AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



397 



hence, she will live 4 or 5 years. Now 

 you set this middle frame on her side in 

 a frame of new foundation. Do you see 

 how nice the bees are drawing it out ? 

 And do you see how full of eggs it is ? 



" Yes, yes." 



Here I get the young larvae. I cut out 

 a piece of this new comb that contains 

 larvaa about one day old from the egg, 

 and shave the cells down close so that I 

 can get the larvaa out easy. Now this is 

 where and how I get my queen-larvae, 

 and there will be reared about 2,000 

 queens from "Pet" this year. 

 (To be continued.) 



Migratory Bee-Keeping, Etc. 



The following I find in Gleanings, from 

 one of our noted Southern bee-keepers : 



Migratory bee-keeping seems to be 

 quite popular here. Several bee-men 

 have brought their apiaries here from 

 the interior to secure the mangrove 

 yield, and these bees came in good 

 shape, as they had built up strong on 

 the orange blossom and other interior 

 crops. Messrs. Poppleton and Storer 

 also brought their bees back from the 

 St. Lucie River, where they had secured 

 a good crop of wild penny-royal and saw- 

 palmetto honey, and got their bees in 

 good condition to make the most of the 

 summer crop here. The Florida honey 

 crop will run considerably below the 

 average for this season, beyond question. 



My friend, Harry Mitchell, made a 

 little discovery lately in regard to an 

 application to the hands that .prevents 

 the bees from stinging them, but I will 

 let him give it to the public, if he cares 

 to do so. W. S. Hart. 



Hawks' Park, Fla., July 28, 1892. 



Five-Banded Bees — What are They? 



Elizabeth S., of Texas, asks: "What 

 are five-banded bees, anyway ?" 



I am glad that this question was 

 asked just at this time, as some inex- 

 perienced bee-friends have almost 

 wanted the five-banded queen-breeders 

 put into jail, or black-list them, whichis 

 worse. So, now, I shall try in my hum- 

 ble way to tell all about it. 



All probably know by this time what 

 a pure Italian queen is, or what is called 

 a pure three-banded queen. Well, I 

 work and breed the five-banded queens 

 just the same as the three-banded va- 

 riety. That is, the breeder I use is a 



pure, or as pure a five-banded queen as 

 I can get, making all her workers, or at 

 least seven-eighths, ^ve-banded. We also 

 rear the untested queens from them, 

 and if one meets a black drone and pro- 

 duces hybrid bees, or a three-banded 

 drone, and produces bees two, three, 

 four and five bands, as the case may be, 

 we call her a " five-banded queen," just 

 because her mother is such ; just the 

 same as we call a thi«ee-banded queen a 

 pure Italian, only mismated, don't you 

 see ? 



Now, while every precaution is taken 

 to mate the queens, some will " switch" 

 and produce the hybrid bees. Now, I 

 do not claim that all the untested five- 

 banded queens that are sent out will 

 produce five-banded bees, but I know a 

 majority will produce some five-banded. 

 I simply agree to rear all the queens 

 as being five-banded from a pure five- 

 banded mother, and the receiver must 

 take the risk on getting five-banded 

 bees, just as he takes the risk on getting 

 pure three-banded bees when he buys 

 untested queens. And a tested, five- 

 banded queen may produce three, four, 

 and five-banded bees, and we simply 

 call her a tested five-banded queen, be- 

 cause she produces some five-banded 

 bees, and we do not claim she will pro- 

 duce all five-banded bees, but grade or 

 class her according to the amount of 

 bees or part of her progeny that are 

 five-banded. While we breed from 

 queens and drones that are solid yellow, 

 some of the untested queens will prove 

 to be hybrids, just like other Italian 

 bees. 



Now I have tried to make this plain, 

 and ask you to consider these points be- 

 fore censuring breeders too heavy. Let 

 us all try to " keep sweet," no matter 

 how hot our discussions, for would not 

 a bee-keeper look funny with a sour 

 face ? 



A Free Portrait of your favorite 

 Presidential candidate is offered on page 

 389, in connection with the Orange Judd 

 Farmer and the Bee Journal. We have 

 a set of these Portraits in our office, and 

 can say that they are very fine indeed. 

 They are 12x16 inches in size, and, as 

 a picture, would ornament any home. 

 The Orange Judd Farmer is an elegant, 

 16-page, weekly farm and home paper, 

 and should be read by all who want to 

 make a success of farm work, and also 

 have a well-informed household. 



