1444 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



have had mismated queens as puve, many 

 times, but could not prove it; yet in this ease 

 I am disposed to believe the queen-breeder 

 honest. This queen, I might add, has a clip- 

 ped wing. L. W. Darby. 

 Hahndorf, Australia, June i. 



[A pure Italian queen may vary all the 

 way from a solid yellow to a solid black. 

 Her purity must depend on the markings of 

 her bees. 



Our A B C of Bee Culture goes into this 

 question of the markings of three-banded 

 Italians more fully than we can possibly do 

 it here. As you have read this it will not be 

 necessax-y to go over it again. Your confu- 

 sion arises from the fact that a few bees will 

 scatter from one colony to another a great 

 deal more than you suppose. If you hacl one 

 or two good colonies of Italians, and ten to 

 twenty of hybrids and blacks within a hun- 

 dred "feet, you would probably find among 

 those Italians quite a sprinkling of blacks as 

 well as one or two banded ones. These 

 would be simply interlopers from other hives. 



Some of our readers have doubtless noticed, 

 when they have purchased a Caucasian queen, 

 and placed her in a colony of Italians, in an 

 exclusively Italian apiary, that, even after 

 months had elapsed, there would continue to 

 be a sprinkling of yellow bees in her hive 

 that ought to have only black ones. This 

 would not prove that the Caucasian was not 

 pure, but, rather, that a few yellow bees had 

 probably made a mistake in their home. 



The question might arise in this connec- 

 tion, "How can one knotv whether he has a 

 pure Caucasian queen where there is a great 

 preponderance of Italians in the yard? " By 

 simply noting the markings of the very young 

 liees as they emerge from the cells. If one 

 is seen to crawl out of its baby quarters with 

 one or two yellow bands, the presumption 

 will be that the Caucasian was not quite pure. 

 —Ed.] 



raising chicken.s ox an island: a sug- 

 GESTION. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I have noted with inter- 

 est your experience with chickens on the 

 Florida island, and believe that it will prob- 

 ably cause some young men to try the 

 scheme. Now, I am a chicken-man, and, 

 with others, know that most of the trouble 

 with chickens is mites, lice, and contagious 

 diseases. Now, why not note the idea in 

 Gleanings, that, if there were no chickens 

 taken on to such an Island, only eggs and an 

 incubator, getting only eggs to hatch for 

 change of cockei-els, there would be no lice, 

 mites, or diseases on the island, and the 

 greatest trouble with chicken-raising would 

 be done awav Avith? J. R. Mooney. 



Butler, Mo., May 20. 



[Friend M., your suggestion is certainly a 

 good one. Prevention is better than cure — 

 in this case at all events. I think, however, 

 starting with fowls that are entirely free from 

 the pests you mention amounts to the same 

 thing — that is, if you can find such fowls; 

 and Mr. Shumard's seemed to be remarkably 



free from every thing of the kind. I feel so 

 sure that there is a wonderful opportunity 

 along this line I am just now planning some 

 experiments of my own for the coming win- 

 ter — I mean experiments in a locality where 

 there is no need of any coop.s or buildings 

 whatever for the protection of either the lit- 

 tle chicks or grown-up fowls. 



Now, here is another important point for 

 our friends in Florida, or anybody else who 

 contemplates going there or anywhere else 

 where there is no freezing. If yoii have no 

 buildings or coops to make, your capital may 

 be all invested in stock — something that has 

 a marketal)le value; and when for any rea- 

 son you want to quit and go home you can 

 turn your whole stock of fowls into cash any 

 day in the year. Last winter friend Shumard 

 thought he had more than he wanted to look 

 after, so he packed up something like a hun- 

 dred fowls, young and old. pullets and roost- 

 ei"s, and sent them by boat to Sarasota, and 

 I think he got 50 cents a bird for the lot 

 right through: and those chickens were nev- 

 er inside a Iniilding of any kind, size, or 

 shape in their lives. They had not even a 

 place of shelter to go under when it rained; 

 and they were the healthiest and liveliest lot 

 of chickens, and the handsomest, too, I ever 

 saw in my life. — A. I. R.] 



some impkovements on the hive-carry- 

 ing RACK. 



May I suggest two or three alterations in 

 the hand-barrow or rack used for carrying 

 bees in and out of the cellar? I have one 

 that has been used 16 years, and is in good 

 order yet. 



First, I put the legs about three inches 

 further apart at the bottom than at the top. 

 It makes it more secure while loading. 



Second, in shaping the end of the handles 

 I have it a little wider at the end. One can 

 get a firmer grip, especially if he has to go 

 up hill. 



Third, in carrying a heavy load (we have 

 put seven hives on) we use a rope tied to the 

 handles, passed over the shoulders. It re- 

 lieves the strain on the arms. These are lit- 

 tle things, but they help a good deal. 



State Mills, Wis! Gustave Gross. 



[These suggestions all seem to be good. 

 The device was illustrated on page 440 of 

 Gleanings for April 1st. With this before 

 the reader he can incorporate the changes 

 suggested. — Ed.] 



uncapping-knives w^ith scalloped edges. 



I would suggest making those uncapping- 

 knives, page 937, with scalloped edges, like 

 those scalloped bread-knives. I have been 

 using one of the latter for several years, and 

 think they work well, using the same with 

 either a drawing or sawing motion. 



Herman Betke. 



St. Louis, Mo., July 30, 1906. 



[I should like to hear from some of our 

 extensive extracted-honey producers on this 

 point; — El).] 



