14 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



J AX. 1. 



lieve the dcirker colored these bands are, the 

 better ivorkers the bees prone to be. 



I uotice, both by the circulars of breeders and 

 by several letters which I have, that the first 

 thing the avei'age American ti'ies to do is to 

 improve the Italian bee. This is a character- 

 istic of the American, and '"improvement" is 

 his motto; but liow is a person to undertake to 

 improve a thing tliat already has fixed charac- 

 teristics? I find that this " improvement" (?) 

 consists in making it yellow, yelloirer, yellow- 

 est. 



While I liave no objection whatever to these 

 yellow bees, and liave and intend to continue 

 to keep the yellowest bees procurable, yet I 

 will say for them that they will not reproduce 

 themselves. Out of ten queens from a five- 

 banded mother, mated in an apiary where 

 drones from five-banded mothers abound, not 

 more than two of the untested queens will prove 

 to be five-banded. I find the iive-banded liees 

 as gentle as the imported stock; but the l^ees 

 from queens of five-banded stock that produce 

 bees with only three bands are not gentle. 



Last season there were many of these queens 

 sold. Last fall at the fairs I found many dis- 

 appointed purchasers of them. They had bought 

 untested queens of tliem, expecting to get some 

 five-banded. They had failed, and consequently 

 they were disappointed. 



The Americans have bi'ed tlie short-horn 

 until he is a fac-simile of the Devon. Tliey 

 have bred the Poland -China until a whole field 

 full of experts can not tell a Poland -China from 

 a Berkshire, ears alone excepted. And they 

 have bred the Italian bee until it is identical 

 with the Cyprian. Now, this has not all been 

 done by " judicious selection." 



When there is a demand foi- anv type of ani- 

 mal or bee, the Americans are going to supply 

 that demand, and do it right spi'edily. 



Why is it. Mr. Editor, kiiowinir as you do the 

 nature of the imported bees to produce workers 

 almost identically the same, you charge about 

 double for a queen from an imported mother, 

 that herself happens to be a little yellower than 

 ordinary? W. C. Frazikk. 



Atlantic, la., Dec. KJ. 



[Our experience as importers is quite in line 

 with yours. Next to tVie Italian bee-keepers 

 themselves, the importers who receive annually 

 large consignments of queens from that country 

 ought to be in position to judge of the general 

 cliaracteristics of the bees. It is our experience 

 that imported Italians are as fixed as any race 

 of bees known, in their general characteristics, 

 with the possible exception of the black, or Ger- 

 man race. Of tlie hundreds of queens we have 

 imported from Italy, we never saw any four or 

 five banded progeny from any of them; neither 

 have we seen any one-banded progeny. They 

 have been uniformly three-banded bees, though 

 in the progeny of a few the third band was 

 quite indistinct, and some would pronounce 

 them only two-banded. It is remarkable that 

 the bees of Italy should show .so generally such 

 fixed qualities, and that these qualities should 

 duplicate themselves so nearly in the first gen- 

 eration. It is a fact, as w(; iiave often I'epeated, 

 the bands of the importeds are leather-colored, 

 or, at least, a dark yellow; and these darker 

 bees have so far given better results in lioney. 

 We therefore take the liberty of putting in ital- 

 ics what you say on this point. 



It is true, that Americans will endeavor to 

 give people what they want: and because thei'e 

 is a demand for yellow qiie(-ns, and Ijecause of 

 the fact that only a few of thcni are among the 

 daughters of itnpoi'tcd mothers, we have had to 

 charge more foi" them: hut as we say in our 

 price list, tlit^r bees will have no more than 



three yellow bands, nor will they be any better 

 honey -gatherers than those from darker daugh- 

 ters. In regard to the article of Mr. Golds- 

 borough, you will see. by turning to page 'J48, 

 Dec. l."). that he must have visited only a few 

 localities in Italy, or else lie observed very care- 

 lessly. Although not intending to misrepresent, 

 his article gave a very incorrect idea of the 

 kind of bees found in Italy.] 



THE HUBBARD BEE -HIVE. 



ITS MERITS SET FORTH. 



Friend Root: — As brood-frames witli fixed 

 distances have attracted so much attention of 

 late, I think it possible you will lie interested 

 with a description of the Hubbaid hive, which 

 in a measure combines both fixed and movable 

 distances. It was patented Jan. Ifi. 18S3. The 

 main objects attained by having my brood- 

 fi'ames hung in tliis way are: 



1. They can be swung out to tlie left, giving 

 plenty of space in which to remove combs with- 

 out danger of scraping them together. 



2. They are spaced l^o inches from center to 

 center, at the fiont end. and at the reai' end of 

 the frames a long staple sets in fine, deep, saw- 

 tooth notches which allow the frames to liave 

 their distances varied, and at the same time 

 stay where they are put. as the frames will not 

 move unless the hive is turned on its side. The 

 adjustment at the reai- end allows a queen-cage 

 to be introduced, or the distance to be varied 

 to accommodate combs of different thickness. 



3. Each end of the frame has a projecting 

 nail at the upper left-hand corner and a long 

 shallow staple below: therefore the frames may 

 be hung eitlier end front. 



4. Frame - bearings are metal, and. lieing. 

 small, do not get waxed fast. 



5. This accomplislies the fixed-distance idea 

 without danger of crushing bees between wide 

 end-bars or top-bars, and with no projecting 

 top-bars to catcli them. 



(5. The staples in the bottom of the frames 

 k(^ep liees from being crushed under the bottom- 

 bar when you set a frame to one side on a flat 

 surface. 



7. When returning a frame to the hive you 

 find it practically self-adjusting. Get it some- 

 where near its place, and lai'ge notches in its 

 tin bearings at the front end guide it instantly 

 to its place, wliile you swing it to the point at 

 which you wish it at the rear. 



S. Hives ought always to slant a little toward 

 tlie entrance. This hive does; and by having a 

 frame — hanging below at the front end, a bee- 

 passage is always maintained; the frame does 

 not sag and get waxed fast, nor make a harbor- 

 ing-place for vermin. 



