1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



535 



though none of the Italian races use 

 so much wax in capping their combs 

 as do the bees of the German variety. 

 And I saj' this after having kept both side 

 by side in my out- apiary all these years, 

 and having of both varieties from verj' many 

 of the best queen- breeders in the world." 



"But back a bit you said, ' in accord with 

 the way I asked the question.' What did 

 j'ou mean bj' that?" 



"You asked the question, as I understood 

 it, purel}' from a honey-producer^ s stand- 

 point. A queen breeder can not work along 

 the line a honey-producer can, for his stock 

 must be conforming as nearly to the best 

 thoroughbred Italians as possible. No one 

 wants to invest in hybrid bees for breeding 

 purposes." 



"How is that, if they are as good for hon- 

 ey as any of the pure races?" 



"Because when j'ou come to breed from 

 hybrids you have no certain way of know- 

 ing what you are doing, nor that you are 

 securing a direct cioss. Such breeding has 

 nearly always proven that, unless you had 

 something of known goodness in the Italian 

 mother, after a little an inferior grade of 

 bees in every way was the result." 



"These thoughts are new to me, and I 

 shall think on them and try to observe more 

 closely than I have done. I will go now." 



"Just a moment. Let me sum up so j'ou 

 can readily remember the points made. 

 First, have your queens mate with drones 

 as distantly related to the queens themselves 

 as possible; second, use queens as closely 

 related to the imported or dark Italian stock 

 as possible, where working for extracted 

 honey, for there are no bees in the world, in 

 my opinion, that excel such for gathering and 

 storing honey in combs already built, and 

 in close connection with the brood. Third, 

 where white capping of combs and a readi- 

 ness to enter the sections is the object work- 

 ed for, as is the case when working for 

 comb honey, then choose the golden Italians, 

 on account of their qualities in that direc- 

 tion." 



" Thank you." 



While the winter was severe and the 

 spring backward, conditions during the 

 past week or ten days have been very favor- 

 able for bees. There has been warm and 

 even hot weather, with frequent showers. 

 Fruit-trees are just now. May 25, out of 

 bloom. 



WINTER LOSSES IN WISCONSIN. 



A CAREFUL estimate made by Foul-brood 

 Inspector N. E. |France, also General Man- 



ager of the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion, who has been traveling over Wiscon- 

 sin in attendance upon his regular oflficial 

 duties, is that winter loss has been very 

 heavy, very close on to 60 per cent. Clover 

 is winter killed in the southern counties; 

 bees have not been building up well. 



THE GREAT DEMAND FOR BEES. 



We are having here an unprecedentedly 

 heavy demand for bees in nucleus and full- 

 colony form. We are shipping them at the 

 rate of $100 worth a day. Ifis well we had 

 a good stock to draw from or we should have 

 been sold out ere this. This seems to indi- 

 cate that many bees have been lost during 

 the past winter, for many ordered just one 

 nucleus, or perhaps two, to make a new 

 start. 



As many bees will be shipped during the 

 next few weeks, I wish to emphasize the im- 

 portance of providing an abundant ventila- 

 tion. The whole top of the nucleus or hive 

 should be open, and covered with wire 

 cloth. Then aboard, supported and nailed 

 about two inches above the wire cloth, 

 should be provided to protect it from being 

 jammed or broken into, and to shade the 

 bees if they are put in the sun by express 

 agents. 



HONEY-THIEVES BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. 



A SHORT time ago a man by the name of 

 B. F. Hoy, and his nephew, L. G. Wess- 

 ley, according to the Daily Califomian, 

 burglarized a bee-ranch belonging to F. D. 

 Lowe, at Bakersfield, Cal. It is said that 

 Mr. Hoy had terrorized that community for 

 years; that he was feared, and no one dar- 

 ed to prosecute him. Mr, Lowe concluded 

 it was about time to do something. He ap- 

 pealed to the National Bee-keepers' Associ- 

 ation to render him aid; but the directors 

 decided that a case of that kind did not come 

 under the jurisdiction of the organization. 

 But Mr. Lowe followed the matter up, with 

 the result that Hoy was convicted, and sent 

 to the penitentiary for ten years. The oth- 

 er man, Mr. Wessley, plead guilty, and 

 was given a light sentence — one year in the 

 penitentiar3' — for the reason, it is alleged, 

 he was led on by the older man, and be- 

 cause, further, he had a wife and baby de- 

 pendent on him. 



It has cost Mr. Lowe considerably more 

 than he recovered, and he feels that the 

 National ought to help him, as he has been 

 the means of establishing a splendid ob- 

 ject-lesson to other w^uld-be violators of 

 the law. 



The lone bee-ranches in the mountains in 

 California have been tampered with more 

 or less by thieves; and it is a question in 

 my mind whether the National ought not to 

 render aid in cases of this kind. In any 

 event, Mr. Lowe is to be congratulated for 

 the stand he has taken in the interest of 

 law and order. 



NOT A FISH story; BARKING UP TRADE. 



This has nothing to do with bees; and if 

 you are not interested, do not read it. My 



