1S9:J 



liLb:A>;iNCiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



403 



supgt'stiiins from us. It is now .Iiiiio ;.'l ; and 

 sinc<^ llu> tinit' tlic aiticlc was w ritUMi our ob- 

 Sl>^vation^ only oonlirin wliai Mr. L. has already 

 said. Ill addition wi' ob.scrvc that tlicy arc very 

 active, and seem lo be a little aheail. in honey 

 prodni'lion. of tlu' aveiaiie Italians. We also 

 discover that they are f^ood defenders of their 

 iiome ajjaiiist rolibeis. liuieed. we have seen 

 them, lilce the Cyprians, catch tlie intruders on 

 the « ing, "ilow 11 "em." and then two or tliree 

 others would pounce upon thcMU. Asain, we 

 observe that they deposit more i)ropolis in the 

 sann' leiiiitii of time than any niher bees wo, 

 ever saw. Som<> of tht> new frames we gave 

 them ten days ago look as if they had been in 

 use in a hybrid colony for a year or more; and 

 for that reason the Tunics may be a terror to 

 exact spacing or to spaced frames. In brood- 

 rearing they are a little bit ahead of the Ital- 

 ians, but not quite equal to the eastern races of 

 bees. They are quick of Hight: and when they 

 come in lad(Mi with honey they dart in at the 

 entrance like a shot. AsMr. Langstroth says, 

 they are not as quiet on the combs as Italians — 

 a little inclined to be nervous, and jun. In fact, 

 by giving them a few whitls from our Kingham 

 Doctor smoker, we caused them to '" boil over " 

 in a regular stanii)ede. 



Now. after having said all this we ought to 

 state that we have come to the conclusion, since 

 Mr. L. was here, that our Punic queen was not 

 strictly pure: for we find occasionally a one or 

 two yellow- banded bee just emerging from the 

 cell. So it is possible the bees we have may 

 have inherited some of their good qualities from 

 the Italians. It is well known, that even a 

 slight admixture of Italian blood in black bees 

 improves their honey-gathering qualities won- 

 derfully: and may not this be the case with the 

 Funics? Mr. Langstroth uses the terin " so- 

 called Punic bee "" advisedly. We have just re- 

 ceived information almost direct from the ex- 

 porter himself, in Africa, to the effect that they 

 are nothing more nor less than the Tunisian 

 bees — bees that have for a long time been well 

 known to the apicullural world. We should, 

 therefore, be pleased to have some of our Euro- 

 pean corresj ondents, who are in a position to 

 know, tell us something about the general char- 

 acteristics of the Tunisians. 



It may be interesting to some of our readers 

 to know that the article above was dictated to 

 our regular ofh'ce >tenographer: and although 

 it was Mr. Langstroth's first attempt at dictat- 

 ing offhand, the article seems to have lost none 

 of the usual literary excellence so characteris- 

 tic of Mr. L.'s writings. In fact, it could not be 

 otherwise, for he is a fluent conversationalist. 

 and writes as he speaks.] 



MANUM IN THE APIARY AND ON THE FAKM. 



PAINTING HIVES DIFFEiiKXT COLOK.S; VALUA- 

 BLE HIXTS AND SUGGESTIONS. 



■• Hello, ManumI what are you trying to do 

 witli that colony of bees? " 



■"Hello yourself, Leslie; and what are you 

 prowling around here for, with a gun in your 

 hand ? "' ( Leslie worked for me six years at the 

 bee-business.) 



"Ohl yon see I got tired of the shop, and I 

 suspected you would be here on the farm, either 

 working at the bees or setting out fruit this 

 pleasant day: so I just took my gun along, 

 thinking I might see a woodchuck to shoot at, 

 and at the same time take a little airing." 



"I hope, Leslie, you will shoot a large num- 

 ber of woodchucks' for they do me lots of dam- 

 age in the course of the summer. There!— there 

 is one now over there by that apple-tree, sitting 



up near liis hole. You can rest your gun on this 

 hive, and let him have. WhangI There, sir, 

 you hit him. sure; so there is one less to (^at my 

 r#eaiis. Ohl you asked what I was doing to 

 tliat colony. Well, it is one from which I have 

 sold a breeding queen: and. having fed it regu- 

 larly every day siiu-e the <iueen was removed, 

 for the purpose of getting nice queen-cells. I 

 am now breaking it up and making a nucleus 

 of each comb of brood. There I just s(!e what 

 nice queen-cells these are on this comb. I tell 

 you, it pays to feed liberally when trying to get 

 queen-cells thus early in thi- season.'' 



" Are you selling many of your breeding 

 queens?" 



" Yes; I am having more orders this spring 

 than ever: and. really, I am sorry for it. be- 

 cause, when I remove a queen from a full colo- 

 ny likc^ this it just spoils it for the season, as 

 regards any surplus. The best 1 can do with 

 such is to make nuclei of them, as I am doing 

 with this one." 



" Is this the way you secure so many queen- 

 cells early in the season, as well as after the 

 swarming season ?" 



" Yes. Usually I do not ship a breeding 

 queen until I have fed that colony a week or 

 ten days, in order to get them in thriving condi- 

 tion; then after the queen is removed I continue 

 feeding regularly until the cells are all capped, 

 when I either break up the colony or remove 

 the cells to other nuclei. If I simply remove 

 the queen-cells I then run in a virgin queen. 

 Then if basswood yields well they will get up 

 in shape to give me a fair amount of surplus; 

 but nothing from clover, and often nothing 

 from basswood. You see, there is no difficulty 

 in getting plenty of nice cells at any time from 

 a strong colony that is well fed." 



" How much do you feed such a colony at 

 each feed ? " 



"I usually feed about one pound of diluted 

 extracted honey or thin sugar syrup every 

 night." 



" Manum, who are those two men driving up 

 here?" 



"Really, Leslie, I don't know. Let me see. 

 One of them is a Mr. Knowls, of Ferrisburgh; 

 the other is a stranger to me." 



" Why! how do you do, Mr. Knowls?" 



"Mr. Manum, this is Mr. Joshua Bull, of 

 East Farnham, P. Q.. who is a bee-man, and 

 wishes to talk bees with you." 



" Mr. Bull. I am pleased to meet you and your 

 friend Mr. Knowls." 



" Mr. Manum, I have heard and read so much 

 about you and your bees, your hives, and your 

 methods, that I have come a long way to satisfy 

 my curiosity, and to learn what 1 can," says Mr. 

 Bull. 



" Very well, Mr. Bull; you are welcome, and 

 at liberty to ask all the questions you please." 



" I learn that you feed back some of your 

 extracted honey for the purpose of finishing up 

 partly tilled sections. Now, how do you do it, 

 and how do you prepare the honey? " 



" Yes, I sometimes do feed back; and since I 

 got up my new feeder I find I can do so at a 

 profit. I prepare the honey by adding X its 

 bulk of hot water, by reducing it that much. I 

 find the bees take it much faster than when fed 

 without reducing, and they cap it over much 

 nicer." 



•• W^ell, now, that is just what I want to see- 

 that new feeder." 



•'Here is one right here in this blue hive, 

 where I am feeding a colony for queen-cells." 



"Oh my! do see the bees working over those 

 partition boards. Well, I should say it was a 

 good feeder, sure. What would you ask me for 

 one of them to work from? I suppose you do 

 not make them in quantities for sale?" 



