214 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



[The illustration below repre- 

 sents the Mason fruit-jar feeder. 

 The jar has a glass-toj) which is 

 held in place by a metal band. 

 We remove the glass-top and make 

 one of tin exactly the same size in 

 which are from ten to twenty small 

 holes made with a brad awl. The 



feeders are filled with syrup and 

 inverted over a two and one-half 

 inch hole in the honey-board. 

 The bees sip the syrup rapidly and 

 a good colony will take about one 

 gallon each twenty-four hours. 

 We can furnish the tins by mail, 

 at five cents each.] 



QUESTIONS BY J. N. SHEDY. 



1. Are the queens of the Albino 

 race large or small? 



2. Are they yellower thau Italian 

 queens or darker? 



3. Are they a pure race bred-up 

 from the Italians by selection and in- 

 and-in breeding or are they the out- 

 come from a cross of two or more 

 races ? 



ANSWERS BY W. W. CARY. 



1. Queens from Albino mothers 

 are medium in size. 



2. Color is usually good as from 

 other strains and much better than 

 from imported mothers. 



3. I do not consider the Albino 

 bee a distinct race, merely a dis- 

 tinct strain ; whether produced by 

 crossing or otherwise do not know, 

 but consider them a valuable strain 

 as they possess beauty, gentleness 

 and have proved good hooey gath- 

 erers with me. 



HIVING SWAKMS ON FULL SET OF 

 FR.«IES, FOUNDATION, ETC. 



Do you hive new swarms on full set 

 of frames, or half that number with 

 division-board crowded up? Do you 

 give full sheets of foundation in brood 

 frames or starters, or use empty 

 frames? 



ANSWERS BY G. H. MARTIN. 



It depends altogether upon the 

 swarm. The beekeepers should hold 

 to the rule, l^eep your colonies strong 

 not only through the spring and fall, 

 but also during the swarming season. 

 If I hive a swarm that is not large 

 enough to cover all of the frames, I 

 double another swarm in with thera 

 or else give them frames of brood. I 

 have never used a division board at 

 this time of the year. 



I use full sheets of foundation. I am 

 sure of all worker comb by so doing. 

 If bees are hived upon empty frames 

 the amount of drone comb built will 

 average two full frames. That's the 

 way my bees do it. Now I have de- 

 scribed the way I hive natural swarms, 

 when I have them, but as I extract my 

 honey I am but seldom troubled with 

 swarming, and for two or three years 

 past I have had so many empty combs 

 at command, that I usually hive a 

 swarm upon a full set of them, and 

 put on the surplus at once and if 

 there is honey you are sure to get 

 it. With 150 or 200 colonies any 

 amount of good combs can be readily 

 procured. One frame of foundation at 

 a time inserted in each hive will be 

 worked . out and the combs become 

 multiplied so fast you hardly know 

 where they come from. 



MARKINGS OF PURE ITALIAN DRONES. 



Will you please be kind enough to 

 answer the following questions : 



Are the markings of pure Italian 

 di'ones all alike, or similar to the drone 

 progeny of a mismated queen? 



Please give an infallible test for pure 

 drones. 



Aus. Pure Italians drones differ very 

 much in their marking. The most 

 beautiful Italian drones will not in all 

 cases produce what are called three- 

 banded worker bees even when mated 

 to a golden colored queen-bee. On the 

 other hand, drones almost as dark as 

 black bees prove to be pure, and whose 

 worker progeny showed pure mark- 



