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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the 'ZO or more apiarists 

 who help to make " Queries and Replies so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Several Questions Answered. 



Mr. W. E. Dean, of Tunnelton, W. 

 Va., sent us several questions, and we 

 publish them below, following each with 

 an answer : 



ORIGIN OF CARNIOLAN BEES, 



Where do Carniolan bees come from ? 

 and what are their distinguishing char- 

 acteristics ? 



Answer. — Carniolan bees come from 

 Carniola, a duchy in Austria, near the 

 Adriatic Sea, but on the east slope of 

 the mountains. The difiBculty of dis- 

 tinguishing them from common blacks, 

 leads Dadant to say in the "Revised 

 Langstroth," " In spite of the prolific- 

 ness and general good reputation of this 

 race, we did not attempt to propagate it, 

 owing to the difficulty of detecting their 

 mating with the common bees, since 

 they are almost alike in color." Root 

 says in his "ABC of Bee-Culture:" 

 " As stated, they resemble blacks, and 

 might easily be mistaken for them, but 

 there is a difference. They are larger, 

 and their abdomens are more of a bluish 

 cast, the fuzzy rings being very dis- 

 tinct." They have the reputation of 

 being the best bees as to disposition, 

 and the worst as to swarming. 



YELLOW-BANDED, SHINY BEES. 



Some time ago I got a colony 

 of Italian bees with an untested 

 queen. I now have bees in the colony 

 with three broad yellow bands on the 

 upper part of the body, but the lower 

 part of the body is pure black. The 

 light rings on common bees, and the 

 Italians that were purchased, are ab- 

 sent on these. Is it because these bees 

 are young, that their bodies are shiny 

 black, except the three broad yellow 

 bands, or are they hybrids ? 



Answer. — Probably neither, if they 

 have the three broad, yellow bands. If 

 all the workers of a queen show the 

 three yellow bands, she is considered 

 pure. The shiny black appearance of 

 beos is because their plumage has been 



removed, so that the shiny black ap- 

 pearance is an indication of age rather 

 than of youth. Bees that have been 

 doing a lively business at robbing are 

 likely to have the shiny black appear- 

 ance, excepting, of course, where yellow 

 bands show. 



THE FIVE-BANDED ITALIANS. 



Are 5-banded Italians imported, or 

 are they an American production ? 



Answer. — We believe 5-banded Ital- 

 ians are an American product. 



BUILDING cells ON TOP OF FRAMES. 



Though I have a super with section- 

 boxes in which the bees are making 

 comb, yet they persist in making cells 

 on the top of the frames, and connect- 

 ing the frames to the side of the hive. 

 Is it best to open the hive every day or 

 two, and cut this extra comb away ? 



Answer. — It would be a very serious 

 matter to open a hive every day or two 

 to cut out burr-combs, and we would not 

 advise it. The prevention of burr- 

 combs has been much discussed. Hed- 

 don's slat honey-board placed between 

 the brood-chamber and the super is a 

 great help, although complaint has been 

 made of failure in some cases. Now-a- 

 days there seems a growing preference 

 for thick top-bars and small bee-spaces. 

 Some claim success with top-bars % of 

 an inch to an inch in thickness, without 

 reference to the bee-space. Others say 

 they succeed with thinner top-bars, by 

 merely having the space between the 

 top-bar and the super a shade less than 

 3^ of an inch. With top-bars %-inch 

 thick, and bee-space scant U of an inch, 

 you will not need to cut out burr-combs 

 every day or two. 



blackberry BLOSSOMS FOR BEES. 



Do blackberry blossoms produce any- 

 thing for be§s ? 



Answer. — Bla^kerry and strawberry 

 are counted among honey-plants, al- 

 though in our own observation we never 

 saw bees pay much attention to them. 

 Raspberry, however, is a fine honey- 

 plant. 



BEE-WILLOW AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Is the bee-willow valuable as a honey- 

 plant? It is about the first thing that 

 bees work on here in the spring. 



Answer. — You have yourself given 

 the answer to the question byirsaying, 

 " It is about the first thing bees work on 



