l.)70 



GLEANINGS IN V.EE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



instead of wire, :ind^|_hope to try it again 

 another season. 

 Ai'nold, Pa. 



[The first season's test does not seem to he 

 very much of a .success, it is true: but for all 

 that I can not help feeling that the plan can 

 be made to work. I read over the private 

 letters from Mr. Davitt, the originator of the 

 scheme, to J\lr. C'hun-h. They all bear the 

 evidence of candor. In fact, the whole tone 

 of them indicates that the man actually did 

 all he claims. 



C. yi. CHUKCH, AKNOLl), 1>A.. WIJO HAS BEEN 



EXPEKIMENTIKG WITH A LARGE TENT 



FOK THE FEKTILIZATION OF QUEENS. 



No one would have surmised at the start 

 that the wire cloth would not have been as 

 good as the mosquito-netting; but when one 

 stops to reflect a moment he can readily see 

 that the former, by reason of its rigidity, 

 would discourage and kill both drones and 

 queens, for their continual bumping against 

 a hard surface could not fail to work disas- 

 trously. Bees may bump against mosquito- 

 netting, and it will do them no harm. There- 

 fore I hope that our correspondent will try 

 the experiment again, now that he has the 



poles up, using mosquito-netting, at least in 

 the top of the cage. 



I have learned that a heavy windstorm did 

 considerable damage to the structure, and 

 that some extensive repairs will be required 

 before another season. I hope myself to see 

 the thing tested to a finish before another 

 year, with mos(iuito-netting. If it is a fact 

 that Mr. Davitt succeeded (and 1 have no 

 reason to doubt his word), I do not see why 

 others can not make a success of it. 



We shall never be al)]e to make very much 

 improvement in our strain of bees till we can 

 control the male parentage. This can'- be 

 done only on an island remote from the land, 

 or in a large cage. As our readers probably 

 know, we have l)een having our Caucasians 

 mated on an island oiT the coast of Florida, 

 and the results were very satisfactory. But 

 an island is out (jf the question for the great 

 majority of queen-breeders, and has the 

 further disadvantage that, unless located in 

 or near the ti'opics, the cold winds aa ill kill 

 many bees. — Ed.] 



CAUCASIANS VS. BAN AT CAUCA- 

 SIANS. 



BY N. E. CLEAVE K. 



I wish you would get A. I. Root to play a 

 little with the Banat Caucasians. His love 

 ior any thing in the bee line which is really 

 good would find a worthy object on wliich 

 to expenil itself. They are remarkable bees. 

 They have all the good traits of the Cauca- 

 sians and none of the bad ones. Mine I 

 Ideally think a little more gentle than the 

 Caucasians, and as quiet on the combs as 

 any Italians I ever saw. My Caucasians are 

 not l)ad propolizei's, during the summer. 

 When the Italians were gluing the frames 

 together very badly the Caucasians did not 

 stick them together at all. During Septem- 

 ber, however, there were large watis of pro- 

 polis placed near the entrace, not between 

 the frames nor around the cover, but on the 

 bottom of the frames near the entrance; and 

 the substance is quite unlike the propolis 

 gathered by the other bees in the same yard. 

 My Banat Caucasians did not propolize at 

 all". They stvick the frames together with 

 1)its of white wax. There is a marked differ- 

 ence in the young queens mating and begin- 

 ning to lay. The Banats mate about the 

 fifth day. and are soon vigorously at work 

 in the egg Irasiness. Several breeders have 

 complained to me that the Caucasians are 

 half lost in mating. At the time I would 

 expect the young queens to be laying nicely 

 I would find aliout a fourth of the Cauca- 

 sians all right; another fourth present but 

 not laying, and about half missing. I was 

 about "concluding that the advice of a neigh- 

 bor breeder, Mr. Pressler, was right. He 

 said, "Don't monkey with the Caucasians — 

 take the advice of your fool fi'iend." But 

 after a week or two the missing queens would 

 be back all right. At first I thought it was 

 Ijecause I failed to find the queen. So I used 

 golden ])ees for the nucleus, but the result 



