538 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jui-Y 15. 



sity of killing any bees. Tlie skilled apiarian, who, 

 of course, uses movable-frame hives, will be jrlad 

 for the value of the condemned bees, to drive them 

 from their combs; and witli his honey-emptier to 

 give the farmer the honey from the bees in its pur- 

 est form, and leave him the empty combs to be ren- 

 dered into wax. 



1 believe that, if the mass of our farmers could 

 be persuaded to resume bee-keeping with the old- 

 fashioned straw hive, there would not only be a 

 large increase in the number of bees, but also in a 

 short time a larger increase in the number of mov- 

 able-frame hives than can be brought about in any 

 other way. How many farmers would be asked by 

 their smart boys and girls, who naturally take to 

 bees: "Father, why can't we get some movable- 

 frame hives, and do as well with them as neighbor 

 A does?"! 



It is from this class that new recruits will be con- 

 stantly raised up to swell the ranks of improved 

 bee-keepers. Let our dealers in bee-keepers' sup- 

 plies profit by these hints, and I think that they will 

 not only find large sales for straw hives, but an in- 

 creased demand for their best improvements. 



Being the first person to invent and introduce a 

 practical movable hive, I feel it my duty to give 

 these suggestions to the public, and to invite frank 

 comment upon them. 



Dayton, ()., January, 1888. 



THE CONGREGATING OF DRONES DENIED. 



HOW TO INSERT QUEEN-CELLS. 



habit of congregating at a distance from your 

 apiary, and this would account for the piare 

 stocli you have. Your manner of inserting 

 queen-cells is described exactly in the ABC, 

 under the head of Queen -rearing— see page "242, 

 last edition. The same plan has also been de- 

 scribed in several of the former editions. It is 

 the best method, when used in connection with 

 a queen -cell protector.] 



I have noticed recently several articles in re- 

 gard to the daily congregation of drones, said 

 articles advancing the theory that queens usu- 

 ally repair to these congregations to be fertil- 

 ized. While I undertake to differ with the ex- 

 perienced authors of these articles with a great 

 deal of trepidation, yet I am so firm in the be- 

 lief that they are mistaken, that I am con- 

 strained to relate my experience and observa- 

 tion in the matter. 



I began bee-keeping as one of your ABC 

 scholars in 188.5, at which time I Italianized an 

 apiary of about 20 hives. Of course, as all the 

 bees around me were blacks, my bees were 

 mostly liybrids after requeening. Since that 

 time I have increased my apiary a little each 

 year, raising my own queens, till now I iiave 

 60 hives, over half of which are pure Italians, 

 and the rest high-grade hybrids. Now there 

 are. within a mile of me, twice as many bees as 

 I have, and they are all blacks except four 

 hives. It seems to me, that, if queens were 

 gi-nerally fertilized in the congregations refei'i'ed 

 to. my bees would have retrograded badly— in- 

 deed, have gone back to blacks, nearly. I have 

 made no effort to raise the strain, except to se- 

 lect eggs from purest motiicrs to raise queen- 

 cells from to put into new aitilicial swarms. I 

 hav<' never practiced disiJacing queens because 

 tliev weic low-grade hybrids 



Speaking of queen-cells. I find it as good a 

 way as any (and I think bi>tter) to give a nu- 

 cleus a quetMi-cell. to just separate two center 

 frames a little, and slip a ciueeii cell between 

 tiiem. clo>ing the frames on it tight enough to 

 liold it till the bet^s can stick ir, wliich they will 

 do at once, and take care of it till hatched. 

 This may be a common practice, but it is not 

 mentioned in the ABC, nor any other book 1 

 (>ver read. 



The honey crop was very short in South Mis- 

 sissippi this year, owing to late freezes. 



i^L M. Evans. 



Moss Point, Miss., .June 21, 18'.)2. 



[It does not seem to us that your experience 

 disproves yhv. theory (or. perhaps, we had better 

 say tlu' f(ict) of drones congregating. If any 

 thing, it rather confirms: for tlie majority of 

 voiir colonies wcic hybrids. It is not at all im- 

 probable that youi' Italian drones were in the 



PALESTINE AND TUNISIAN (OR PTINICj BEES, 

 SAID TO BE BAD ROBBERS. 



We extract the following, with footnote by 

 the editors, from the BriUsh Bee Journal, June 

 16. We have not had a chance to test the rob- 

 bing tendency in our) Funics, or Tunisians. We 

 shall likely give them a chance soon — perhaps 

 sooner than we like. 



□ This is a very busy season with us (making 

 comb foundation still). The orange-trees are 

 filling the air with their odor, and the bees are 

 busy. From sunrise to sunset all is movement, 

 diligence, and bustle. It was too warm in Feb- 

 ruary, and the bloom was out ten days too soon; 

 this generally proves a great loss, for the bees 

 are not all quite ready. February was just as 

 warm as March, the thermometer never going 

 below 14° Celsius (.57.20° Fahr.) before sunrise, 

 i. c, the coldest time in the twenty-four hours. 

 At noon it only once rose to 22° C. iTl.GO" F.). 

 but as a rule remained at 17° or 18° ((32.(30° or 

 64.40° F.). This equal temperature was not 

 very conducive to the flow of nectar, and up to 

 the 16th of March we had only 1 kilo. .500 

 grammes brought in, and on the 16th 2 kilos. 



On account of poor health and other reasons 

 I shall leave Palestine in May and settle in the 

 south of France; and if you are passing Mar- 

 seilles from Algiers or Tunis I should be glad to 

 know it and call upon you. I followed your 

 " Punic war "' with interest, and have been whol- 

 ly on youi' side of the question. I have had 

 Tunisian bees in my apiary, and found them a 

 busy, 'prolific, but a very robbing race. Just to 

 mention to you one case, 1 had one hive of 

 Tunisians in 188(5, and several hundred Pales- 

 tines. At the end of April a window of the honey- 

 house was left open by accident without being 

 covered by the wire gauze In this room there 

 were several tanks holding 500 i)ounds of honey 

 each, and one happened not to be covered with 

 the muslin. The orang(vblossom was over, and 

 tlit^ robbers made a start: but imagine my sur- 

 prise when 1 found dciid TiinisiiDts one inch 

 deep, and only a few Palestiiies. I should call 

 them 90 per cent greatei' robbers than Pales- 

 tines; at any rate, the dead were in this pro- 

 portion. They are very tenacious robbers, and 

 very difficult to send away, and contrast un- 

 favorably with our Palestiiies. who will leave 

 off rol)bing aft<'r an hour or two, even in the 



worst CaSe>. Pll. .1. li.^LDKNSI'KIUiER. 



Jaffa. 



We can thoroughly indorse all our correspon- 

 dent says about Tunisian bees and their rob- 

 bing propensities, notwithstanding what has 

 been said to the contrary by persons interested 

 in their sale. .\s none of these bees are now 

 being importwl into this country, and as it is 

 more than twelve months since any have been 

 sent over, it is fortunate that the few queens 

 that came over before that time are not likely 

 to have much contaminated our own races. We 

 very much doubt whether there is any bee- 

 keeper in this country who has a pure Tunisian 

 queen; and if there happens to be such a queen 



