GU 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



datioii unci one frame of brood. Two da3's after, 1 

 removed the virgin queen, intending- to give a Car- 

 niolan virgin the next day; but tiie next day, on ex- 

 amining the colony I found another virgin queen. 

 Now, suppose I had run my Carniolan queen into 

 that nucleus without knowing that other queen was 

 tlieie, wouldn't I have sent that other queen to Ila 

 Michener or somebody else In ten days? This is but 

 one instance of how a mistake inai/ be made. I 

 know of others, and am convinced that, with all the 

 care the most careful breeder may give the busi- 

 ness, errors will happen. Probably less likely, but 

 yet possible, the receiver of a good queen may lose 

 her and not know it. For instance, I removed, a 

 few weeks since, a queen from a strong colony, 

 where I had placed her some days previously, to a 

 nucleus hive in a distant part of the yard. Three 

 da.>s after, 1 found a laying queen in this same 

 hive. There is positively no mistake as to these 

 statements. Now, supjMse I had smoked this colo- 

 ny and given them a queen on the third day, not 

 having found the other (jueon, accidentally, and on 

 the fourth day " found her laying," wouldn't it have 

 been another queen? and wouldn't I have sent a 

 complaint to Gleanings that somebody had im- 

 posed on me? 1 have seen a great many other meth- 

 ods through which mistakes may happen on the part 

 of the breeder or the buyer of queens, for I do the 

 whole of the work in my apiary; and keeping a 

 written record on each hive I have often seen these 

 anomalies. 



Some time before seeing 11a Michenor's letter in 

 Gleanings I wrote him in substance as above, and 

 offered to send him another queen, but have had no 

 reply. My offer still holds good to him, for he 

 is doubtless one of our " square " men. 



" If they are not a pure breed, would it not be 

 best to drop them right where they are?" This is 

 your question on page 5f8. Now turn to page 527 

 and i-cad from W.Z. Hutchinson about the " Swarm- 

 ing-out Mania" of Italians — real Italians, and not 

 hybrid Carniolans (to say the best we can for Ila 

 Michenor's); then read what Mr. Robbins says about 

 his inability to prevent excessive swarming, on p. 

 510; then the "Swarming Mania Raging," by John 

 Nebel & Son. If this is the trouble Italians are go- 

 ing to give us, would it not be best to drop them 

 just here? Oh, no! I am satisfied that my Carnio- 

 lans arc fully equal to Italians as workers; and that, 

 either purely fertilized or fertilized with Italian 

 drones, their workers are mucli gentler and pleas- 

 anter to work with than Italians, and these are the 

 qualities I want. I don't give much for the dress or 

 adornments of bees. 



" ARE CARNIOLANS A PURE RACE?" 



1 can't tell. Ask Mr. Uenton or some other relia- 

 ble person on the ground. He says Italians are not 

 a pure race, and that settles that question. I can 

 only say that my imported Carniolan queen pro- 

 duces no progeny with yellow bauds; but they are 

 of a uniformly steel-gray color. 



GETTING BEES TO WORK JN SECTIONS. 



Gleanings for July 1 contained the most direc- 

 tions I know any thing of. If I want increase of 

 bees I give all the coujb and foundation in the 

 brood-frames I can got. If I want work in sections 

 I put into the brood chamber — one on each side — 

 two wide frames filled with sections full of comb or 

 foundation, and, between these, seven frames with 

 an inch starter of foundation, and set on top of the 

 hive a combined shipping and boneycratc (I never 



use those lor shipping honey) also filled with sec- 

 tions full of foundation. I am never more certain 

 of honey in sections than when a swarm of bees is 

 put into a hive arranged as above. 



S. W. Morrison, M. D. 

 O.vford, Chester Co., Pa., July 8, 1886. 



We are very glad to get so good a report 

 from the Carniolans, especially as our expe- 

 rience with them has been rather discourag- 

 ing. It would seem that you have a better 

 strain ot these bees, friend Morrison (see in 

 the article above, what Dr. Tinker says of 

 the comparative working qualities of our 

 strain of Carniolans and yours). We often 

 notice the same difference" between different 

 strains of Italians ; and it would be nothing 

 strange if Carniolans were like them. Be- 

 fore the clover bloom, and before the im- 

 ported Carniolan colony had cells started, or 

 had any thoughts of swarming, they were 

 more than once on the eve of starvation, 

 while the Italians were supporting them- 

 selves easily. Even when the honey-flow 

 commenced, although the Carniolans were 

 making no preparations to swarm they did 

 not begin to fill the combs in their brood- 

 chamber, though it was a large colony. 

 When the statement was made, that they 

 were poor workers, it was done because we 

 felt it our duty to do so, even at the risk of 

 spoiling our own trade in untested Carnio- 

 lan queens. We have not, and do not now 

 claim, that, because our Carniolans were in- 

 ferior workers, therefore all are. Indeed, 

 Dr. Morrison (whose statement we have no 

 reason to doubt) has a strain of these bees 

 that are good workers. If any are desirous 

 of securing a Carniolan queen, we would 

 with pleasure recommend them to him. In 

 favor of the ('arniolans so far as we have ob- 

 served, we will say this : They are very qui- 

 et, easy to handle, adhere to the combs, are 

 good breeders, little inclined to propolize, 

 and are, perhaps, a trifle larger than the 

 average Italians. In disposition they are 

 (piite different from blacks; but neverthe- 

 less in ((ppccmince they very much resemble 

 them. In fact, it seems that Dr. Morrison 

 himself does not always distinguish the dif- 

 ference, or he would not have made the mis- 

 take in sending a hybrid queen to Ila Miche- 

 ner, when he intended to send a Carniolan. 



Ernest. 



ARE DRONES FROM A PURE MISMAT- 

 ED QUEEN PURE ? 



SO.ME VALUABLE FACTS FROM FRIEND SWINSON. 



fRlEND ROOT:-On page 545, in j'our foot-notes, 

 replying to F. Clare, as to hybrid bees, you 

 state that drones from a pure Italian queen, 

 which has mated with a black drone, will be 

 pure Italian drones, which, then, would be 

 just as good as drones from an imported Italian or 

 any other Italian queen. I have read this same 

 thing repeatedly, from different parties for the past 

 four years; but I found, on trial, that it won't work 

 according to theory, worth a cent. Why, friend 

 Root, if this were so there is no need of a man hav- 

 ing 25 or 30 colonics to Italianize to buy more than 

 two pure Italian queens to do it. 



In 1884 I had 20 to 29 colonies of blacks, except 

 3 pure Italians. la May I killed all the black queens, 



