I'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Stimulative FeefliuE. 



Qiiory, No. 176.— Sumac blooms :i weeks 

 after wlilt«' olover. Is it. lulvisalilo to prac- 

 tice stimulative (ccdlnif between the two 

 crops?— Doe, Missouri. 



Not iiiileHS the Mow lioiii sumac 

 liists two or three weeks.— VV. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



No; sumac blooms Mere about July 

 10, and the clover does not cease to 

 Vield iH^tar till about this time.— G. 



L. TiNKKK. 



It would hardly be necessary for so 

 short a time.— A. J. Cook. 



Yes; if sumac yields abuiuhintly, 

 and there is a dearth of llowers be- 

 tween white clover and sumac— C. 0. 



MiLLKK. '' 



I have never found it so in this 

 locality.— (;. M. Doolittt.e. 



We think tliat tliis is a misUike; 

 sumac usually blooms during white 

 clover or immediately after. At any 

 rate it would be a mistake to teed a 

 colony if the hive is already full, even 

 if only to stimulate.— Da DANT&^ioN. 



It would do no good, in my judgment. 

 You could not increase the lield- 

 workers by stimulative feeding in so 

 short a period of time. As you 

 describe the two Iiarvests in your 

 locality, your bees ought to be in the 

 very bestcoiidition to rea)) the sumac 

 harvest.— (;. W. Dejiauke. 



By no means, in this locality. 

 I'.efore pleurisy-root and red clover 

 lilled the "gap" b(awecii hasswood 

 and buckwheat, boiu'set, goldenrod, 

 etc., we tised to have a complete 

 lioney-dearth. and then was the time 

 our queens deposited their greatest 

 number of eggs daily.— Ja.mes IIed- 



DON. 



Material for Packing Hives, 



(tiiery. No. 1 T7.— Which of the following 

 18 the best for piicklnif bees for winter : 

 wheat, outs, biiclswheat or clover cliatt ; 

 forest Iciives or old raxs V— J. W. 



I should prefer wheat chaff.— VV. 

 Z. IIUTCIIIN.SON. 



I prefer a cellar.— ('. C. Millek. 



I use fine, di-y basswood sawdust. 

 Next I sbouUl choose buckwheat 

 chaff.— G. M. DooLiTTi-E. 



I presume that clover chaff is a 

 little the best, but I do not think that 

 there is much difference. —A. J.(Jook. 



Forest leaves; of the four kinds of 

 chaff, tiiere is little ditlerence. As 

 to the old rags, that would depend 

 upon the amount of rags to the 

 pound.— (J. L. TiNKKit. 



I prefer cloth of any kind, to any- 

 thing else. Oat-chaff is the best 

 absorbent, but it retains the moisture 

 more, tenatwously than does wheat 

 chaff. I never tried buckwheat chaff. 



— G. W. DEiMAKEE. 



Woolen rags or waste would prob- 

 ably be best. We use leaves. They 

 are the cheapest and most easily 

 secured here. If chalT is to be used, 

 we would use oat-chaff, or even oat- 

 straw.— Dadant &SON. 



If I had not abandoned out door 

 wintering, I sliould i)ack mv hives 

 with any one of the materials men- 

 tioned that I could get with tlie least 

 expense and trouble. — James IIed- 



DON. 



Dots Oil Italian Queens,. 



Query, No. I7S.— Are the '; or :i little 

 liliK'k (lots, Kotiictiinos found on tiu^ uppei' 

 sidf of the alirlonien of llallan riueens. any 

 Indication of their purity i" If not that, 

 what do they indicate ?— W. U. 



My best queens have no such dots 

 on them.— G. M. Doolittle. 



1 think that such dots are not im- 

 jiortaiit or siguilicant. — A. J. Cook. 



No. They are no sure indication of 

 anything whatever. The ])urity of a 

 queen cannot always be ascertained 

 by her looks. Ijook at her bees. — 

 I)Ai)AN'r i& Son. 



I think not; if they indicate any- 

 thing it is a trace of black l)lood. At 

 all events, in those cases where the 

 little black dots amount to blat-k 

 stripes there is no doubt of it.— (i. L. 



TiNKEK. 



I have sometimes thought that they 

 indicated impurity, but I have not 

 observed closely enough to know.— 0. 



C. MiLLEll. 



The little black dots have nothing 

 to do with the (iurity of Italian 

 queens, unless they are splotches of 

 broken bauds around her abdomen. 

 I liave noticiHl that rings or bauds 

 indicate impurity of blood in Italian 

 queens, but not so with Cyprian and 

 Syrian queens.— G. W. Demauee. 



Syrian and Italian Bees. 



Query. No. I7f>.— Is the Syrian str-niTi of 

 bees, or- any of its crosses, any iiniiro\cnient 

 upon tin* Italian bc-s, in the pT-oduclion of 

 either comb or extracted honey, or as a 

 general-purpose bee ?— A. G. 



My experience with the Syrians is 

 limited, but 1 think that 1 shoidd pre- 

 fer them crossed with the Italians, to 

 liaving them pure. I prefer Italians 

 to Syrians.— W. Z. IIuiciiinson. 



From my own expeiieiici^ I should 

 say no; but I should not think it full 

 enough to be entitled to much weight. 

 In some localities they may be very 

 valuable.— C. C. Milleu. 



Crosses with other races have gen- 

 erally been productive of great vigor 

 and extra working ipialities ; but 

 often the crosses have not proved 



more Jamiable than the average hy- 

 brids. With selective drone and 

 (lueen breeding, I think tliat the 

 iniprovemt^nt that has been found in 

 many instances may be perpetuated. 



— <;. L. TlNKEK. . 



I have tried Syrians and have liked 

 them very much. Not having Ital- 

 ians all the time with them, F could 

 hardly compare them. They do breed 

 faster, and, so far as I luvveseen, they 

 are as good in every way as Italians. 

 — A. J. Cook. 



In my opinion no improvement can 

 be made by crossing the Italian race, 

 except the benelits to be derived frotu 

 the introduction of fresh blood from 

 other strains of yellow bees ; and the 

 same results may be had by crossiitg 

 Italians with Italians of remote fami- 

 lies, with the advantage of having 

 your bees pure.— G. VV. Demauee. 



I early decided not to bring Syrian 

 or Cyprian blood into my apiaries 

 until I cotild be convinced by the 

 reports of the fraternity at large that 

 they were superior to our best Ger- 

 mans and Italians; consequently, as 

 yet, 1 know nothing about them from 

 experience.— James IIeddon. 



I much prefer the Italian bees to 

 Syrians. A cross between the two 

 might bean improvement, were it not 

 that the cross could not be told from 

 the pure as to its markings, and from 

 this would come utter confusion of 

 the races.— G. M. Doolittle. 



OUR CLUBBING LIST. 



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