6i8 



August, 1907. 



American l^ee Journal 



The next season they worked up the 

 most quickly of any of my 7 colonies. 

 But they were uglier than ever, and 

 seemed possessed to sting. I paid no at- 

 tention to that and put on the supers, 

 and cared for them just the same as I 

 did for my hybrids. In June of that 

 year they cast a mammoth swarm. The 

 swarm would fill a lo-quart pail full to 

 overflowing. And they clustered so con- 

 veniently close and low, on a young 

 cherry tree that I put the hive under 

 the tree and shook them in. Then I 

 had 2 fine, large, strong colonies of 

 Italian bees so cross that I never al- 

 lowed any one to go near the hives un- 

 less with a bee-hat, etc. I put on su- 

 pers with bait-sections, and not one 

 ounce of surplus did they gather that 

 whole season — either colony. But the 

 brood-frames became so full of honey 

 that there was no room for the queen. 

 So I took one or 2 out at different times 

 and exchanged with other frames. They 

 went into winter quarters last fall in 

 fine shape. In fact, all my bees were 

 in the best shape last fall of any year 

 I have had bees. This spring they 

 seemed to be all right when the first 

 warm weather came in March. Then 

 we had it very cold, and much snow, 

 away down to the first of June. Dur- 

 ing the time from March to June I lost 

 3 swarms. One swarm was from one of 

 the strong Italian colonies. They were 

 the first bees I ever lost. 



One June 29 of this year I had my 

 first swarm. It came from the remain- 

 ing ItaHan colony. It was a fair-sized 

 swarm, and settled in a bad place. They 

 settled on the trunk of a pear-tree about 

 3 inches in diameter. Such a time as 

 I had to get them ! I finally got most 

 of them into the hive, and then, to my 

 astonishment, they came out and set- 

 tled right back on the pear-tree. I got 

 them in the hive a second time, and 

 then they came out again. I smoked 

 the tree well and made the air around 

 the tree full of smoke, and they went 

 back to the mother colony. I thought 

 perhaps the queen was lost or injured, 

 and that was why they went back. 



Several days after this there was a 

 colony on a stump one morning at 5 

 a. m. They were Italians, and must 

 have come out the day before, un- 

 known to us. They were in nearly as 

 bad a place as before. But I got them 

 into the hive, and this time they stayed. 

 In 4 or 5 days I looked in to see what 

 they were doing, and found they had 

 gathered a lot of honey, but not a sign 

 of an egg. So I found a fine queen- 

 cell in my best hybrid colony and gave 

 them that. Then I looked into the other 

 Italian colony and found they were 

 queenless. So I brushed all the bees in 

 with the colony where I put the queen- 

 cell. This was several days ago. I have 

 not opened the hive and taken out 

 frames since, as I was afraid I might 

 injure the fine queen-cell, nearly ready 

 to hatch. 



Can any one tell me why I had such 

 a time? and such poor success witli 

 these ItaUan bees, when I worked them, 

 and did the same for them, as I did for 

 my hybrid with good success? Was it 

 my fault, or the strain of bees, or just 

 that I happened to get a cranky-tem- 

 pered queen? 



I sent for a cheap Italian queen early 

 this spring, and, after successfully in- 

 troducing her, I found after she began 

 to lay that she laid 2, 3, and 4 eggs in 

 one cell. In a few days I looked again 

 and she was gone. Whether she was 

 lost, or died, I could not find out. So 

 >-ou see I do not feel like trying any 

 more Italians. 



My hybrids have done pretty well, 

 considering that I was a beginner 4 

 seasons ago, and had everything to 

 learn, and with 4 bad springs, and 3 

 poor seasons for honey. They are also 

 much more easily handled, and they 

 worked when the Italians loafed, and 

 I could not get them to work in the 

 supers, to save me, no matter what I 

 did. I gave them extracting supers, 

 and then when they would not work 

 in them I gave them comb-honey supers. 



I do not find any advertisements in 

 the Bee Journal for hybrid queens. How 

 am I to get one unless I rear it? This 

 I do not care to do, as my time is not 

 my own long enough to rear queens 

 and produce honey, too. I work every 

 day and can not spend any more time 

 than I have to, to study and take care 

 of my bees for honey. 



My hybrid bees are doing well now. 

 They have one super full of honey, and 

 the second one started. They seemed 

 to get to work and build up fast as soon 

 as the weather was at all warm enough 

 for them. 



