128 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



IS IT THE RESULT OF AGES OF SURVIVAL OF THE 



FITTEST? 



Now, really, friend Root, do you think bees build 

 comb any differently than they did when the great 

 Creator pronounced all his works good? That there 

 is a difference in the qualities of bees, I know; and 

 so I believe there was then. If God knows the be- 

 ginning from the end, he knows just what is wanted, 

 and so makes it good. We have no reason to believe 

 that there has been much improvement made, as a 

 whole, since the creation, if any thing; for wherein 

 one point is gained, another is lost; for instance, 

 man has perhaps a better intellect to-day than he 

 had 3000 years ago, but he does not live a tenth part 

 as long. So with our choice breeds of cattle, sheep, 

 etc.; the more choice they are, the more petting it 

 takes to keep them up, while the lean, uncouth 

 "scalawag" will live and thrive anywhere. 



MAKING BEES USE LARGER CELLS. 



We tried to so improve the bee as to make them 

 take cells 4!4 to the inch, but we had to give it up, 

 and believe God knew best when he taught them 

 that five is right. 



HYBRIDS. 



WHY DO HYBBIO QUEENS BRING ONLY M PRICE OF 

 ITALIANS? 



Just because anybody and everybody can raise 

 plenty of hybrids themselves, if they have an Italian 

 to start with; but if they have a queen producing 

 hybrid workers, they soon have nothing but blacks. 



BLACKS ARE MORE TROUBLESOME ROBBERS THAN 

 EITHER HYBRIDS OR ITALIANS. 



You are just right here; and still we have those 

 who claim the Italian is superior to the blacks, only 

 as they rob others. I have been so annoyed by these 

 black chaps following me around, as to get fairly 

 nervous. 



I have had pure Italians that were ordinarily quiet 

 and peaceable get so roused up as to sting worse 

 than any hybrid ev^r thought of stinging. 

 INTBODUCINO QUEENS. 



FINDING THE OLD QUEEN. 



I would say, draw one of the outside brood combs, 

 for the queen is of tener found on the outside brood 

 combs during the day than she is on the central one. 



THE "PEET-CAGE" plan OF INTRODUCING. 



I have succeeded to my entire satisfaction the past 

 Bummer in introducing queens by making a cage as 

 you used to, to cage queen-cells; and make it so it is 

 4 inches square; find a place where the bees are 

 hatching out rapidly, and place your queen thereon, 

 after getting all the bees off; then place your cage 

 over the queen, and press into the comb. Of course, 

 you must have some cells of honey inside the cage 

 too. As the bees hatch, they become attached to 

 the queen, and she commences to lay in the vacant 

 cells, and in from 34 to 48 hours she will fill them all, 

 and these young bees will protect her after you have 

 lifted the cage off from her and them. 

 ITALIAN BEES. 



IS FRESHLY IMPORTED STOCK BETTER AS HONEY- 

 GATHERERS? 



Can't "swallow" that yet; and I candidly believe 

 further importation is useless for the next five years. 



THE FOURTH YELLOW BAND. 



I have had those on which the fourth was just as 

 Visible on the honey-scale as it usually is on the 

 third, and that while they were on the window. 

 LAMP NURSERIES. 



Are not your queens weak and feeble if hatched in 



the lamp nursery? Mine were so much so that, after 

 using it two years, I laid it to one side, and have not 

 used it since. Queens hatching over a swarm of 

 bees in a wire-cloth cage seem to be as strong again. 



LETTING NEWLY HATCHED QUEENS INTO A HIVE 

 WHEN A LAYING ONE HAS JUST BEEN TAKEN OUT. 



Out of 20 so let in the past season, I lost all but 

 one, and had nearly as bad success before; so I 

 should say, if I were writing a book, that, as a rule, 

 all so let in would be killed. 



UNSEALED HONEY GETTING THICK IN THE LAMP 

 NURSERY. 



A good argument in favor of my theory in ripen- 

 ing extracted honey, and also of keeping box honey 

 till it is so thick it will not leak from unsealed cells. 

 We have faith enough to believe that, if you were to 

 once store your box honey in a room that maintains 

 a temperature of 00° for three weeks, you would 

 never ship it as it came from the hives. 



MOTHERWORT AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



As I said at the Chicago convention, so I say now: 

 if I were to cultivate any plant for honey, it would 

 be Motherwort; for our bees work on it from morn- 

 ing till night for weeks. 



MOVING BEES. 



HOW FAR DO BEES FLY FOR STORES? 



You know we don't agree here, as I claim they go 

 from 3 to miles from choice. My bees went 4 to 5 

 miles to work on teasel the past year, without any 

 teasels within 3'/i miles on the first part of the route. 

 This I know, as a bee working on teasel is always 

 partly covered with a whitish dust, as they are with 

 yellow when working on pumpkin and sqtiash. 



Thanks ; very likely I have put the dis- 

 tance too small. 



NUCLEUS. 



HOW FEW BEES, WITH A QUEEN, MAY START A COLONY. 



We once had a colony become so reduced that, by 

 actual count, there were 81 bees and the queen, and 

 so they held on till warm weather, when they built 

 up without help, and actually gave a surplus of 5 lbs. 

 on buckwheat, in sections, and were in splendid con- 

 dition for winter. 



IS THE GALLUP FRAME TOO DEEP? 



I don't see how you can call the Gallup frame 

 deep, when it is only two inches deeper than the L. 

 frame. If you had said the old American or Kidder 

 that were 14 inches, I could have agreed. The Gal- 

 lup frame is the best proportioned frame of any, all 

 things considered. So think I. 



DOES THE BOTTOM PROJECT BELOW THE CLUSTER? 



No more than the ends do, for it is exactly square. 

 A good swarm of bees in the Gallup frame will 

 touch the bottom and top of the hive, and also each 

 end where only 9 frames are used, but not the sides; 

 while with the L. frame they touch the bottom and 

 top only. 



Why, friend D., it seems to me our bees 

 don't act just as yours do, but perhaps we 

 are both a little prejudiced. 



ITo hz Continued.'] 



mt f t ^ 



CELIiAR \riNXERING. 



BY MR. GEORGE GRIMM (SON OF ADAM GRIMM ) 



^fipR. EDITOR:— You wish me to state how I win- 

 P/f| tcr my bees in cellars. Well, here is the 

 — " ' statement. I do not claim that mine is the 

 hcst mode, but I have been sulBcieutly successful to 

 give mc satisfaction. It waS) with fewmodiflcatioriej 



