22 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the combs from being robbed out. But 

 if we had been as observing as we ought 

 we would have noticed bees coming out 

 from the sides and the back of ihe hives ; 

 but as it was we did not notice any- 

 thing, wrong until we saw the white 

 combs peeping out at the sides. That 

 spring we had "had excessive swarming 

 and probably they had swanned when 

 no one was around and the queen had 

 run under the hive ; the bees returning 

 had followed her. 



We have had a little of the experi- 

 ence of Mrs. Kit Clover in her search 

 for the swarm hiver until we now have 

 a basket where we go direct and put 

 each queen cagein and all little fixin^^s for 

 the bees or a room tor the larger things 

 instead of having a few things here and 

 a few there all over the house. 



It is a li'tle amusing how one will 

 start out after an unexpected swarm to 

 catch the queen, especially when they 

 swarm early in the season before swarm- 

 ing preparations were made. I have 

 quite a number times seen a swarm 

 coming, I would not even wait for a 

 bonnet but would run bareheaded with 

 my sleeves rolled up to hunt for the 

 queen, and call some one to hunt up 

 the queen cage, light me a smoker, 

 bring me a bee hat, and take care of the 

 bread in the oven, etc., but generally I 

 have everything in readiness. 



The two years past we have had 

 scarcely any swarms, three or four 1 

 think are all. When we again have good 

 years for honey we shall have plemy of 

 swarms. I have not much faith inbreed- 

 ing a race of bees that will not swarm, 

 but we may discourage swarming by 

 giving plenty of surplus room in time 

 and in destroying old queens. 



I hope by the time we get swarms 

 again that somebody will invent a way 

 to prevent the swarming fever. 



Roseville, III. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. 



Bees did not do well. (?) 



Bees have not done well in this locality. 

 I had a little over live thousand pounds 

 from 250 colonies. 



0I-07WC0, Minn. G. W. Wmr. 



EACES AND STRAINS OF BEES. 



In speaking of the different races and 

 slraiiis of bees, it seems the terms 

 have but little meaning. Take for ex- 

 ample the Italian race. We may buy 

 queens from a dozen different breeders 

 and we shall get as many different strains 

 of bees. No two have the same kind in 

 every ])articular, some having char- 

 acteristics as well as color and markings 

 entirely difierent from the rest. I have 

 purchased queens from about all the 

 noted breeders more or less for the 

 past fifteen years, and can scarcely find 

 two with the same markings and qual- 

 ities. The Italian seems to be a hy- 

 brid, or cross of races, with a strong 

 tendency to "sport," and the conse- 

 cjuences are we have in the so-called 

 Italian race of bees, all shades of col- 

 oring and markings as well as charac- 

 teristics imaginable, with no perma- 

 nency whatever of characteristics or 

 markings. I have found that in buy- 

 ing the Italian (jueen of to-day as ad- 

 vertised by our different breeders that 

 I cannot tell what will be the qualities, 

 color or character of my intended pur- 

 chase until I have tested them in my 

 own apiary for a year or two at least. 

 I find some that build beautiful combs, 

 cap their honey white, not excessive 

 swarmers and good winterers. I find 

 others that are poor comb builders, cap 

 their honey dark, excessive swarmers, 

 poor winterers and are no good. 1 also 

 find a great difference in their color 

 and markings, varying all the way from 

 a bee so dark as to be disputed that 

 they are Italians, to a color so light that 

 that they aie called Albinos. Now, 

 why all this difference? To my mind it is 

 evident that originally the Italians were 

 a pure black race (probably Funics) 

 and a puie yellow race (likely the gold- 

 en Carniolan) and from these two races 

 have sprung all other races or strains of 

 bees. 



Eight or ten years ago I imported a 

 Carniolan queen from Mr. Frank Ben- 

 ton ; her workers were mostly dark with 

 slight traces of yellow on some of them 

 but I found on raising daughters from her 