I, for one, must express myself on 

 changing the American Bee Journal 

 from a weekly paper to a monthly pa- 

 per. I hke it very much better, as I 

 could hardly read one paper thoroughly 

 before the next one was here. I also 

 felt I could not miss a paper, and so 

 when they come once a month I can 

 read them slowly and digest it all before 

 the next paper comes. 



(Miss) Elsie A. Cutter. 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., July 13. 



Yes, here is one sister viho will be 

 glad to give her experience, and speak 

 a good word for hybrids. For years 

 we have been rearing queens from our 

 best honey-gatherers without regard to 

 color, but giving preference to those 

 showing little incliation to swarm, con- 

 sequently our bees are mostly hybrids, 

 . although we have a number of colonies 

 that might pass for pure Italians. We 

 have some colonies that are undeniably 

 cross and that makes it seem as if they 

 were all cross, 4s 3 or 4 cross colonies 

 will furnish enough cross bees to make 

 a whole apiary appear cross. But we 

 have a good many colonies that are 

 just as gentle as pure Italians, and our 

 bees are certainly 'hustlers. 



I think Dr. Miller has slandered our 

 bees by palling them little demons to 

 sting. Some of them are, I will admit ; 

 but not all. Give me the hybrids, every 

 time. I think that your experience is 

 rather exceptional in that your Ital- 

 ians were cross. My experience, so far, 

 witli extra-yellow bees, as a rule, is that 



they are beautiful, gentle, and, like 

 yours, rear rousing colonies, but don't 

 compare with the hybrids as honey- 

 gatherers. I'll take a few stings, thank 

 you, if my bees will hustle. I have no 

 use for handsome loafers. 



As to getting hybrid queens, although 

 no one advertises th'em, they are, by 

 no means, scarce, and if you ask for 

 them you will no doubt get them from 

 almost anv dealer. 



Some Sound, of the Bee 



The following, written by Miss Mary 

 Ritchie, science mistress at a college in 

 South Africa, is taken from the Br'tish 

 Bee Journal : 



"To distinguish all the sounds of the 

 bees would require a sense of hearing 

 keener than that possessed by human 

 ears, but even the dullest ear, after 

 long listening, becomes familiar with 

 many bee-notes, and finds meaning in 

 what to the novice is nothing but 

 a bewildering confusion of sound. 



"In practical bee-keeping there is 

 nothing the beginner will find of greater 

 service than to learn to interpret these 

 various sounds from the every-day hap- 

 py hum of the bees in the flowers, vary- 

 ing as it does in intensity and eagerness, 

 but expressive always of satisfaction 

 and delight, to the strange peep-peep of 

 a princess in her, as yet, unopened cell. 

 "When the weather is warm and hon- 

 ey plentiful, each bee leaves the hive 

 with a flourish, 'Whizz, I am off!' ex- 

 clamation ; or is it a hymn of grati- 

 tude for a new day and its sunshine? 



"The noonday play - spell is a living 

 song of gladness — an ariel dance in 

 which the young bees join and learn 

 the joys of flight — a thorough ventila- 

 tion and refreshment of the hive, but 

 often a source of consternation and 

 alarm to the beginner in bee-keeping, 

 for he is sure that in all this uproar 

 his bees are swarming or robbing or do- 

 ing something dreadful, until he discov- 

 ers it is only play and that each hive 

 repeats this performance at the same 

 time every day. To the uninitiated the 

 noise is suggestive of swarming, and 

 he watches with some concern until the 

 bees have gone back and the usual quiet 

 is restored. 



"One of the most interesting sounds 

 is the 'call of the queen,' or the "call 

 of the home' — ^the sound that when a 

 swarm is being hived leads them up the 

 entrance in such unerring hues. 



"All tltese are sounds that one is glad 

 to hear, but there are unpleasant sounds 

 as well — the sound of the robber ; the 

 higli, angry note of an enraged bee ; 

 the bee that has a grudge against you 

 and is determined instantly to pay it 

 of?. A bee 'calls out' when it is being 

 captured or crushed, and a queen when 

 she is frightened. Becis annoyed by 

 ants call in distress and spit at their 

 tiny tormentors, like defiant kittens. The 

 wail of a queenless colony is easily 

 known, and utterly sad. though most 

 pathetic and pitiful of all is the sound 

 of beeis that have lost themselves in the 

 rain or darkness." 



