DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



vol. xvn. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 20, 1881. 



No. 16. 



Published every Wednesday, hy 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



TERMS OF SUBSC'KIPTIOSii 



WEEKLY— '53 numbers) S2.00 a year, in advance. 



Three or Six Months at the same rate. 

 SEMI-MONTHLY- The first and third numbers of 



each month, uiM.OO a year, in advance. 

 MONTHLY— The first number of each month, at 



5© cent! a year, in udvunce. 



%^ Any person sending a Club of six is entitled 

 to an extra copy i like the club) which may be sent to 

 any address desired. Sample copies furnished fret. 



IF" Kemlt by money-order, registered letter, ex- 

 press or bank draft on Chicago or New York, payable 

 to our order. Such only are at our risk. Checks on 

 local banks cost us 25 cents for collecting. 



Free of postage in the United States or Canada. 

 Postage to Europe SO cents extra. 



Entered at Chicago post office as second class matter. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Lessons from our Losses. 



EUGENE SECOR. 



On Nov. 5 I put my bees in the house 

 cellar, used as most house cellars are 

 for storing vegetables, apples, soup- bar- 

 rels, etc. To-day I have removed them 

 to their summer stands, making 153 

 days, or a little over 5 months, constant 

 confinement. I found 6 dead out of 22 

 nut away in the fall. The conditions 

 favorable to successful wintering were: 

 total darkness, freedom from frost when 

 put away, a frost-proof cellar, good ripe 

 honey in the hives and comparative 

 quiet during the winter. 



Unfavorable : cellar probably too 

 warm at times, slight disturbances by 

 going in with a light for vegetables, and 

 lack of proper ventilation. 



The fatality among the bees in this 

 neighborhood is almost unprecedented : 

 one party is said to have lost 78 out of 

 80 (out-doors); another all (in cellar); 

 another 50 per cent., in cellar ; all were 

 experienced bee-men. Nearly all oth- 

 ers' bees are dead. I estimate that 80 

 per cent, of all bees within the range of 

 my knowledge are free from the toils of 

 the clover field. Have we learned any- 

 thing from this severe experience? 

 Many, I believe, have not, they think it 

 is all luck anyhow. Others know better 

 than practice. Hence losses are likely 

 to continue to occur, and the market 

 will never be overstocked unless the en- 

 terprising grocer with his glucose pot 

 comes to the rescue of the over-worked 

 bee. 



I indorse what Mr. Doolittle says in 

 the Bee Journal of April 6 in rela- 

 tion to confinement and dysentery. I 

 regard him as sound on this question, 

 as on any other which he discusses. 

 What bees I lost died of dvsentery and 

 had they been confined 30 days longer 

 undoubtedly another 30 per cent would 

 have gone the same way, while if the 



weather had permitted a flight in Feb- 

 ruary I think nearly all would have 

 lived. 



We had at least 4 months in which a 

 bee could not have lived a minute away 

 from the hive. If out-of-doors the ne- 

 cessity of a flight being increased by 

 the increased amount of honey con- 

 sumed, death was almost sure. The 

 same in cellars if the proper conditions 

 were not present — even and suitable 

 temperature. perfect darkness and quiet, 

 and ripe honey. With these the little 

 pets will stand a long siege from old 

 Boreas. 



Forest City, Iowa, April 8, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



The Italian not a Pnre Eace. 



G. W. DEMAKEE. 



It seems a little strange that it has 

 not occurred to some of our brother 

 bee-keepers that their discussion of the 

 merits of the light and dark " strains " 

 of the Italian noney bee furnishes all 

 the evidence necessary to prove them a 

 mixed race of bees. 



that the race is a hybrid or cross ? Such 

 results as I have named (though put in 

 a more moderate form) would be simply 

 impossible if the race was pure. If you 

 will try your skill on the German or 

 common bee you will find that no 

 amount of selection will give any per- 

 ceivable change in their appearance. 

 Therefore, we conclude that the Italian 

 bee is a cross between a pure yellow, 

 quiet race, and a pure black, irritable 

 race of bees, both of which are now un- 

 known except as found promiscuously 

 in the Italian variety. 



Perhaps it is the happy combination 

 of these two races that gives the Italian 

 its peculiar value, and when we have 

 ascertained what proportion of blood of 

 these two races when combined gives 

 the best results, and have bred our bees 

 up to that standard, we will have per- 

 fected Mr. Newman's Apis Americana. 

 It seems to be conceded on every hand 

 that the Italian race becomes lighter in 

 color simply by being imported to, and 

 multiplied in this country. For one, I 

 do not believe this. If they are bred 

 promiscuously, i. e., without selection as 

 to color, there is no reason why the re- 

 sult in this country should be different 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Iu-Door Flying for Dysentery. 



