THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Ill 



Now, however, in these econom- 

 ical times, in every land and coun- 

 try where bees are kept, special 

 interest is taken in their manage- 

 ment, and already many books per- 

 taining to beekeeping have been 

 written, but the directions given in 

 these works will not be found to be 

 equally beneficial in all countries. 

 We also have, in our own country, 

 many new and good articles written 

 on the subject of bees and their 

 management, the value of which I 

 shall not deny in this present work, 

 but I would here acknowledge my 

 indebtedness to them for many 

 practical hints and experiments. 

 But many of these works are writ- 

 ten only for the experienced apia- 

 rist, a1 the same time failing to 

 give any such information as would 

 be of use to the novice. Many 

 contain numerous suppositions and 

 treat of methods, based only on 

 hypotheses, which I have found to 

 be wrong and harmful in my own 

 experience. 



Some include with the good so 

 much that is troublesome, and 

 misleading that a beekeeper, espe- 

 cially if he have not much time, be- 

 comes easily discouraged : and the 

 result of all these annoying theo- 

 ries is very unprofitable, and they 

 should be viewed as merely specu- 

 lative. 



I have, in as brief a manner as 

 possible, brought these facts to 

 your attention, not deeming to dic- 

 tate anything that could not be 

 positively proven through my own 

 experience. I can therefore speak 

 with assurance, and advise every 

 beekeeper, for his own benefit and 

 23 



pleasure, to follow out the instruc- 

 tion tliat I have given here, for by 

 no other will he obtain better re- 

 sults or find an easier method of 

 management. 



The Author. 



Bodheim, July 24, 1779. 

 (To be continued.) 



QUALITIES OF SYRIAN 

 AND PALESTINE BEES. 



MK. DOOLITTLE'S views EXAMINED. 



By Frank Benton. 



Coming from a man whom I have 

 been accustomed to regard as 

 pretty generally correct in his con- 

 clusions in regard to bee-matters 

 and honest in the statement of the 

 same, the views of Mr. Gr. M. Doo- 

 little, as expressed on page 500 

 of the American Bee Journal 

 for Oct. 10, surprise me exceed- 

 ingly. All my experience in bee- 

 keeping has tended to make me 

 value prolificness in a queen above 

 all other qualities — to regard it, in 

 fact, as the basis of all success in 

 honey production. If we have the 

 workers in a hive when the harvest 

 opens we are sure of honey. This 

 Mr. Doolittle will not deny, nor 

 can he say that the individual 

 workers of the Eastern races are 

 not the best of honey-gatherers. 

 But he admits, yes, even claims it 

 as (\,fault{ !) that the queens of the 

 "Holy Land" bees, as he calls them, 

 are extra prolific. Where then 

 lies the fault? What's the reason 

 Mr. Doolittle finds these bees 

 "practically good for nothing for 



