18 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



MORE ABOUT THE HARDV STRAIN OF 

 BEES. 



SOMETHING FURTHER FROM FRIEND ROBBINS IN RE- 

 GARD TO THEM. 



flRIEND ROOT:— After reading your criticism 

 on my article, p. 741, Dec. No., it seemed to 

 — me that your remarks are calculated to create 

 doubts and disbelief as to the hardiness of this strain 

 of bees; that the cause of success in wintering will, 

 in all probability, be found in some accidental cause, 

 and not in the bees themselves. Now, friend Root, 

 this is the very question that puzzled me. I did not 

 at first believe but that my own bees and others 

 were just as good and hardy as Mr. Shirk's, and that 

 they ivould winter just as safely under like circum- 

 stances. Now, I would say that, at that time I was 

 just where you seem to be — on the other side of the 

 fence of disbelief. But after an observation and ex- 

 perience of four years with these bees, during 

 which time I embraced every opportunity to criti- 

 cise Mr. S. and his bees, I found that he had the 

 laugh all on his side, and the conceit most effectual- 

 ly taken out of me. Friend R , 1 can not ask you to 

 devote space to a detailed account of the many in- 

 cidents that have transpired in their favor in the 4 

 years that I have taken to investigate this peculiar 

 trait; yet I do not, even now, say that this character- 

 istic is a fixed and settled fact; but I do say, that 

 the evidence and proof of 4 years of skt ptical in- 

 vestigation show that our success was due to the 

 bees, and not to any accidental cause. This being 

 our deduction, I will add only my motive and rea- 

 sons for making it public. 



1. Believing, as I do, that this strain of bees pos- 

 sesses greater power of endurance in withstanding 

 the rigors of winter. 



2. That this superior power of endurance con- 

 tributes to a greater wing power, whereby they are 

 able to accumulate a greater amount of honey and 

 stores. 



3. That this same power, being constitutional, it 

 contributes to a greater degree of longevity, there- 

 by securing stronger colonies from the same amount 

 of brood. 



4. That the attendant loss of colonies during win- 

 ter is one of the serious drawbacks to successful 

 apiculture. 



5. That, as it is a rule among apiarians to intro- 

 duce new blood into their apiaries, for reasons that 

 are obvious, that all who wish may have the oppor- 

 tunity of testing the prospective good qualities of 

 these bees, and at the same price that would have to 

 be paid for other strains of bees. 



Bloomdale, O., Dec. 19, 1883. R. B. Robbins. 



Excellent, friend R. If you furnish your 

 improved bees at the same price as the old 

 ones, who will have any right to complain V 

 Tliey will certainly be worth all they cost ; 

 but at the risk of seeming perhaps unduly 

 cautious, I wish to call attention to the fact 

 that it will be a very difficult matter for you 

 to keep this strain of bees from mixing 

 quickly with other bees around them, and 

 that it will be a very hard matter to hold 

 them very long, unless you get queens con- 

 stantly from one source. In fact, we could 

 do comparatively nothing with the Italians, 

 were it not that the yellow bands indicate 

 where we are, and what we are doing. 

 These remarks are made with the supposi- 



tion that these bees are to the eye little if 

 any different from ordinary Italians. Per- 

 haps we may discover mark's that will enable 

 ns to identify them, down through successive 

 generations ; but then, will these marks per- 

 petuate the points we wish ? It is true, we 

 can rear our queens persistently from such 

 colonies as seem hardiest and greatest hon- 

 ey-gatherers ; but I know by experience 

 that it is a pretty intricate matter to manage, 

 so long as both queens and drones fly at 

 least a mile or two in every direction. 



SENDING Ql EENS ACROSS THE OCEAN 

 BY MAIIi. 



MORE ENCOURAGING FACTS. 



UR friends will remember, that in our 

 last issue friend J5enton made a proposal 

 to those who would mail bees to him 

 successfully. It seems that, in spite of my 

 carelessness, the work was started after all. 

 The following letter Avill be plain to our 

 readers after what has been said on the sub- 

 ject : 



Friend Root: — If the inclosed letter contains any 



thing of interest to you, or can be made to con- 



tributi' to your valuable journal, it is at you service. 



Huntington, N. Y., Nov. 20, 1883. F. W^ Burgess. 



Mr. F. ir. BujY/ess:- Success! The queenis yours! 

 I am highly gratified at being able to report that aU 

 three (juecns arrived alive! Your letter mailed Oct. 

 15, arrived in Munich between Sand 9 am. on the 

 27th, and was delivered at ray house at 11 a.m. On 

 the 28th (yesterday) the queens, mailed also Oct. 15, 

 came, between 8 and 9 a.m., as the stamp shows, and 

 were delivered at 11 a.m. I opened thera in the 

 presence of the postman who delivered the package. 

 The following is the report: 



No. 1.— 28 workers; 8 dead and dry, not swollen. 

 Two or three of the live bees with bodies slightly 

 swollen; the rest, with queen, in fine order. Some 

 flew out and tried to sting Mrs. Benton. Box not 

 soiled by the bees. One hole-ful of sugar about half 

 consumed. Other hole just begun. 



Oct. 29th, 9 A.M., one more worker found dead. 

 Oct. 29, 6 P.M., rest of bees and queens still lively. 

 They have been given no other food than Ihat In 

 the box in which they came. 



No. 2.-:il workers, 21 dead. Both living and dead 

 bees completely daubed with honey, and the interior 

 of the cage sticky. Most of the living bees were 

 active, but two or three of them showing swollen 

 bodies, yet could not Hyon account of being daubed. 

 But one or two spots were visible on the interior of 

 the box. One hole of the candy was two-thirds eat- 

 en, the other still untouched. Caged her in a nu- 

 cleus of Palestine bees, to see how she would ap- 

 pear after introduction. 



No. 3.— 40 workers. Only one dead! Queen and 39 

 live workers in prime order. Food about one-half 

 consumed. Box clean. This box was opened before 

 ■a closed window, and most of the workers had a 

 cleansing flight. The queen also took wing, and 

 alighted on the window, where she discharged a 

 small quantity of fluid, a drop the size of three pin- 

 heads, perfectly transparent and liquid. After remov- 

 ing the single dead worker and the loose grains of 

 dry sugar, this box was mailed at 5 p.m. of the same 

 day (28th) to Wiesbaden (Prussia), some 12 hours by 



