THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



405 



For ttie American Bee Journal. 



Light versus Dark Italians. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



Mr. Aaron Benedict says that it "is 

 much easier for tlie careless breeder 

 to rear dark tlian light-colored Ital- 

 ians, hence they are ready to praise 

 the kind of bees they have, and it 

 queen-breeders, they can send out 

 all the hybrid queens they can rear, if 

 dark." 



The testimony of all queen-breed- 

 ers, and my own experience agrees 

 with their testimony, is that to breed 

 for and obtain light color in bees is 

 one of the easiest traits to be obtained 

 by breeding. In reply to the remark 

 about the breeders of dark bees being 

 able to send out hybrid queens, I 

 would say that queen-breeders do not 

 rear tlieir queens from hybrid queens. 

 It is just as easy, and requires no 

 more work, to rear queens from a 

 pure queen, than to breed from a 

 hybrid queen. What breeder would 

 be so foolish as to send out hybrid 

 queens for pure queens? 



Mr. B. says : "I believe if these 

 advocates of dark Italians had queens 

 that were light-yellow, and produced 

 all light-yellow bees, they would sing 

 a different tune." In reply I would 

 say : show me the advocate of dark 

 Italians who has not also tried the 

 light Italians before " singing his 

 tune." 



Mr. B. says : " It is the instinct of 

 all honey bees to gather honey." Just 

 so, but does not Mr. B. kiiow that 

 some bees possess this instinct in a 

 greater degree than odiers, or else 

 with the instinct is joined a greater 

 ability ? 



Again, Mr. B. says we should liave 

 " in view, tirst, the lightest-colored 

 bees ; second, large ; third, docility." 

 To make tlie joke complete, he ought 

 to have added, fourth, honey produc- 

 ing qualities. In my opinion, honey 

 production, hardiness, i)rolilicness, 

 amiability and color should be bred 

 for in the order named, but I fear 

 that some have bred in the reverse 

 order. 



The editor of the Instmctor, in an 

 editorial in the May number, ex- 

 presses my views so exactly, that I 

 hope I may be excused for quoting 

 his concluding paragraph, he says : 

 " We do not claim that the dark Ital- 

 ians are best simply because they are 

 dark. Although there is undoubt- 

 edly a natural difference in manv 

 respects in the two strains, we think 

 the difference is caused principally 

 from the majority of bee-keepers hav- 

 ing bred almost exclusively for color, 

 . witliout paying enough attention to 

 other points equally or more import- 

 ant, such as vigor, proliticness, honey 

 gathering qualities, etc. If color is 

 not gained at the expense of these 

 qualities, well and good. But we fear 

 tliat in too many instances it is. 



When breeders begin to realize that 

 color of itself amounts to nothing ; 

 that queens may be as yellow as a gold 

 piece and still be worth nothing as 

 producers of business bees, then, and 

 not till then, we may expect to see a 

 general improvement in the race." 

 Rogersville, Mich. 



California Apicullurist. 



Evaporator for Extracted Houey. 



W. W. BLISS. 



In the first engraving A shows an 

 opening two inches wide, covered 

 with wire cloth extending the whole 

 length of the tank, and the whole is 

 covered with a narrow roof, to keep 

 out the rain ; B is an iron rod to hold 

 the upper part of the tank together 

 and keep the roof from spreading ; C 

 C are posts, 3x4 in. ; F is a piece of 

 3x4, extending across from post to 

 post under the bottom, and is let into 

 the posts \}4 inches, to support the 

 weight ; D is a honey gate; E E are 

 pieces of iron bent around the posts, 

 and bolted to F to keep it from 

 spreading apart at the bottom. Or 

 instead of these bent irons, an iron 

 rod as at B, may be run through the 



Fig. 1—End View. 



legs below the tank, or both rods 

 and bent clasps may be used and 

 thereby secure additional strength. 



In the second illustration A A A A 

 are window glass. B B B are the posts; 

 C C are the ends of the bolts ; D is 

 the honey gate. The tank is made of 

 two-inch plank, and is 7 ft. long, 3 ft. 

 wide, and 20 iiiclies high, all inside 

 measure. Tlie ends should set back 

 from the ends of the sides about two 

 inches, and let into the sides and bot- 

 tom about J?8 of an inch. Tlie roof 

 should be made tight, so that it will 

 not leak ; one side is made of boards ; 

 the other side has glass in it, so as to 

 let in the sun, and should face south. 



To put in the lining, go to the tin- 

 shop and buy some sheets of I. C. tin, 

 and have the tinner turn the edges 

 for clinching, as they do for roofing. 

 Lay the bottom out on a floor, ham- 

 mer down the clinches, and solder all 

 tight. Take the measure of the inside 

 of the tank, and then turn up the 

 edges and ends of your bottom to that 

 size, making it 14 inch smaller all 

 around than the inside of your tank. 

 Now put the bottom lining in its 

 place ; begin on one side and put in 

 tlie rest of the lining, one sheet at a 

 time, clinching and soldering as you 

 go. The lining should be bent over 

 the top of the tank, and nailed to the 

 outside with lath-nails. 



A tank like the above ought not to 

 cost more than $15.00 and will hold 

 about 3.000 lbs. of honey. When 

 completed the whole of "the wood- 

 work should be treated to one or two 

 coats of black or some other dark- 

 colored paint that will absorb the 

 sun's rays and add to the evaporating 

 powers of the tank. 



It would be difficult to tell just how 

 fast it would ripen newly extracted 

 honey ; it would depend upon the 

 weather and how thick the honey is 

 when extracted. If the weather is 

 cloudy, cold, and damp, it would not 

 ripen the honey as rapidly as it would 



Fig. 2— Side View. 



if it was clear, hot and dry. Here in 

 Los Angeles County, an evaporator 

 the size as described above would (if 

 full) ripen rather thin honey in about 

 4 or 5 days ; it depends upon how thin 

 the holiey is, and how thick you want 

 it. You can extract the honey before 

 it is capped over, if you have clear 

 weather to ripen it in. 

 Los Angeles, Cal., May, 1882. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Specimens of Apis Dorsata. 



W3I. F. CLABKB. 



Well, I have seen her, and him— 

 worker and drone— two of each, in 

 alcohol. These four insects represent 

 the price of a farm, and are all our 

 friend Jones has to show, as yet, for 

 his Oriental pilgrimages, and those of 

 Frank Benton, in search of '• the big 

 bee of Java." 



It is a big bee, and no mistake, 

 about four times the size of apis 

 lueUifica. I am not much of an entom- 

 ologist, and this description is not 

 meant for the eye of Prof. Cook, or 

 any other scientific expert in the ap- 

 pearance and ways of that division of 

 the animal kingdom called Insecta. 1 

 can only give the crude impressions 

 of one who has been familiar, some- 

 times too much so, with our common 

 and improved races of bees. 



The bigness of this bee is what first 

 strikes the ordinary observer, and 

 next to that its beauty. It is golden- 

 banded like the Italian, and silver- 

 banded too, but with a more decided 

 and larger black terminus to the 

 abdomen, in this respect resembling 

 the Cyprians and Syrians. A bee 

 curled up in alcohol, does not dis- 

 play itself to the same advantage as 

 when on the comb or on the wing, 

 but this bee, stretched out, must be 

 a well-proportioned, handsome insect. 

 The body is large and roomy, giving 

 great capacity tor honey carrying ; 

 and the wings are long" and broad. 



