58 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the most productive, and winters in 

 my locality the best. It is not ex- 

 cessively wicked, although at times 

 it requires a little more smoke to 

 master, than other bees, especially 

 when the weather is bad." 



INVERTJBLE HIVES. 



By S. Morrett. 



I see in J. M. Shucks' article un- 

 der the above head that to invert a 

 hive five days after queen cells 

 are started, the bees will destroy 

 them. It seems to me this is an im- 

 portant discovery. To such as do 

 not want any increase this may be of 

 great benefit. It seems to me this is 

 not only good to prevent after 

 swarms, but to prevent any increase. 

 Why not when a swarm issues, reverse 

 the frames, and return the swarm, and 

 give plenty surplus room ; the queen 

 would soon have plenty of room in 

 the brood chamber, and I think 

 would be satisfied to stay at home. 

 Who will try it and report ? If all of 

 us beekeepers who have hard work to 

 sell our surplus bees at two or three 

 dollars, for first swarms, would stop 

 all increase after we have the num- 

 ber we want to take care of, beekeep- 

 ing would be more profitable to us ; 

 for many of those whom we persuade 

 to buy swarms of us, after they 

 get a few pounds of honey to spare, 

 will go to our market place, and sell 

 it from one to eight cents per pound 

 more than we have been getting. 

 This causes trouble ; I for one am 

 very anxious for a good simple plan 

 to prevent increase of colonies. 



Silver Lake, Ind. 



RACES: HYBRIDS: 



EXPERIMENTS. 



By a. Norton. 



It is almost superfluous to say that 

 the question of the relative value of 

 the various races of bees and of their 



crosses is a vexed one. Individual 

 experiences differ so widely, condi- 

 tions that modify experience are so 

 varied, and worst of all, superficial 

 judgment and hasty trial are so often 

 palmed off as experience, that we 

 can hear almost anything we want, 

 and as much more that we don't 

 want concerning it. 



One writer, with several seasons' 

 trial of Italians and none other, con- 

 siders them better than other races 

 he has not tried. Another launches 

 out in the Syrian direction ; and, 

 without systematic comparison, pro- 

 claims them superior to all others. 

 I, with a single season's trial of the 

 Cyprians, am decidedly in their 

 favor ; but, were I immediately to 

 proclaim this superficial preference, 

 another season's experience might 

 force me to eat crow. Now, why 

 do pure bloods and hybrids of all 

 kinds find their respective enthusiasts 

 to admire and defend ? 



It may be answered ist, because 

 results differ from season to season 

 without apparent cause ; and the colo- 

 ny that excelled all others in your yard 

 last year will next season fall behind 

 many of the stocks that before did 

 poorly; 2d, because external condi- 

 tions, those modifiers and complica- 

 tors of all circumstances, iiiay favor 

 one race here and another there; 3d, 

 because hasty observations inspire 

 more theories than do careful ones ; 

 and 4th, because selfish interests 

 often move us, and there are so many 

 of us. It is not my purpose to enter 

 into the discussion of respective 

 merits, nor to uphold the claims of 

 any race. While I have had experi- 

 ence with four races and four kinds of 

 hybrids, it has not been of a nature to 

 enable me to judge completely which 

 is the best one. Though favorably 

 disposed toward the Cyprians, and 

 inclined to think that they do not 

 receive the credit they deserve, I do 

 not propose to urge anyone to give 

 them credit nor even trial. But in 

 regard to crosses, I cannot help say- 



