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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 23, 



What is the difference between Ital- 

 ians and Palestine bees ? We have 

 quite a good many Italians here, in 

 this part of the state, and I like them 

 very much, but as our country and cli- 

 mate resembles Palestine so much, 

 would it not be likely that they (Pal- 

 estine bees) would still do better? I 

 see they are highly recommended, but 

 have seen no description of them. 



My bees have made no surplus 

 honey, but are rearing brood now, and 

 have honey enough to winter well, I 

 think. 1 increased by natural and ar- 

 tificial swarming from 20 to 37 colo- 

 nies. 



The Bee Journal is a most excel- 

 lent paper, and I could not possibly do 

 without it, many single copies being 

 worth more than the year's subscrip- 

 tion. Please put me down as a life 

 subscriber, for I do not wish to miss a 

 single number. 



San Bernardino, Cal., Oct. 3, 1881. 



[For information regarding the Pal- 

 estine bees, see Prof. Cook's able arti- 

 cle on " The new races of bees," in 

 the Weekly Bee Journal forOct. 12, 

 page 323.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Moth-Trap Hives. 



W. H. ANDREWS. 



The following criticisms in a South- 

 ern paper is from the pen of a veter- 

 an patent moth-trap vender : 



I have noticed in the Louisiana 

 Democrat a letter of Judge Andrews, 

 of McKinney, Tex., copied from the 

 American Bee Journal, in which 

 a very ludicrous comparison is made 

 between the depredations of buzzards 

 upon cattle, and those of moths upon 

 bees. He says : " Can we manage 

 cattle so the buzzards will not destroy 

 them ?" I answer, yes ; give them 

 good pastures in summer, spring and 

 fall, and supply them with an abun- 

 dance of forage during winter. Keep 

 them fat, and there is little danger of 

 buzzards. Mow it is true that the 

 Judge's so-called harmless moth sel- 

 dom attacks the strong and healthy 

 colony of bees; but unlike the buz- 

 zards, they do not wait for their prey 

 to die. When the bees become weak, 

 they are liable to be attacked by moths, 

 while the buzzard feeds only upon car- 

 rion. The moth feeds upon the wax, 

 depriving the colony of a receptacle 

 for honey, and the queen of the cells 

 in which to lay her eggs. The dura- 

 tion of life of a working bee is but 70 

 days, consequently, if the queen has 

 no place in which to deposit her eggs, 

 the colony soon will be exterminated 

 in the natural order of things. When 

 the hive is guarded by a " reliable 

 moth trap," protection is afforded 

 against these invaders of the hive, 

 and as any impartial or unbiased mind 

 will see, and admit, they may con- 

 tinue their operations unmolested. 

 J. F. Van Horn. 



Alexandria, La., Sept. 15, 1881. 



In reply, I have this to say : 



The Captain quotes (as a question 

 propounded by me), " Can we manage 

 cattle so that the buzzards will not de- 

 stroy them V" And he answers, "yes," 

 and proceeds to tell us how it can be 

 done. Now the course of the Cap- 

 tain's position is that unless cattle are 

 thus managed, the buzzards will de- 

 stroy them. Destroy cattle, Captain, 

 or only eat up their comparatively 

 worthless carcasses ? But the Cap- 

 tain says: "Keep them (the cattle) 

 fat, and there is little danger of buz 

 zards." Then Captain, there is some 

 danger, though our cattle are " strong 

 and healthy." Now, you have trav- 

 eled all over Texas, and likely know 

 wherein this " danger," though little 

 it be, consists. Tell us. 



The Captain says further, " Now 

 it is true that the judges, so-called, 

 harmless moth seldom attacks the 

 strong and healthy colony of bees, but 

 unlike the buzzards, they do not wait 

 for their prey to die." 



Now, if fat cattle are in "little dan- 

 ger of buzzards," and if the "moth 

 seldom attacks the strong and healthy 



colony of bees," I take it that the buz- 

 zards and the moth are about alike, 

 "comparatively harmless." 



But the buzzard does not always 

 " wait for his prey to die." I have 

 seen him pluck the gleamy, sightless 

 eye from its socket while the cow was 

 yet alive ; but this was only an inno- 

 cent mistake on his part, for he 

 thought she was dead — he thought 

 she was surely " carrion." The Cap- 

 tain is right when he says " the buz- 

 zard feeds only upon carrion," and so 

 he is when he says in the next sen- 

 tence, " the moth feeds upon wax," 

 etc.. and he might have added, "and 

 wax only." So I prove by the Cap- 

 tain, upon cross examination, that it 

 is absolutely true that the wisest cat- 

 tle man of Texas cannot " manage 

 cattle so that the buzzard will not de- 

 stroy them," for the reason that " the 

 buzzard feeds upon carrion," not upon 

 cattle, and in like manner, I prove 

 that even Mr. Langstroth could not 

 " manage bees so that the moth will 

 not destroy them," for the reason that 

 "the moth feeds upon wax," not upon 

 bees, any more than the buzzard feeds 

 upon the gamboling, bellowing ox. 



