80 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



A QUERY. 



How do you think the Funics would 

 thrive with the weather bill of fare dished 

 up as follows ? 



March 5. Rain. 



'' 6. Snow one foot deep. 

 " 7. Sunshine. 



" S. Snow nearly gone ; bees fly- 

 ing. 



March 9. Tornado from North, last- 

 ing thirty-six hours, or till nearly night 

 on the loth ; everything frozen in fine 

 January style. 



March 11. South wind and blowing 

 nearly as hard as when it came from the 

 north. Boys gathering sap from soft 

 maple trees, which by the way makes 

 fine maple syrup and sugar. a. s. h. 



Kkply : — The Funics will thrive in any 

 climate. They are a hardy, tough race of 

 bees. By all means try them the coming 

 season I hardly think the weather is 

 .worse in Nebraska than it is in Massachu- 

 setts for bees. New England has seen 

 more winter since March came in than we 

 had three months previous. 'Twas just 

 the weather to Mil weak colonies of bees. 

 —Ed.] 



GOLDEN CARNIOLAN BEES. 



EVIDENCK THAT SUCH BKES AEE QUITE 

 COMMON IN CAUXIOLA. 



As Mr. Cowan considers Benton 

 such a good authority, allow me to draw 

 attention to a matter, where speaking 

 of Alley's golden Carniolans on Nov. 

 19, 1 89 1, page 525, British Bee 

 Joiii-nal, he says : "No one in Europe, 

 at any rate, has ever seen or heard of 

 pure Carniolans being yellow, and to 

 suppose that in so short a time pure 

 Carniolans can be turned into pure 

 golden Carniolans is a pill too large for 

 us to swallow." 



If we turn to the "B. B. J." for Au- 

 gust 23, 1 888, page 413, Mr. Frank 

 Benton, writing from Carniola, where 

 he was breeding and exporting these 

 bees, says : — 



"I have yet to see an apiary in Car- 



niola where yellow-banded bees do not 

 exist, although I have visited all the 

 most important apiaries existing here. 

 There is in the race a tinge of yellow 

 blood that crops out every now and 

 then, do the best one may." There 

 were at my residence to day two intel- 

 ligent beekeepers from the northern 

 parts of Carniola, and I questioned 

 them on this point, and they rejjlied 

 "that an occasional tendency towards 

 orange or rusty-red bands was always 

 the case with all Carniolans, but that 

 it was no mark of impurity in the race, 

 since it exists so all over Carniola." 

 Again, in "B. B. J." for September 20, 

 page 465, he (Benton) further says, "Be 

 it then well understood that yellow bands 

 existed among Carniola bees in Carniola 

 before I ever crossed the Atlantic. 

 There is in my mind no doubt l)ut that 

 this peculiarity has existed for many 

 decades, and I venture even to say for 

 centuries . . . Mr. Ambrozic told me 

 personally but three days since that 

 yellow-banded Carniolans exist in his 

 portion of the province, and but recent- 

 ly a beekeeper said to me 'his father 

 recommended yellow-banded bees as 

 the best srrain.' " 



The Mr, Ambrozic quoted is a noted 

 breeder of Carniolan queens. When 

 this was printed in the "B. B. J.," a 

 great controversy was going on respect- 

 ing whether bees with yellow bands ex- 

 isted in Carniola. Mr. Cowan was the ed- 

 itor, and had to have his say. From 

 the autumn of 1888 to that of 1891 is 

 only three years, yet with these in his 

 own journal he thinks it correct to say, 

 "No one in Euivpe, at any rate, has 

 ever seen or heard of pure Carniolans 

 being yelloxv." He had forgotten a 

 very important matter that was in his 

 knowledge only three years ago, and 

 which he could have found on reference 

 to the indexes. I fail to see how any 

 ])ersons can place any reliance on what 

 he has said as indicated, or expect to 

 be regarded, if they do, as other than 

 "birds of a feather." See editorial in "B. 

 B. J.," for February 11, 1892, page 

 54, in which they say under this head, 



