1886 



aLEANmClS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



648 



robbed; their riiniiiiig- from llie combs, and out of 

 the hive, unless handled very earel'uUy; do not rie- 

 sist the wax-moth; are poor honey-gatherers, ex- 

 cept in times of plenty; inclined to sting- with little 

 provocation, and do not do work in a business-like 

 waj'. This last particular 1 do not know that I ever 

 saw mentioned ; and by it I mean that they live only 

 from hand to mouth, as it were, calculating onlj' 

 a day or so in advance. They go into the sections 

 to work, and buifd comlj only so long as honey 

 comes in plentifully. The least slack stops comb- 

 building, only that the cells are lengthened on that 

 already built, so that I have frcijucntly found sec- 

 tions one-fourth full of comb, and that one-fourth 

 lengthened out, filled, and cajiped over without be- 

 ing attached to the sections except at the top. I 

 never saw any thing of the kind with any other race 

 of bees, for thej' all stai't and build the sections full 

 of comb as if they calculated to do something Inisi- 

 nesslike. If another yield of honey comes in a few 

 days, these bees start the comb down a little fur- 

 ther, when it is again stubbed off if the tiow slack- 

 ens, and again and again do the same thing until I 

 have counted as many as five times in a single sec- 

 tion where they have started and stopped, making 

 the face side of the comb resemble a washboard. It 

 has been claimed that there is a difference in these 

 bees, some saying that there is a large Inown bee of 

 superior merit; others claim great things for their 

 (/»•«!/ bees, both of which are said to be a great way 

 ahead of the Jittlr hhick bee; but I wish to say, that, 

 after getting queens from several claiming to have 

 these superior strains, and placing thon beside the 

 "little black bee" our forefathers used to have, 

 there is not a bit of ditlerence in them so ftir as I 

 can see, or any of my bee-keeping friends to whom 

 I have shown them. Well, I must "curtail" or I 

 shall not get along very fast. 



I have thoroughly tried the Syrians; and for this 

 locality I consider them the poorest of all the bees 

 yet brought to this country. The two great faults 

 which make them thus are, first, not lireeding when 

 they should breed, and then breeding beyond meas- 

 ure when they ought to breed but little, which re- 

 sults in few laborers in the field in the honey-har- 

 vest, and countless numbers of consumers after the 

 harvest is past, to eat up all that the few gathered. 

 Consequence, jhj pnifit. Second, the workers begin 

 to lay eggs ao soon as the queen leaves the hive, 

 whether by swarming or otherwise, so that the 

 combs are filled with a nuiltitude of dwarf-drones, 

 to the disadvantage of bees, combs, and owner. 

 Fertile workers are always present with these bees. 

 At times they sting rearfull.\-; at other times they 

 are nearly as peaceable as Italians. However, they 

 will not venture an attack unless the hive is dis- 

 turbed, as do the black bees. A colony of Syrian 

 or Cyprian bees will let me stand an hour at a time 

 right in front of their entrance, turning out for 

 me, and not one offering to sting; while in less 

 than two minutes a black colony will resent such 

 impudence to the score ot hundreds of stings, if you 

 don't leave. The C^-prians, I dislike to part with, for 

 they are really a goo<l bee in all points but one; but 

 that one point is altogether too sharp for me. Of 

 all the bees to sting wlien provoked, this bee "beats 

 all." My fiesh fairly crawls as I write, to think how 

 I have been stung by them. In opening a hive, 

 smoke does no good, while the least mishap will, 

 without warning, send hundreds of hissing, angry, 

 biting, stinging bees all over ,\ou. They also have 



"a touch" of the laying-worker nuisance, but no- 

 thing like as bad as the Syrian. I still have a colony 

 of Cyprians, which I expect to brimstone this fall. 

 I have twice tried to find the queen this season, to 

 supersede her, but have been stung so that I gave 

 it up. Perhaps l)rimstone won't kill them; but I'll 

 try it and see. 



The Carniolans, so far as I have tried them, are 

 a rather mixed race or only a very peaceable strain 

 of the black bee. My trials ot them agree exactly 

 with what fri'^'uds Root have said ot them in latt^ 

 numbers of Gr.EANiNGS. Some of the queens pro- 

 duce a hybrid progeny, while others give nothing 

 but black bees. As to the "steel blue" color 

 claimed for them, I wilf say that the same will be 

 seen on a lot of black bees, just hatched, if held so 

 the light strikes them just right. As far as I am 

 concerned, I have no use for them. It is hardly 

 necessary for me to say that the Italians (home 

 bred) are my choice, and especially as I find thenl 

 now, after we ha\e ])asscd through almost the' 

 poorest honey season we have ever had, at work on 

 red clover, and storing honcj- from it in sections, 

 while hybrids and other bees are scarcely getting a 

 living. This one quality alone, of home-bred Ital- 

 ians working on red clover, would give them the 

 preference over tlu' other races, with me, had they 

 not many other redeeming (lualities besides. I can 

 not help thinking that Ernest is mistaken in think- 

 ing that the suj)erior working qualities he sees 

 in imported stock is wholly due to the fact that 

 they are imported. I believe that it is in the cross- 

 ing which gives the great vigor. I have more im- 

 ported stock in my yard than ever before; and 1 

 find that, from my best improved bees (done by ju- 

 dicious crossing) I have, and am likely to obtain, 

 double the honey I shall from the imported. I also 

 find that daughters of imported stock, crossed with 

 my stock, stand much ahead of their mothers as to 

 the gathering (pialities of their woi-ker progeny. 

 This is the result gi\en in this, the poorest of all 

 seasons (with me) for 14 years. 



Well, this article is already too long, and I have 

 hardly got half through. With the editor's per- 

 mission I will conclude it in the issue for Sept. 15. 



Borodino, N. Y., .luly .'il, 1880. G. M. Dooi>itti,e. 



Ey all means, friend J)., give us the rest 

 of your vei'y Viiliiable commiuiication. I do 

 not know how you could think we shouldn't 

 care for yoiu- views on this most important 

 subject. I believe our experience agrees 

 with all you say, unless it be in regard to 

 the progeny of our imported queens ; and 

 as honey-raising is not a specialty with us, 

 yon may be the nearest right. I am (piite 

 sure that a great improvement could be 

 made by persistently rearing queens in col- 

 onies that give us the largest honey-yields. 



"BEES AND BEE-KEEPING," AGAIN. 



WHAT TS SALIVA AND ITS FUNCTIONS? 



J HAVE read Prof. Cook's review of "Bees and 

 Bee-Keepiiig " with pleasure, aiid I feel sure 

 every reader of Gikanings will think more 

 highly of him for the good-natured way in 

 which, as the editor says, ho "stands fire." 

 It has been said, that Mr. Cheshire's criticisms 

 show an unkind spirit toward Prof. Cook. I find 

 he is quite as se\ere in criticising the works of oth- 

 er authors; and I think In no case is he too much 



