FEBRUARY 15, 1916 



147 



wouldn't it? The new queen bad been lay- 

 ing for a week or ten days before the lay- 

 ing workers started in, and they kept to the 

 back part of the hive. (Combs are parallel 

 to entrance.) 



Some one will want to know how T treat- 

 ed such a case. I didn't. I just left it to 

 the bees. As the drones hatched, the Avork- 

 ers threw them out and the queen occupied 

 the comb. The laying workers die or quit 

 laying after a time, a few are still there, 

 but the colony is booming along; so. why 

 worry ? 



What is the cause of such a combination ? 

 I'll tell you in two words — " Golden Ital- 

 ians." Tiie Golden bees are a curse to the 

 industry. They are no more Italians than 

 an Ethiopian is a Caucasian. The claim 

 that they were developed from Italians by 

 selection is a gTievous error. I have seen 

 them from many breeders, and had a great 

 many strains of them myself; but I have 

 never seen one that did not bear the birth- 

 mark of the Eastern races — not only the 

 birthmark, but the accursed treacherous 

 temper of the Eastern bees. 



Prejudiced, am I? I used to think very 

 well of the Cyprian bee, but I changed my 

 mind. So completely am I weaned from 

 any love for " Golden " bees that not only 

 will I not have them myself, but I am try- 

 ing to get rid of any trace of " yellow " 

 blood in every yard I inspect. But true 

 pure " leather " Italians are extinct, so far 

 as I can find, so I am taking the b?st I can 

 get, and am trying to breed out the yellow 

 trace. 



Have you noticed the increasing number 

 of reports of cross bees and of the trouble 

 beekeepers are having with outsiders'? The 

 trouble has been growing ever since the 

 introduction of the Eastern bees and the 

 cult of the " beautiful yellow queens." 



Case 4 will illustrate their bad tamper, 

 and a phase of it beyond my ability to 

 explain. An apiary of about 30 colonies 

 of " Golden Italians." wonderfully gentle, 

 good workers and prolific, a desirable strain 

 from a friend of long experience, and se- 



lected from a couple of hundred colonies. 

 Six colonies were sold, two each to men 

 who came and picked what they wanted, 

 and the two gentlest colonies were sold to a 

 woman. All were beginners. The original 

 yard was six miles from the nearest lot of 

 the sold bees, and each was about six to 

 eight miles from each other. All queens 

 were clipped. That was in 1909. In 1910 

 the bees of every single colony of that stock 

 in each of the four yards were uglier than 

 yellow hornets, not at one time, but all the 

 time from spring to fall. The same was 

 true in 1911, even tho some of the queens 

 had been superseded. In 1912 most of the 

 colonies had been requeened with new stock ; 

 but wherever any trace of the old blood 

 remained, uncontrollable temper was met 

 with. One of the colonies owned by the 

 woman retained its ugliness thru 1913 and 

 1914. In August, 1914, I went into that 

 stock and there was. the original clipped 

 queen — six years old. It seemed a shame 

 to kill a queen of such long-lived stock and 

 so vigorous, for the combs were full of 

 brood ; but the bees were always looking for 

 trouble; and when they couldn't find it they 

 made it. For three years that colony was 

 not touched by me, and I always dreaded i*, 

 and always got an awful stinging. And, 

 by the way, some of that queen's bees lived 

 until May of this year. 



Will some one explain why gentle stock 

 and gentle bees of individual queens went 

 bad and stayed bad? If it was a case of 

 supersedure and new matings, the answer 

 would be simple ; but it was the bees of the 

 original queens all gentle one year, all ugly 

 forever after. 



Does some one say bad handling? Well, 

 I handled the original yard and helped on 

 the others, and I am no spring chicken in 

 the bee business. 



Bees are contrary — ah! Mr. Crane objects 

 to my saying " little cusses " (a " cuss " 

 equals a " customer "), so I will use an old 

 New England phrase and say that they are 

 " contrary little critters." 



Providence, R. I. 



FROM FOUR TO ONE HUNDRED COLONIES 



BY CURD WALKER 



Seventeen years ago, about one year 

 before I ever saw Gleanings, I bought my 

 first bees. They were in a box hive nearly 

 three feet long, and split open on one side. 

 It contained a good colony of black bees. 

 hoAvever. and later on that same spring T 

 bouglit three moi'e colonies, one in a round 



gum and two in home-made patent traps in 

 very bad condition. That year I got two 

 swarms, but the moths killed one of them 

 I)efore winter. 



The next year I began to get acquainted 

 with Mr. C. H. W. Weber, of Cincinnati, 

 who sent me my first queen-bee of the Ital- 



