APRIL 15, 1916 



319 



them that it is there when I am there, whicli 

 leads to questions, and sometimes T ahnost 

 have to confess. 



" Tony," who works around the yard and 

 the garden, slept for a time in the ''grouch" 

 house. His cot was directly under a sky- 

 light and near an observation hive, which 

 we had arranged inside the building, per- 

 mitting the bees to enter thru a small box 

 from the outside. For some reason or other, 

 probably from the settling of the building, 

 the box slipped loose from the wall, and 



many of the bees flew up and tried to get 

 out thru the skylight, and, failing, dropped 

 down on Tony's bed. It was dark when he 

 came in that night, and, being tired, he did 

 not light the lamp; and, undressing, he 

 hopped right into bed, and straightway he 

 hopped right out again. It was three miles 

 to the place where his people lived, but he 

 was back at seven in the morning, ready to 

 go to work, but in apijearance he was not 

 quite the same Tony. 

 Cleveland, Ohio. 



THE GOLDENS VS. THE LEATHER-COLORED ITALIANS 



Have the Criticisms of the Goldens been Too Severe ? 



BY M. E. BALLARD 



[In the following few pages we are presenting the discussion promised in the editorial, page 217, March 

 15. Since some have felt that Gleanings has not given the goldens a fair chance, we are publishing here 

 practically all the letters we have received favoring the goldens. Furthermore, and because the experience 

 was limited to only a few colonies, we have thought best to withhold several letters supporting Arthur G. 

 Miller's condemnation of the goldens. In order to he fair to all, we are not publishing the names of the 

 breeders who have contributed the four articles marked " By Breeder." We believe that all the breeders of 

 golden Italians who advertise in Gleanings are thoroughly reliable. Our own view of the whole question is 

 fully set forth in the editorial above mentioned. — Ed.] 



Mr. A. C. Miller, p. 116, Feb. 15, cites a 

 series of cases of improper acts which are 

 credited to the goldens. In case 1 the bees 

 failed to select larvse of the proper age to 

 raise a queen. Will not black bees or leath- 

 er-colored Italians do the same thing? 



Case 2. This combination is wholly un- 

 natural. Mr. Miller had, in that nucleus, 

 bees from two different colonies. The bees 

 which were on the frame of brood witli the 

 two queen-cells were in need of a queen, or 

 otherwise there would have been no queen- 

 cells on the comb ; and as these bees were 

 united with the nucleus they failed to unite 

 properly — at least failed to recognize this 

 strange virgin queen — and continued to 

 build and draw out the cells on their origi- 

 nal comb. That is strictly in accordance 

 with nature ; and who would expect bees to 

 do otherwise? 



Case 3, while rather peculiar, I think 

 needs some correction, for at that stage it 

 would be diftieult to determine just when 

 those laying workers began laying. Never- 

 theless, since the hive was foi' a time queen- 

 less, and working bees had thrust upon 

 their organs the task of producing eggs, 

 what should we expect those laying workers 

 to do with those eggs when developed? 

 Perhaps Mr. IVIiller will say they should 

 have gone out on the alighting-board and 

 dropped them in the grass. 



Case 4 illustrates their "bad temper," 

 and tliis I consider too unreasonable to 

 comment on ; but I should like to ask if 

 there was any robbing going on. 



Mr. Miller also states that " true pure 

 leather Italians " are extinct, so far as he 

 can find. I am wondering if they ever 

 existed. Did any one ever see a colony of 

 " pure Italians " without a yellow trace in 

 their makeup? 



Mr. S. H. Burton also condemns the 

 goldens. He does not explain why ; but 

 from what he writes we take it for granted 

 that the reason is because his bees came 

 near starving to death. This throws no 

 light on the subject unless Mr. Burton had 

 a percentage of leather-colored Italians, 

 and made comparisons which he fails to 

 state. There were bees that did actually 

 stai-\'e to death in this locality under similar 

 conditions in June, blacks as well as Ital- 

 ians; so is that any reason to condemn 

 goldens? As the Caucasians excel Italians 

 as honey-gatherers, a cross between these 

 two should make an improvement over Ital- 

 ians so far as honey-gathering is concerned. 

 Will Mr. Burton kindly inform us what 

 breed of bees those were that went into 

 winter quarters in the best condition ? 



In discu.ssing the qualities of the goldens, 

 will some one with experience, who is in- 

 clined to condemn them, tell us " why and 

 what for," and not condemn them for 

 something that is just as common among 

 leather-colored bees and blacks? 



The only doubt I have as to the eflicieney 

 of the goldens is their wintering qualities, 

 and at present I am not prepared to say 

 whether that is below the standard. 



Roscoe, N. Y. 