And I prove also that the moth is 

 only a bee-moth, "so-called," for it 

 does not feed upon bees, but " upon 

 the wax," and I will add, whether 

 " the wax " be inside of a bee hive, or 

 on the top of a church spire. 



The Captain says : " The moth 

 feeds upon the wax depriving the col- 

 ony of a receptacle for honey, and the 

 queen of the cells in which to lay her 

 eggs." 



Now, with full confidence in my 

 position, and due respect to all, I chal- 

 lenge Captain Van Horn, and all the 

 other itinerant moth-trap venders of 

 North America, to show that the moth 

 ever trenched upon the precincts of 

 the brood chamber, or even encroached 

 upon the confines of the comb occu- 

 pied by the colony. 



The Captain says : " When the 

 hive is guarded by a reliable moth- 

 tray, etc." I do not desire to infringe 

 upon the right of the patentee of this 

 statement, unless it be an infringe- 

 ment to say that the great Creator of 

 all things (except moth-traps), in His 

 infinite wisdom, ordained before the 

 foundation of the world that no such 

 thing as " a reliable moth-trap " should 

 ever be invented, much less, paten- 

 ted. 



McKinney, Tex. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Experience of a Beginner. 



PROF. S. J. ROBBINS. 



when her bees began to mature, they 

 all proved to be drones. I took her 

 out and killed her, after advising with 

 the queen-breeder. Word came again : 

 " I will send you 2 queens very soon." 

 One came, not two. It is introduced 

 and doing finely. I am now unable to 

 get any answer from the man. what- 

 ever. And again in July I sent to an- 

 other party, who edits a monthly bee 

 paper which I subscribed for, and 

 would take if I could get it (the Sep- 

 tember number not having arrived 

 yet), for nuclei colonies of bees, ac- 

 cording to his advertisement. I did 

 not get an acknowledgement of the 

 money. I wrote several letters and 

 sent one telegram, all of which were 

 not answered. After 30 days I sent to 

 the postmaster who paid the money 

 order, and with his help, I got the 

 money back. What I wanted to do 

 was to get nuclei and queens to use in 

 dividing. As it is, I have worked 

 faithfully from July till now in two 

 directions, and have only been able to 

 get one barren and one fertile queen. 

 I live 3 miles from the post office, and 

 4 miles from express office, and I have 

 traveled miles enough expecting to 

 find those bees to have paid for several 

 colonies, if I had been allowed mile- 

 age. Now if this is the ordinary way 

 men do business who rear bees, I want 

 to know it. Will some one please tell 

 me through the Journal about what 

 are the appearance and good quali- 

 ties of Hungarian bees ? 

 Penfield, N. Y., Oct. 7, 1881. 



[Such things are very reprehensible, 

 and any queen breeder who does not 

 fill his orders promptly, or at least re- 

 ply to inquiries after receiving the 

 money for queens or bees, should be 

 driven from the business, giving place 

 to honest and honorable men.— Ed.] 



I like the Bee Journal very much. 



1 look for it with more interest than 

 any other I take. I bought 10 colo- 

 nies of bees last spring. I rode many 

 miles to find them, that I could buy at 

 any price, for bees nearly all died 

 about here last winter. Most of the 

 bees I bought were in box hives. Mrs. 

 R. and myself transferred them to 

 movable comb hives. They were all 

 weak colonies when we bought them. 

 They seemed to be very thankful for 

 their new homes, and built up fast; 

 we did not allow them to swarm. 

 They made comb honey enough to pay 

 for themselves and their new hives 

 and all the comb foundation, tools, 

 bee papers, etc., and quitealittle mar- 

 gin left. I put two-pound sections on 

 the hives for them to work in. After 

 they were tilled and glassed, Mrs. R. 

 papered the boxes nicely, and they 

 looked very attractive. I sold most 

 of the honey at 25 cts. per lb.; some of 

 the dark at 22 cts. per lb.; could sell 

 much more if I had it. This is not 

 called a good honey year ; the drouth 

 cut off all fall supply. My bees are in 

 good condition, except one colony, 

 which has no queen. I have been ex- 

 pecting one since July. I sentfortwo 

 and got one. I would like to ask if my 

 experience is common among bee men. 

 In July, I sent to a queen-breeder for 



2 queens. I promptly received this 

 reply : " Money received ; will ship 

 the queens this week." One came, 

 not two. It was introduced all right ; 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Description of Cyprian Bees. 



L. A. LOWMASTER. 



bees get it ? According to his theory, 

 drones from a pure Italian queen 

 would be pure blacks, if the "drone 

 semen " was from black drones; and 

 if the queen mated with a pure Italian 

 drone, the bees would be pure Ital- 

 ians, and the drones would be pure 

 blacks. This would be a fearfully 

 mixed up progeny ! Suppose that 

 there were no drones until the queen 

 wassealed up and none of the "'semen'' 

 could be obtained, then, of course, the 

 queen would lay no eggs that would 

 produce drones. We could not rely 

 upon the purity of the drones from an 

 Italian queen. We want facts, not 

 guess-work. 

