1138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



which showed any yellow or maroon color- 

 ing on any one of the horny scales of the 

 abdomen would show it on three, if thus 

 filled with honey and placed on a window. 

 I have always stood out against a purity 

 which could not be told without such a mi- 

 nute scrutiny, and a color that could not be 

 told as yellow only as a full sac of honey 

 and the golden sunshine from beyond the 

 window must turn the maroon into gold." 



"But is there not danger of getting down 

 to too fine a point on what might be consid- 

 ered an unimportant matter ?" 



"Perhaps. Of course, all know that the 

 color of bees should have very little to do 

 with their desirability; for it is the queen 

 that gives the worker bees that will give 

 the best results in honey that the practical 

 bee-keeper is after as the most desirable 

 bee." 



"I think that is right." 



" Undoubtedly it is. But we have been 

 taught for the past third of a century, and 

 with greater emphasis, if possible, to-day 

 than ever before, that the Italian bee is just 

 the bee to give the best results in honey, or 

 is the most desirable for honey." 



"Don't you believe it?" 



" Yes. IBut how is any purchaser to know 

 whether the queen he receives is Italian or 

 not?" 



"By the markings of her worker prog- 

 eny." 



"Yes. But what are these markings to 

 be ? 'Oh! any thing, almost, so long as they 

 are good workers, ' was the answer given by 

 one who advertised and sold hybrids as the 

 best working bees. But the public was not 

 satisfied with this thing, and again demand- 

 ed something tangible to go by when they 

 were buying Italian bees and queens. And 

 so we are brought back to the markings of 

 the Italian bee as a starting-point when we 

 are buying the most desirable bee on the 

 earth." 



" Yes, I see. But if they are only a thor- 

 oughbred, and given to sporting, what dif- 

 ference does it make ?" 



"If we could be sure that all grades of 

 hybrids would be just as good workers as 

 the bees from a queen whose worker off- 

 spring showed three bands or more, then 

 this matter of markings would he an unim- 

 portant matter; but when you c'>'Tie to con- 

 sider that, the further off toward the black 

 we get from the three bands, the poorer the 

 bees average for honey, then these mark- 

 ings change from an unimportant matter to 

 one of much importance. The queen trade 

 is assuming gigantic proportions, many 

 queen-breeders reaping two or three times 

 as much from their queen-trade as from 

 their crop of honey; and once let the prac- 

 tice become common of selling 'almost any 

 old thing ' to the customer, instead of striv- 

 ing for the very best bee in the world, and 

 the queen trade will be a damage to apicul- 

 ture instead of a help; and, if I see aright, 

 we can not be certain of this best bee only 

 through its markings, even though the mark- 

 ings be that of a thoroughbred." 



QUESTIONS. 



As it's a long call to Medina I trust you 

 will pardon the number of questions. 



1. Can you throw any light on why bees 

 (wild ones) captured with sealed brood dur- 

 ing scarcity of pasture turn upon the brood 

 when hatched out, and swarm? 



2. Will you let me know the average dif- 

 ference in price between comb honey and 

 extracted? 



3. Can 4X5 plain sections (Danz.) be used 

 in an extractor? 



4. Will brass fittings, such as a tap in a 

 galvanized bank, taint honey? 



5. When Danzenbaker, regarding control 

 of swarming, p. 40, Facts about Bees, says, 

 ' ' Place them with the queen and all her 

 bees in a new body on the old stand," 

 does he mean it must be absolutely a new 

 hive, or will a clean second-hand hive do? 



Ubambo, S. Africa. Zululander. 



[1. I am not sure that I fully understand 

 your first question, where you inquire why 

 captured colonies during a scarcity of pasture 

 "turn upon the brood when hatched out." 

 If you mean larvse just hatched from the 

 eggs, then I would say when there is a 

 scarcity of food they wi.l destroy the brood, 

 because they must eat the food given to the 

 larvae in order to survive. If you mean that 

 the brood is destroyed when it hatches out 

 into young bees— that is, the young bees are 

 destroyed — then I can give you no solution 

 to the problem. 



2. Comb honey varies in price according 

 to the markets; but in this country it sells 

 from a third to ahalf higher than extracted. 

 In some cases it sells for twice as much; but 

 that is when the comb honey is extra fancy. 



3. The 4X5 plain sections can be used in 

 an extractor. 



4. Brass fittings on a galvanized tank 

 would have no appreciable effect on the hon- 

 ey; but honey left for any considerable 

 length of time in a small galvanized vessel 

 will absorb some of the zinc, giving it a bad 

 flavor. 



5. In the method for swarm control men- 

 tioned in Danzenbaker's book, either a new 

 or second-hand hive will answer the same 

 purpose.— Ed.] 



INCREASING THE CROP OF HONEY AND CON- 

 TROLLING SWARMS BY REQUEENING. 



I have, discovered a method by which I 

 get large crops of honey and no increase. 

 Let me say the plan is applicable only for 

 those who can be in the yard all the time 

 during the swarming season. 



Have the queens clipped, and when the 



