THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



263 



were found in very good condition. 

 After a month liad passed they were 

 destroyed by mice. 



During the autumn of 1880 I pur- 

 chased some kite swarms in skeps, 

 and liad no opportunity to transfer 

 them into liives. I gave them suffi- 

 cient food, and as an experiment, cut 

 olf a corda (one twist) of the round 

 bottom-board 13^ inclies higli. My 

 bees are wintered on the summer 

 atand, but in some way or otiier pro- 

 tected. These colonieslived through. 

 In hives with contracted entrances, 

 but otherwise in fair condition, the 

 bees were wet and died. 



As an anomaly, I will mention that 

 TiUd Ameriama, in the horticultural 

 garden of this place, was in bloom as 

 fate as Sept. 14, last. Does it ever 

 bloom so late in your country V 



I am much pleased with the Weekly 

 Bee Jouunal. I expect and long for 

 each number in advance. The con- 

 tents are such that nobody can justly 

 ask for better and nicu'e honest in- 

 formation, and for the future 1 will 

 never be without it. 



Gothenbourg, Sweden, Feb. 1, 1882. 



[Mr. Stalhammar is editor of the 

 Swedish Bee Journal, and his letter 

 will be read with interest. We have 

 never known Tilia Americana (linden 

 or basswood) to bloom so late as Sept. 

 14.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Bees' Tongue Register. 



J. H. MARTIN. 



In the spring of 1881 1 obtained a 

 few colonies of black bees from a 

 neighbor, and when red clover came 

 into bloom I observed black bees at 

 work upon it, and but few Italians. I 

 wanted some instrument to test ac- 

 curately and quickly the tongues of 

 those twenty colonies of black bees, 

 and find if ))ossible where those long- 

 tongued fellows lived. I made a self- 

 registering instrument with a float to 

 operate the pointer upon a dial, but I 

 conld not depend upon it for accurate 

 measurement, for every time I tilled 

 the reservoir I would get honey or 

 syrup, the specific gravity of wliich 

 would be different from that pre- 

 viously used, and my float would not 

 give accurate readings on the dial. I 

 did not make much use of my instru- 

 ment upon which I bad spent much 

 time in expei-imenting, but still kept 

 blinking 1 would like an accurate in- 

 strument tor the purpose. 



When our National Convention 

 came off, I was interested in Hnding 

 that Prof. Cook and Dr. iJrown had 

 been experimenting in the same line, 

 and Dr. 15rown seems to have made 

 his float and dial work to his satisfac- 

 tion, but he recorded only 32ds of an 

 inch. 



I then concluded to let Dr. Brown 

 or I'rof. Cook do the measuring of 

 tongues and give us an instrument; 

 but soon after the idea came to me 

 with this question, why not let the 

 bees take the honey from a tube, and 

 afterward measure ? I soon an- 



swered the qiiestion with a practical 

 instrument with wliich I could meas- 

 ure to a hair's breadth. I knew that 

 bee-keeiier.s would not be satislied 

 with 3l2i.ls, so I made my instrument 

 to record by lOUtlis and one 400ths or 

 even higher, can be registered by 

 reading between the inches. It will 

 measure the tongue of any insect that 

 will empty the tube to the deptli of 1 

 inch. Here now is a chance for Apis 

 dorsiita. 



To operate the instrument, turn 

 back the corner upon which the wire- 

 cloth is attached. All the glass feeding 

 tube there found with any sweet 

 liquid the bees will take, give the bees 

 access to it whose tongues you wish 

 to test, until they remove all they can 

 reach. Remove then, and sit upon a 

 level place and uncover the tube, turn 

 the thumlj-screw upon the back of the 

 instrument until the ring that encir- 

 cles the tube is on a line with the ex- 

 treme upper surface of the honey. 

 The pointer will now register the 

 length of tongue upon the dial in 

 100th |)arts of an inch. 



