AMEJIICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



499 



tention, and I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that brood-rearing should be stimu- 

 lated as late as practicable ; that there 

 should be sufficient honey in the hive; 

 the bees should be put into the cellar 

 before it gets too cold, and be placed on 

 supports at least 1}4 feet above the bot- 

 tom of the cellar; and the hives should 

 be ventilated both at the top and bot- 

 tom, or the bottom-board should be left 

 off, if the mice can be kept out of the 

 cellar. This I believe will bring the 

 bees through the winter in good condi- 

 tion — at least, it has worked well for me. 



I would like to hear from those who 

 have given this their attention. If you 

 have a better plan, let us have it. 



We are having a very dry fall here, 

 and it will be well to keep a sharp eye 

 on the bees during the next month, for 

 bees can be helped now to advantage, 

 while it will be hard work to do much 

 with a weak colony early in the spring. 

 Where there is a flow of honey late in 

 the fall, they will rear brood, but if 

 there is not, I think they should be fed 

 enough to start brood-rearing even if 

 they should have sufficient stores. 



Lamont, Iowa, Aug. 28, 1893. 



Extra-Light Colored Bees— An 

 Old Veteraii'is Opinion. 



Written for the A.merican Bee Journal 

 BY DK. E. GALLUP. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I see that many of 

 your queen-breeders advertise queens 

 5-banded, producing extra yellow work- 

 ers, etc. You hold them until I hit 

 them a little, and just see what efifect it 

 will have. 



Are any of you sure that your extra- 

 light colored and extra peaceable and 

 gentle bees are pure Italians ? If so, 

 please inform us how you are sure — the 

 whys and wherefores. Now for what I 

 know : 



In years past we had at least two 

 parties that claimed to sell imported 

 queens ; said queens never saw Italy — 

 they were reared in this country. Mind 

 that I do not say that those parties 

 never imported any, by no means. Do 

 you know that we can start with a black 

 virgin queen, have her fertilized with a 

 pure Italian drone, and in five genera- 

 tions, by having all fertilized by pure 

 drones, we can have as light-colored 5- 

 banded bees as one could wish to see? 

 But are they pure Italians? Not much. 

 You will also have extra large light- 

 colored drones. 



Mr. Adam Grimm, for his own satis- 

 faction went to Italy, selected his own 

 queens, and succeeded in bringing home 

 and introducing 43 successfully. He 

 made me a present of a nice, pure Ital- 

 ian queen, and she proved to be one of 

 the best queens I ever owned. Her 

 progeny were all business, and I want 

 bees for business, every time. She was 

 extra-large, leather-colored, and her 

 drone progeny were smaller than our 

 American drones, and quite dark-col- 

 ored. The workers were large, active 

 bees, with darkish-colored stripes. I 

 was personally acquainted with Mr. 

 Grimm, and his word was as good and 

 true as the law, every time. He did not 

 believe in the purity of your extra-light- 

 colored Italians, any more than I do. 



Mr. Chas. Dadant is another good 

 authority, and you will find that his ex- 

 perience corresponds with mine, on this 

 light-colored question. I kept the queen 

 that I received from Mr. Grimm, until 

 she was five years old; the fourth year 

 she was just as good as ever, but began 

 to fail the fifth, and I made way with 

 her. Of course, your extra light ones 

 are nice to handle, but are they up to 

 business ? I never found them so. 

 Neither could I succeed in getting them 

 up to my standard. 



Being a prominent bee-writer 25 years 

 ago, queen-breeders were anxious to 

 have me recommend their stock ; so I 

 had queens donated from all parts. Dr. 

 Hamlin, of Tennessee, sent me an ex- 

 tra-good one ; but from lots of other 

 parties it would take three of their 

 queens to keep a hive as full of bees as 

 one ought to ; and all boasted of the 

 extra-light color and extra peaceable to 

 handle, and some went so far as to 

 boast of their extra large and light- 

 colored drones — almost a sure test of 

 impurity. 



Santa Ana, Calif., Sept. 13, 1893, 



[Dr. Gallup enclosed with the fore- 

 going article, one written by Mr. Chas. 

 Dadant for the Illustrated Bee Jour- 

 nal \n 1870, which we reproduce as it 

 is so to the point on the subject dis- 

 cussed by the Doctor. Bro. Dadant's 

 article is as follows :] 



THE FOUR-BANDED ITALIAN BEES. 



Some three years ago Prof. Flanery 

 offered queens more than pure. This 

 year (1870) Madame, the Baroness of 

 Berlepsch, tells us that Dzierzon, in 

 Germany, has offered bees with four 

 yellow stripes. I guess the thing to be 