 Belle Vernon. Ohio. 



Cyprian bees are very light colored, 

 the ground color being a yellowish 

 brown; the three orange-yellow bands 

 are broad ; the 4th, and even a 5th 

 yellow band being generally visible 

 when the bees are well tilled, while 

 the underside of the abdomen is yel- 

 low to the tip, which is black ; the 

 cresent-shaped shield on the thorax, 

 between the bases of the wings pointing 

 forward, is very prominent and yel- 

 low. 



Between Cyprians and Italians, 

 when not tilled with honey, there 

 seems to be little difference as to size 

 and shape, but when both have their 

 honey sacs distended, I think the 

 Cyprians are longer, and presents a 

 slightly more slim appearance. 



Cyprian queens average smaller 

 than Italian queens, and have long, 

 slender, nicely-pointed abdomens. 

 The diligence of the Cyprian is at 

 least equal to the Italian ; indeed, as 

 regards economy within the hive, the 

 former have the preference, because 

 they are less inclined to build drone- 

 comb. In their purity they are cer- 

 tainly more beautiful than the hand- 

 somest Italians. Those who visit 

 my apiary are always much surprised 

 when strong colonies of these beauti- 

 ful bees are opened, and masses of 

 bees roll out so peacably. When 

 rightly handled, they are neither more 

 nor less inclined to sting than the 

 Italians. 



In the collecting of honey the Cyp- 

 rians are very diligent. They appear 

 to be discreet in the occupation of 

 combs, already built with the brood 

 and honey, and only after that to de- 

 vote themselves with full zeal to the 

 building of new comb. 



On page 268 of the American Bee 

 Journal, Mr. C. J. Robinson, said : 

 " I claim, as set forth in a former ar- 

 ticle, that queens are impregnated 

 with royal jelly (drone's semen) while 

 in the larval state." 



I would like to have Mr. Robinson 

 explain how this " drone semen " is 

 obtained, and by what process do the 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Pollen for Brood-Rearing. 



C. .3. ROlilNSON. 



Prof. Cook, in the American Bee 

 Journal, says that " breeding can 

 only be carried on when there is pol- 

 len in the hive." This statement 

 flatly contradicts one made by me, on 

 first page of the Bee Journal for 

 June 29th. I there say: "They are 

 certainly wrong who say that pollen is 

 indispensable to the raising of young 

 bees." It now should be determined 

 whether Prof. Cook made an erroneous 

 statement relative to pollen being ab- 

 solutely necessary as a nourishing diet 

 for larvae brood, or whether I am guilty 

 of the error. Both statements, pro 

 and con, stand upon the pages of the 

 Bee Journal as recorded facts, and 

 one or the other should be wiped out. 



I do not presume to know how Prof. 

 Cook's bees behave, when rearing 

 brood, but I do know that my bees 

 raise brood, when required, without a 

 particle of pollen ; and I venture the 

 assertion again that any and all do- 

 mesticated bees, other conditions be- 

 ing favorable, will rear brood just as 

 readily and equally as well without 

 pollen, as with it. It is not a difficult 

 experiment, to test the question at 

 issue. I offer the testimony of one re- 

 liable witness to coroborate my side 

 of the issue, and then rest my case, al- 

 lowing it to go to the jury (readers) to 

 pass upon, and award their verdict in 

 favor of the party in the case whose 

 statement is correct and true. 



Prof. Hasbrouck, the witness of- 

 fered, says : " I have had. as an ex- 

 periment, abundant of brood raised 

 by bees shut up on new comb and fed 

 on refined sugar syrup, when they 

 could not possibly get a grain of pol- 

 len from any source." This is given 

 in the Bee-ltcepers' Magazine for De- 

 cember, 1880, page 265. 



This evidence closes on my part, 

 unless Prof. Cook in his defense sets 

 up a cross action and affirms new is- 

 sues ; in that event I may offer re- 

 butting evidence. I hope that Prof. 

 Cook will not allow the case to go by 

 default on his part, nor attempt to 

 prove an alibi. 



Richford, N. Y., Aug. 26, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Packing Bees for Winter. 



r. l. aylor. 



Bees in fine condition for winter; I 

 did never have my bees in as fine con- 

 dition for winter as I now have them, 

 since I have been in the bee business. 

 I have packed them with from 25 to 35 

 lbs. of fine honey all sealed over, and 

 without any cider in the hive, as there 

 were but few apples in this neighbor- 

 hood for bees to store cider from. 



My way of packing bees this winter 

 is with 3 sticks laid across the frames. 

 % inch square, coffee sacks on top of 

 the frames and sticks well fitted 

 around, and two of the outside sacks 

 on top of it, closing the entrances ex- 

 cept about one and one-half inches for 

 them to pass, as opportunity may af- 

 ford, and for ventilation. 



I packed some of my bees that way 

 last winter, and they came out 

 stronger than those that were packed 

 with chaff and left on the summer 

 stands through the whole winter. I 



