574 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



LABGE ITALIAN BEES. 



AN ACCOUNT OF A STRAIN THAT CAMK FKOM 

 IMPOHTED ITALIANS. 



Mr. Root:— By this mail I send you a sample 

 of my bees. They are the result of a queen 

 from you about eleven years ago, and the care- 

 ful breeding of the same during all that time. 

 Located as I am away from hummocks and all 

 wild bees, I have had no trouble in keeping 

 them strictly pure Italians. When I came here 

 from the North I was informed that it was no 

 use to try bees here, foi' all would die. At first 

 it did seem so, for all they would make was 

 consumed by the bees. In two or three years 

 they did much better, and gave us some honey; 

 and now we get from 75 to 1.50 lbs. of comb hon- 

 ey per stand, and the hive the sample is taken 

 fi'om made, during March, 03 lbs. of the finest 

 and fairest orange-blossom honey I have ever 

 seen, as it is almost clear orange-bloom. To 

 say they are all business, is putting the claim 

 very moderately. There is no doubt that you 

 sent me the purest stock to begin with that it is 

 possible to find: and this by careful selection 

 has brought about such wonderful results. 



Early in my experience with bees I had a very 

 impressive lesson on the need of selection, when 

 I had only live colonies. One of these had in 

 all not more than a quart of bees, and had not 

 really kept to the size of the original swarm, 

 and only two or three pounds of honey, while 

 all others had ten L. frames pretty well filled 

 with brood and honey. Not long after this I 

 found one that seemed to devote all its time to 

 raising drones, and swarming. It swarmed till 

 the effort was no larger than one's fist, and all 

 that seemed to be left in the hive were drones. 

 These I trapped out and killed the queen, then 

 gave them a frame of young brood and eggs 

 from my brag hive, and in an astonishingly 

 short time they were as good as any in my 

 apiary. I hived 37 during March, and those 

 that came early have filled eight and nine 

 frames, all of orange; and when it is capped 

 over it is surely as white as this paper. The 

 strange feature about my bees is their size. 

 How this came about (if it really is so, and I 

 think you will say ""/iou; Mg " when you have 

 compared them with others), I will leave to tell 

 at another time. Aware of their large size. I 

 sent to quite a number of our brethren north 

 for samples. The heaviest came from friend 

 Frazier. from Iowa, and the lightest came from 

 the " Home of the Honey-bees." They were of 

 the bronze type, and the strongest marked I 

 ever saw; 15 of them weighed n^s grs. troy, 

 and 15 of Mr. F.'s went to 23^ grs. The same 

 number of mine went to 38^^ grs. All were fed 

 or offered all the honey they wanted, for an 

 hour before being weighed. Might not the 

 worry of a long confinement, and being knock- 

 ed about in a mail-bag, make much of the dif- 

 ference? I have sent you these to test the 

 matter; and having heard of bees that would 

 work on red clover, my conclusions were that 

 they were large, with proportionately long 

 tongues that enabled them to reach to the 

 place in the bloom where the nectar was se- 

 creted. 



If I am right in my deductions, I. will send a 

 queen or two to some one in a red-clover region 

 the coming summer to test their ability in that 

 particular industry. There is no question about 

 their being hustlers here when it comes to gath- 

 ering in the sweets. What they might do with 

 you is more than I am able to say, as I have 

 never offered, sold, nor sent, one north. 



My bees have never been troubled with any 

 disease, which induces me to ask if bees in the 



South are subject to foul brood. I have never 

 heard of its being in the State. 



Please tell us what you think of their size, 

 and whether, in your opinion, they would be a 

 success as honey -gatherers on red clover. 



J. PlEKRPONT MURDOCK. 



Oxford, Fla., Apr. 5. 



[The bees sent to us were extra large, even 

 after having been on a journey for several days 

 — a condition that is apt to make all bees look 

 smaller than their wont. This queen came 

 from our imported stock, and was selected, not 

 so much for color as for gentleness of her stock, 

 and general good working qualities. Some day 

 there will be a louder demand for bees of busi- 

 ness vim and gentleness, without regard to 

 color. We can't say how they would do on red 

 clover.] 



A LETTER FROM CUBA. 



A KKMAKKABLK INCREASE FROM ONE COLONY. 



My fi'iends Dr. Warner and Mr. Somerford 

 have suggested to me that my experience in 

 starting an apiary might be worth reporting to 

 you. As an indication of the possibilities of 

 bee-keeping hei'e in Cuba, doubtless it is; but 

 when I look back in the light of the experience 

 gained, and see how much better I might have 

 dune. I don't feel that it is any thing to be proud 

 of. Sumnuirized briefly, the increase from one 

 colony had amounted in 18 months to over 30 

 colonies, and these had produced 7240 lbs. of 

 honey. 



Our friend Dr. Warner has an apiary, and my 

 better half thought it would be nice lo have a 

 hive of bees up on our azotea (flat tile roof), and 

 I made no objection. The colony of bees came 

 in December. 1890. the queen having begun lay- 

 ing Nov. Kith. It was my wife's affair; but as 

 she happened to be away the first time our 

 friend came to open the hive and attend to the 

 bees, I assisted and thought it rather interest- 

 ing. I attended to them myself the next time, 

 and my interest grew, and we thought we 

 should make five colonies. Dr. Warner having 

 explained to us how to increase by dividing. 

 Our experience (Mrs. L. got almost as deeply in- 

 terested as I did) the next three months was 

 doubtless very much that of most beginners. 

 How cross those hybrids were! We got brood 

 and cells from our fiii^nd's pure Italians, and 

 were bound to have no other queens. Ey and 

 by we forgot our limit of five colonies, and did 

 not insist on purity of breed. We wanted bees, 

 no matter what color. We got past the stage 

 of gloves and armlets, and antidotes for stings, 

 and concluded we would keep on until we had 

 20 hives. In August we had 26 colonies, and the 

 fever (bee, not yellow fever) became so strong 

 that we came near giving up our visit to the 

 States, for the sake of staying to take care of 

 the bees. We did not give it up, howevei-. and 

 were away three months (went to the Pacific 

 coast, and followed the same route over which 

 we have since accompanied Mr. Root with so 

 much pleasure), leaving the bees to the care of 

 our friend. He could not see them very fre- 

 quently. A good many swarms went out; but 

 when we returned in November we found on 

 our azotea 32 hives, mostly with upper stories. 

 This was exactly one year from the time the 

 first queen began laying. We began extracting 

 in December from 27 colonies, having lost one 

 by accident; given away two, and placed sec- 

 tions on two. The bellflower lasted only until 

 about Jan. (). giving 2.30 gallons. This usually 

 lasts until a month later. Romerillo {Bkletis 

 leucanthus) following, soon gave about as much 



