THE AMERICAN APICULTUUIST. 



81 



"The company men keep shows what 

 men ate." Verbuin sat sapienti. — A 

 Hallamshire Beekeeper. 



I have mailed copies of the above to all 

 papers devoted to bee culture and printed 

 in the English language. None of them 

 in justice to me can reasonably refuse to 

 give it space in their columns, as every 

 paper included in the above has more or 

 less severely and adversely commented on 

 my claim, so often made, that any one so 

 disposed can produce beautiful yellow- 

 banded bees from dark Carniolans. 



The above quotation from the. /o»r!ia?o/ 

 Horticulture , England, seems to complete- 

 ly refute the assertions of those who have 

 so stoutly maintaine'l that there are no 

 yellow-bandcjd bees in Carniola. 



On the other hand, I have never claimed 

 that yellow-banded bees are pnrp. Carnio- 

 lans. I have said, and do now assert that 

 in myojjinion the original yellow bees are 

 the Carniolans. Everything so far pub- 

 lished, relating to this point, seems to sus- 

 tain my opinion and views of it. 



Now, friends, Idndly discontinue calling 

 yellow-banded bees reared from dark Car- 

 niolans a humbug, and at the same time 

 do not say the one who produces them is 

 a fraud, as there is no evidence that sur- 

 ports your statements. 



The' white or silvery hairs that resem- 

 ble bands on the dark carniolans, are, in my 

 opinion, merely the result of the tinge of 

 yellow blood inherited from generations 

 many years back. 



Some of the papers that had a hand in 

 tills cry of humbug, and contained articles 

 of a personal and abusive nature, were no 

 doubt imposed upon by the person who 

 wrote them. They really supposed their 

 correspondent knew what he was writing 

 about and was giving only facts, instead 

 of publicly venting his spleen against some 

 one with wliom he could not agree. 



A queen reared where there are no 

 drones is short lived, says G. VV . Tef t in 

 A. B. J. Her progeny lack vigor, as well 

 as vitality to stand the winters. The hon- 

 ey-gathering qualities are poor, and she 

 also fails to keep her colony up to the 

 standard in working bees. It is evident 

 to me that bees thafhave no drones have 

 not the necessary power to feed the queen 

 while in the embryo state, 



I cannot agree with Mr, T. on that 

 point. While I hke to have drones in 

 all hives in wh'ich I am rearing queens, 

 I do not think their presence is really 

 necessary, or in any way affects the qual- 

 ity of the queens being reared. 



AMERICAN APICULTURIST 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 

 Jrlerxry Alley, Wenham, IVIass. 



Established in 1883. 



Subscription Price, 75cts. Per Year. 



Entered at the P.O. Wenham, M.iss , as second class 

 mail matter. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



No doubt what I say here will create 

 a little flurry of excitement in some 

 quarters, yet I will take the dire conse- 

 quences thereof as I. have in the past. I 

 now have American golden Carniolans, 

 why not have American gulden Punics? 

 Well, before the present season closes 

 no doubt there will be more or less bees 

 and queens of the last nanied variety in 

 the Bay State apiary. It is a part of 

 my trade to produce new strains of bees. 

 I know of no way one can do more to 

 benefit his fellow beekeeper than by 

 producing a bee the equal, or superior 

 of the Punic or of any of our other best 

 strains. I hope to leave a legacy of 

 this kind to my friends when obliged to 

 retire from the bee business. 



Yellow, or golden Punics will be found 

 in the Bay State apiary before the sea- 

 son of 1S92 closes and there will not be 

 one particle of Italian blood in them 

 any more than there is in our famous 

 golden Carniolans. Outol several hun- 

 dred Punic queens reared last year, a 

 certain per cent of them gave workers 

 showing more or less yellow l)ands. This 

 yellow tinge is not the result of any 

 mixture with the Italians, but a mixture 

 of Egyptian blood which the Punics 

 brought with them from Africa. I make 

 this statement as it may save some people 

 the trouble of calling me a swindler and 

 the new s"train of bees a humbug. No 

 doubt some will say that those Punic 

 queens that will give the yellow-banded 

 bees must have come in contact with 

 Italian drones. To show that this is 

 not so, I will say that a long time after 

 all other drones were gone, I had a 

 good many young Punic queens fer- 



