts we 

 are fools if we shut our eyes to 'em. I have 

 read hundreds of reports that I haven't room to 

 publish: I have visited many apiaries, as you 

 know, over the country; I have watched the 

 reports in other journals, and I have seen the 

 better work of large colonies in our own yard, 

 And I can't dodge the issue. 



THE FIVE- BANDED STOCK AND ITS ORIGIN; IS 

 THE TIDE TURNING AGAINST IT? 



Editor Quigley, in the Progressive, says 

 that five-banded bees can not be produced from 

 pure Italian queens; that the so-called five- 

 banders come from a mixture of Cyprian and 

 Italian blood, and then adds: 



This craze for yellow bees is ruining: our industry, 

 •and the sooner It is stopped the better. We have 

 been asked, " Who is to blame ? " We say queen- 

 breeders are, because they wanted to outdo their 

 •competitors by selling- beautiful bees with more 

 good qualities than their less colored sisters; but 

 the more color, the more worthless they prove to 

 be. Many of the breeders advertising- flve-banded 

 l)ees have not a half-dozen colonies in their yard; 

 ;and one breeder we know had but one colony, and 

 shipped bees from the South each spring- to com- 

 mence with. 



Mr. Doolittle and Mr. L. Hearn, I believe, 

 both claim that their bees were bred from pure 

 Italian stock. The question may arise, How 

 do they knoiv this to be true ? I do not mean 

 to say that it is not true; but I simply raise the 

 point, that a very little Cyprian blood in Ital- 

 ian stock may not be apparent, and the bees 

 would pass for pure Italians. Mr. Doolittle 

 •especially, it is to be assumed, would not make 

 this mistake, and yet there is a possibility of it. 

 At all events, the tide now seems to De turning 

 rather against the five-banders. Too many of 

 this stock have proved to be vicious, lacking in 

 hardiness for winter, and are no better for 

 honey-gathering than ordinary Italians. In- 

 cidentally, it may be remarked that these yel- 

 low bees were condemned at the St. Joseph 

 convention. 



It is true, some of them have shown their 

 ability to gather honey; but individual colonies 

 of almost any race of bees may be picked out 

 that will be far ahead of the stocks around 

 them. 



the dadants ON THE FOUNDATION QUESTION. 



As will be seen from the following, I wrote to 

 the Messrs. Dadant, asking for their opinion on 

 the Taylor Experiments, knowing that they 

 had studied the question years ago very thor- 

 oughly. Here is what C. P. says: 



FiiOKl /-y'/no-^-— It is with some reluctance that! 

 respond to your request for my opinion on the Tay- 

 lor experiments in favor of Given foundation, for I 

 dislike any thing that looks like ax-grinding. The 

 remarks that we had made on the Taylor experi- 

 ment coincided with yours, and my father liad call- 

 ed my attention to the fact that Taylor's tests 

 agreed with tests made by us long ago; that is to 

 say, that, the heavier the foundation furnished to 

 the bees, the more readily they fill it with honey. 

 This is very natural. The bees are always in a 

 hurry when the crop is good, and thej find it much 

 handler to stretch out the cells which contain a 

 great surplus of wax than to wait on the wax secre- 

 tions of the wax-builders to finish up the rudiments 

 of cells already begun. But one result, that we all 

 know, of this fact, is, that the combs thus built con- 

 tain too much wax to be pleasant to eat. But if we 

 owe the heavier Imneycombs to the heavier founda- 

 tion, does it follow that we should use heavy foun- 

 dation for surplus honey ? and does not the better 

 quality of the comb honey produced on light foun- 

 dation make up for the less weight ? Undoubtedly, 

 If lighter combs are produced, more of them -will be 

 filled, and this will also make up for the diflference. 



The idea of friend Taylor, that the difference In 

 the filling of the combs is due to the difference in 

 quality of the wax, is not admissible. Aside from 

 the fact that the samples on which he experlmenttMj 

 came from experienced men, who surely know as 

 well as he does how to render wax, the fact that the 

 greatest difference exists among the combs bnilt on 

 Given foundation is sufficient to show that it is to 

 the irregularity in the amount of wax in those sheets, 

 and to nothing else, that the differences are due. It is 

 evident, from this also, that the Given foundation 

 is the least regular of all the grades tested. 



Why is it so irregular ? Because, instead of being 

 rolled, it is pressed, and none of the imperfections 

 of the sheet are laminated out. When the first 

 praises of the Given press were puWished, we se- 

 cured samples, and wrote over and over again to 

 the manufacturer. Never did we see a full-size 

 sample that could be called fair. The lubricant 

 used, whatevei- it be, must of necessity remain on 

 the sheet, and is an objection. The sheets made are 

 always brittle, and, unless used at once, can not be 

 handled without breaking. The shipping of this 

 foundation, without its being more or less broken, 

 is out of the question. When it was first invented, 

 the press was lauded to the skies Ijy Heddon and 

 others; but they did not use it long. Why? They 

 said it was because they could not get the founda- 

 tion made right. Aye, there is the rub. An ama- 

 teur can make a few pounds that will prove satis- 

 factory; but show me the man who has made it in 

 any large quantity and has given satisfaction. 

 Hundreds of Given presses have been sold; and 

 to-day, in spite of the praise the Given foundation 

 has received, you can count its friends on your fin- 

 gers. C. P. Dadaxt. 



Hamilton, 111. 



It seems that C. P. quite agrees with what I 

 say on page 799, on the same question. 