If there are two or more varieties of I 

 the Italian honey bee it is impossible | 

 that the race as a whole can be pure, i 

 The idea of two or more varieties ex- 

 isting in any one thing promiscuously, 

 and still the thing be pure and unmixed, 

 is the height of absurdity. We are 

 tempted to ask, what is meant by the 

 dark and light strains of the Italian ? 

 and, at what point is the dividing line 

 to be fixed V My experience is that 

 there are about as many different shades 

 of color (if nicely drawn), as there are 

 colonies of Italians. The general ap- 

 pearance may be the same in some col- 

 onies, but upon a close examination in 

 all their parts a difference is discern- 

 able. You may select an imported 

 queen and rear daughters from her and 

 some of her progeny will be darker than 

 others. Now if you select the lightest 

 one amongst them and breed from her, 

 carefully continuing the selection, it is 

 possible to reach the beautiful type 

 known as " Albinos," while on the 

 other hand, by the same careful selec- 

 tion of the darkest bees to breed from, 

 you can breed every tint of yellow out 

 of them. What does this teach, if not 



from what it would be in their native 

 home. Climatic causes work too slow 

 to produce any perceivable effects in a 

 few years of time. 



It is careful selection that has given 

 us our beautiful superior bees rather 

 than the purity of the stock from which 

 we have usually made our selections. 

 The readiness and rapidity with which 

 the Italian race or variety will assume 

 new types or " strains " under the ma- 

 nipulating hand of the careful breeder, 

 can be explained on no other hypothesis 

 than that the race is an amalgamation 

 of blood more or less fixed by long se- 

 clusion in their native home. It is truly 

 amusing to see the ingenious efforts 

 put forth by some of the advocates of 

 " purity of the race " to evade the force 

 of these conclusions, and counteract the 

 growing tendency to accept them as 

 true. That there are black bees in 

 Italy no one who is willing to trust to 

 his own senses can doubt, unless the 

 vendors of queens in that country have 

 sent all their black bees over here ; for 

 all of us have seen black Italians among 

 our imported stock. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



WM. n. FRANCIS. 



An artificial, or in-door flying for 

 dysentery is not entirely new, and yet, 

 notwithstanding the heavy losses re- 

 ported from all quarters during the 

 past winter, I have seen no account of 

 this remedy having been resorted to, 

 nor have 1 seen it recommended. I 

 have recently given it a pretty thorough 

 test and for the benefit of bee-keepers 

 hereafter I will give the result. 



I commenced bee-keeping last spring 

 and went into winter quarters last fall 

 with 13 colonies. Early in February 

 several of them began to show signs of 

 dysentery. I watched them closely 

 and in 2 or 3 weeks 2 of the hives were 

 so badly soiled around the entrances 

 that I had but little hope of saving 

 them unless a remedy could be found. 



1 searched my bee-books and the only 

 remedy I found was the cage method of 

 giving an in-door flight mentioned in 

 the A B C of Bee-Culture. I made a 

 cheap cage and tried it on the colony 

 that appeared to be in the worst condi- 

 tion, but was not satisfied with the re- 

 sult and abandoned it. 



Two or 3 days after this one of my 

 bee-keeping neighbors told me that he 

 had just given 2 or 3 colonies a flight in 

 a small room without a cage, and con- 

 sidered it a success. I had seen the 

 statement in some of my bee-literature 

 that if bees were released from their 

 hive in a room they would not return, 

 but I determined to give it a trial. I 

 therefore selected a small bed-room i n 

 tlie south part of my house through 

 which a stovepipe passes, and having 

 but one window, looking south. After 

 removing the furniture I covered the 

 carpet with newspapers and protected 

 the wall around the window and as 

 much of the window casing as I could 

 in the same manner. The temperature 

 of the room when closed ranged from 

 60^ to 80° F., according to the weather 

 and the quantity of heat furnished from 

 the stove below. Towards noon I car- 

 ried a hive up and placed it on the floor, 

 about 3 feet from and fronting towards 

 the window. I opened the entrance, 

 removed the cap and covered the frames 

 with a newspaper having an opening 



2 or 3 inches in diameter through the 

 centre. The paper was to prevent the 

 bees spotting the hive, and the opening 

 to allow the bees to pass out at the top 

 as well as at the entrance. The result 

 was entirely satisfactory. During the 

 warmest part of the day the roaring of 

 the bees could be heard through all 

 parts of the house. On going into the 

 room towards sunset I found the bees 

 nearly all quieted down in the hive. 

 The few that remained clustered about 

 the window were easily brushed off on 

 a newspaper and returned to the hive. 

 I afterwards found that if brushed from 

 the window upon the floor they would 

 return to the hive themselves. 



By this method I have given all my 

 bees a flight, have given them a thor- 

 ough examination, and they are now all 

 in good condition, apparently able to 

 remain in the cellar if need be until 

 the middle of May. 



Why wouldn't it pay every bee-keeper 

 in cold latitudes to have a room for this 

 purpose in connection with his apiary '( 



