GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



two men ; 2500 lbs. in a day for Archie and 

 Harry B , etc. 

 Ithaca, N. Y. 



[I have seen Coggshall and his men take 

 honey off the hives, and go through the whole 

 operation of extracting. Every thing is ar- 

 ranged with the one idea of saving labor; and 

 rapidity of movement, irrespective of stings 

 that such movements may cause, has made a 

 class of workers who have earned the name 

 of " lightning operators." A boy or man nev- 

 er graduates under Coggshall without having 

 first acquired the art of working rapidly and 

 taking stings by the dozen, without even flinch- 

 ing. If a kick will take a super off the hive 

 a little quicker, and at the same time jar bees 

 off the comb, kick it is. — Ed.] 



GOLDEN ITALIANS. 



Question.- — Are the golden Italian bees a dif- 

 ferent race from the leather-colored Italians, 

 or were they bred from the dark or imported 

 Italians by choosing the light colored queens 

 to breed from? 



Answer. — According to my opinion, the 

 Italian bees, no matter what their coloring, 

 are not a fixed type or race of bees as are the 

 German bees, or what are more commonly 

 called "blick" bees. They are a variety, or 

 what might be more properly called a thorough- 

 bred, the same being brought about by the en- 

 vironments of thtir home during many gen- 

 erations and centuries, the environments large- 

 ly being the snow-clad Alps in Italy. The 

 first importations of these bees to this country 

 were quite dark — more so than the importa- 

 tions of the present day, if I am correctly in- 

 formed. Early breeders of these bees found 

 that they were liable to " sport," as it is call- 

 ed — that is, some of the queens reared would 

 be almost entirely black, while others would 

 be a beautiful yellow (the same as breeders of 

 sheep find now and then a black or brown 

 lamb born in a flock of white sheep); and the 

 longer these Italian bees stayed in this coun- 

 try the more yellow they became, even where 

 no special attention was paid to the matter of 

 color. Finally, some of our breeders saw a 

 profit in the beautiful yellow shown by some 

 of the Italian queens, a few generations re- 

 moved from the imported stock, so they began 

 breeding along this yellow line. Notable 

 among these were H. A. King, of Ohio; Mrs. 

 E. S. Tupper, of Iowa, and Jos. M. Brooks, of 

 Indiana, the latter seeming not only to breed 

 for color, but for all of the other good quali- 

 ties possessed by the Italian bee; and if there 

 is any thing of praise to be said of the very 

 yellow Italians of to-day, Joseph M. Brooks 

 should come in for his share, for there are 

 very few if any very yellow Italian bees in 

 this country, at this time, but have more or 



less of the Brooks stock " blood " in their 

 "veins." Why I have emphasized the word 

 " Italian " is, there are many very yellow bees 

 in the country which came from Cyprian stock 

 originally; and this yellow breeding has been 

 carried to such an extent that, in the very yel- 

 lowest specimens, the queens do not show the 

 least bit of black or brown on their abdomens, 

 and the drones' abdomen is nearly a solid mot- 

 tled yellow, while nearly or quite all of the 

 workers are a solid yellow except the tip or 

 point of the abdomen, which is of a brown- 

 ish black color. As this color is of such a rich 

 orange or gold color, these bees are very prop- 

 erly called " golden Italians; " but, aside from 

 those having Cyprian blood in them, all orig- 

 inated from queens imported direct from Italy, 

 being brought up to their present standard as 

 to color by selection. 



FIVE BANDED BEES. 



Question. — Are golden Italians what are call- 

 ed by some people five banded bees? 



Answer. — The worker bees from an import- 

 ed queen direct from Italy show two colors on 

 each of the three horny scales or segments of 

 the abdomen, next to the thorax. That on 

 each segment nearest the thorax is of a leath- 

 er color, and that farthest from the thorax be- 

 ing of a brownish- black color. This gave 

 birth to the expression, "three-banded bees." 

 As the breeding toward the yellow progressed, 

 some individual workers were found having a 

 very narrow stripe of yellow on the fourth seg- 

 ment of the abdomen, and with this stripe 

 came the contention that the Italian was not a 

 pure race of bees, but a mongrel or thorough- 

 bred, as the question arose regarding this 

 fourth band thus : "If bees showing three 

 bands are pure, what are those showing yel- 

 low on four bands?" As the breeding for yel- 

 low continued, that on all the segments be- 

 came wider and wider, the yellow encroach- 

 ing on the black or dark more and more, all 

 the while, until individual specimens began 

 showing a very minute yellow stripe on the 

 front edge of the fifth segment, which gave 

 rise to the present term, " five-banded bees." 

 As this yellow on the fifth segment increased, 

 the dark or black stripes on the first, second, 

 and third segments vanished altogether ; and 

 as progress continued the black finally disap- 

 peared on the fourth segment also, which 

 made this individual bee appear something 

 like a lump of gold as it sported in the sun- 

 shine in front of its hive. This gave birth to 

 the name " golden Italians." And thus it is 

 that the five-banded bees and the golden Ital- 

 ians are one and the same thing, only the gold- 

 ens are a little further advanced in the race 

 toward the yellow line than are the five-band- 

 ed. While this is so, the two terms are very 

 largely us?d indiscriminately, both being ap- 

 plied to the very yellow bees of to-day. 

 CONTRACTING BROOD-NEST FOR WINTERING. 



Question. — Is it necessary when wintering 

 on the summer stands to contract the brood- 

 nest by using chaff division-boards? 



Answer. — No, it is not absolutely necessary; 

 still, it is very generally believed that, if the 

 three lightest frames, as to honey, are taken 