Although it is early in the season in 

 this locality to measure tongues (our 

 bees being in the cellar yet), I have 



tested a tew, and And that they do not 

 empty the tube so far by several lOOths 

 as they do in the height of the honey 

 season. I also lind that the mesh of 

 the wii'e-cloth makes some difference. 

 It should be so as to let the mandibles 

 through. I lind 3-32 of an inch mesh 

 gives the best results, and use that 

 size 

 Hartford, K. Y. 



For the Americim Bee Journal. 



Improvement in Italiau Bees. 



O. n. TOWNSEND. 



Can they ibe improved ? I answer, 

 yes ! Now the question, how y I will 

 try to answer the question, endeavor- 

 ing at the same time to give proofs 

 which have been brought out IVy long 

 experience, I having made bee-keep- 

 ing a specialty for 17 years, and 

 having had the Italians 14 years. 



First, we must have a queen whose 

 progeny is of good disposition, whose 

 markings indicate absolute purity, 

 which winter well, and last, butof the 

 greatest importance, they must, as 

 honey gatherers, have no rivals, not 

 only in tilling combs which are given 

 them, but they must go into the 



honey boxes with a " rush " as soon as 

 there is honey in the flowers. If all 

 queens are reared from such a queen, 

 and reared witli the proper care, no 

 one can fail to see good results. There 

 may be some queens which will be an 

 improvement over their mother ; 

 wlien this is the case, then such should 

 be used from which to rear our queens. 

 If the foregoing directions are fol- 

 lowed u)) for a few years, there will 

 be a very marked improvement. In- 

 stead of having some colonies which 

 will store in a season 200 lbs. surplus, 

 some 100, and others little or none, 

 they will show that tliere has been 

 some care used on the part of the 

 apiarist in his choice of queens from 

 which to rea.r the young queens. 



Until within the last few years any 

 one might have come into my apiary 

 and found, at the end of a good honey 

 harvest, some hives with a good yield 

 of box honey, others medium, and 

 some with none, or perhaps with a 

 very little ; but since I have followed 

 the above rules to the letter for the 

 last 4 years, it is different, for now my 

 bees will go into the boxes to work at 

 about the same time. There is no 

 more necessity for keeping poor bees 

 than for the dairyman to keep poor 

 cows. By the way, poor cows can be 

 sold for beef, but it would not pay to 

 sell poor queens, but kill them and 

 supply good ones in their stead. 



I bought my first Italian queen 14 

 years ago. .Iter bees were gentle, and 



food to store honey in finished combs, 

 ut very loth to work in boxes. I 

 reared my queens from this queen and 

 her progeny for 8 or 9 years, during 

 which time I never succeeded in get- 

 ting them (the bees) to work in boxes 

 to my satisfaction. Four years ago I 

 received my first imported queen. 

 Her progeny were well marked 

 Italians, rather dark in color, No. 1 

 bees to handle, more hardy than my 

 first Italians, and good workers for 

 both comb and extracted honey. Af- 

 ter using over 100 of her queens, I 

 found a few of her daughters were 

 more profitable than their mother. In 

 1880 I bought two imported queens. 

 The first one produced hybrids (I do 

 not know whether she ever crossed 

 the ocean or not). I only reared one 

 queen from this one. Her progeny 

 were noted for long stings, and a good 

 knowledge of their" use. The other 

 was a young qiieen. It came direct 

 to me from Italy. This queen, which 

 I now have, is the best imported 

 queen I have tried. Her bees are well 

 marked (not light Italians), and good- 

 natured. I never knew them to sting 

 any one, and I never saw their equal 

 to work in boxes. They stored and 

 sealed 90 lbs. of honey last season, all 

 from the first crop of red clover, and 

 cast a very large swarm. I also took 

 several full combs of hatching brood 

 during May and the forepart of June. 

 They are sure to have a large supply 

 for winter in the body of the hive. 

 Wintered out-of-doors last winter in a 

 box with 3 inches of chaff, and did not 

 fly for over .5 months, and came out in 

 the best possible shape. As yet I 

 have failed to get a queen to beat her 

 except for size. 

 I am thoroughly satisfied that if all 



