12^ 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



rear all those queens during the swannr 

 ing period, I should have to keep over 

 a hundred nuclei instead of thirty as I 

 now do. Now those three from which 

 I wish to rear cast no swarms this sea- 

 son, so there are no cells from them by 

 the natural niethod. Now I am aware 

 that if this article is published, and any 

 notice taken of it, somebody will jump 

 on me with both feet. An advertise- 

 ment headed queens reared during tiie 

 natural swarming impulse looks migli/y 

 well, — has a booming sound, so to 

 speak, and is a heavy weight in an ar- 

 gument in a bee paper. Eut I here- 

 by forecast my argament that I am not 

 in the queen rearing business for market 

 and run my apiary for the money there 

 is in it, and find by experience tliat 

 queens reared by the artificial or forced 

 method give the best and most satis- 

 factory results in queen, bees and honey 

 and consequently dollars and cents. 

 Dr. A. W. Tufts. 

 Miisso7n, La. 



yet seen, know that I certainly foimd in 

 them some peculiarities which do not 

 belong to the common black race — and 

 I would advise those who have crosses 

 between the yellow varieties and these 

 bees, to give thtm the closest attention. 



1 cannot agree with friend Giles that 

 there is any ])romising outlook for breed- 

 ing a race of stingless bees. Rats, mice 

 and most of the vermin race love honey 

 — so do birds of various kinds — and 

 bipeds of the human kind are often 

 tempted to steal it. 



Now what defence could such a puny 

 insect as a honey bee make against the 

 vast hosts of its sweet-loving enemies, if 

 it had not such a formidable weapon as 

 it; venomous sting? 



A little time si)ent upon pondering 

 this question would soon satisfy any one 

 that we are never likely to see a stingless 

 race of honey bees. 



L. L. Langstroth. 



Dayton, Ohio. 



PRODUCING BETTER BEES. 



I have been quite interested in Mr. 

 Giles suggestions about obtaining a bet- 

 ter bee, by crossing some of the different 

 races or varieties now known to us. 



The so-called Punic or African bee, 

 if it possesses, even a part of the good 

 qualities ascribed to it, might perhaps 

 be crossed in the Italians, so as to give 

 us substantially a new variety, having 

 the desirable qualities of both its par- 

 ent races. 



What friend of the Italians would not 

 be overjoyed if he could give to them, 

 the same readiness (I might even say 

 eagerness) for working in supers, so 

 characteristic of the black or German 

 bee — and the sme power of sealing 

 over their honey with such exqujsitely 

 white cappings? Yet nothing of this 

 kind has been brought to pass, in spite 

 of innumerable crossings between the 

 two races. 



Those who have read my observations 

 on the only colony of Punic bees 1 have 



A GRAND SUCCESS 



Mr. Alley : — Your last Swarm-hiver 

 has been a grand success this time. A 

 swarm came off one of my colonies this 

 morning at 9 o'clock ; the swarmer 

 caught the swarm, the queen going on 

 to the comb. I went according to your 

 directions and had no difficulty in hiving 

 the bees. This swarmer in my mind 

 is the best you have brought before bee- 

 keepers. 



July II. The swarmer has caught 



another swarm. It is a grand success. 



You may ieel proud of this invention. 



Charles W. Dickson, 



Stcllarton, Nova Scotia. 



OXI.Y TWKr.VE DEAD BEKS. 



Mk. Alley: — 'I'he i^oldcn Carniolan 

 queen I got of yon in 18111, wintered per- 

 fectly. Twelve dead bees were all 1 conld 

 iind in the cellar, after the colony had 

 l)cen in vsix mouths. The bees are very 

 handsome. Rod. McLean. 



Eupticell, N. S. 



