482 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



"Silver Linings" Again. 



C. H. Dibbein, Milan, 111., writes 

 under date of July 26 : 



I see there is a disposition on the 

 part of some to make sport of your 

 " silver linings." Well, we have seen 

 the " linings " here for 2 or 3 weeks. 

 I liave new swarms that have gatli- 

 ered 50 to 60 lbs. of as nice section 

 honey as I ever saw. Weather is 

 very favorable, and bees doing better 

 than for some years. 



Prospects, so far as floral indica- 

 tions pointed in nearly all sections of 

 our country, were never better than 

 this season. The great majority of 

 our correspondence reports white clo- 

 ver abundant, and bloom unpreceden- 

 ted ; linden very liberal in bloom ; 

 fruit bloom was plentiful ; locusts, 

 etc., above tlie average ; but the at- 

 mospheric influences in many sec- 

 tions have been unpropitious. In 

 some districts, when the weather was 

 dry so bees could be in the fields, 

 heavy winds prevailed from the north- 

 ern points of the compass, so that nec- 

 tar failed to reach the surface of the 

 flowers. 



Many peculiarities have been re- 

 ported this season, chief among which 

 were strong colonies and bees in good 

 condition ; but no honey — some re- 

 porting hives full of bees, and they 

 almost starving. Where the weather 

 has been favorable, the honey crop 

 lias been tremendous, some bee-keep- 

 ers li;iving already realized a good 

 harvest, and the " bees are still boom- 

 ing." One bee-keeper stated he had 

 already realized 100 lbs. ot extracted 

 honey per colony, spring count, and 

 the " harvest but commenced." We 

 saw 1 ist week second swarms witli 

 the second and third stories filled with 

 brood and honey, awaiting the ex- 

 tractor, while the bee-keeper in charge 

 remarked that it was probably true 

 " bees will not swarm if given plenty 

 of room," but he " found it impossi- 

 ble to give them plenty of room," at 

 the same time pointing to a mammoth 

 colony which had thrown olf three 

 swarms, and were again clustered 

 outside, their three-story hive being 

 filled to repletion. Swarming which 

 usually prevails in June and the first 

 week in July, has this season been de- 

 layed till the last week in July. In 

 this section of Illinois linden is now 

 in its prime, and where it is accessi- 

 ble, bees are deserting white clover 

 to work on the linden, although the 

 clover is still abundant. Should fall 

 flowers be as abundant as we antici- 

 pate, the " silver lining" with many 



will be changed to a golden hue, 

 while we still think many who are 

 viraiting and longing, will be " disap- 

 pointed witli happiness." Of course, 

 nature may be lavish with her floral 

 decorations, but if the elements be 

 not favorable, the " sweetness will be 

 wasted on the desert air," or driven 

 back to mother earth. 



Italianizing an Apiary* 



Many bee-keepers will probably 

 wish to put their apiaries in order this 

 fall to Italianize them next season, 

 and for this class the following hints 

 from Mr. W. T. Clary, Clarysville, Ky . , 

 may have especial interest : 



I have quite recently purchased 

 an imported queen, for tlie purpose of 

 requeening my apiary. I have 28 

 colonies of Italians more or less pure, 

 and propose giving each doubtful 

 colony a queen bred from my im- 

 ported one, and letting them mate as 

 they will, and requeen again next 

 spring early, lettuig these young 

 queens of this season's production 

 produce the drones, and furnish the 

 the queen again from my imported 

 one. 1. Can I succeed by this means 

 in having all my colonies pure V 2. 

 Will the drones bred from these 

 young queens (allowing more or less 

 of them to have mismated) be as pure 

 as if bred from an imported queen of 

 known purity ; or should I admit of 

 drones being bred only from those 

 queens whose progeny show the 

 mother to have been purely mated. 

 This is a question that I can hardly 

 decide on, but what the mating of 

 the queen has more or less bearing' on 

 the drone progeny. Should there be 

 any doubts on this question, I would 

 rather purchase two imported tested 

 queens, and rear all ray drones from 

 one queen and queen cells from the 

 otlier. Please give me your views on 

 this question. 3. Would it not be the 

 better way for me to form a nucleus 

 for each colony where I desire to re- 

 place the queen, and have a laying 

 queen bred in tliis nucleus to give the 

 old colony before removing their old 

 queen, or would you advise remov- 

 ing the old queen and giving the 

 colony a ripe cell i* I intend to start 

 my cells as you advise, by removing 

 all the brood from a strong colony, 

 and I shall, after cells are ready for 

 insertion in nuclei, divide the brood 

 from the colony removed into nuclei. 



1 and 2. The gist of the " Dzierzon 

 Theory" is to the effect tliat the 

 drone progeny of a pure queen will be 

 equally pure, regardless of the mat- 

 ing ; but the worker progeny will be 

 hybrid if the mother be mismated ; 

 and hence the queen progeny of an 

 impurely mated queen will be hybrids, 

 as also the drones of the latter. The 

 question has frequently been raised 

 by very resiiectable autliorities, that 

 the mating of a queen of one kind of 



bees with a drone of another, will to 

 some extent change the nature of the 

 drone progeny. Our experimental 

 observations have ijeen very unsatis- 

 factory. 



3. Yes, decidedly better ; for then 

 you have but a short interregnum be- 

 tween one queen and the other. The 

 interruption in reinforcing the colony 

 will amount to only the necessary 

 time to introduce your new queen. If 

 a ripe cell be given, it will require an 

 average of 10 to 1 2 days to bring forth 

 the queen, mate her, and for prolific 

 laying, while if a queen be nursed in 

 a nucleus, it will require but 48 hours 

 to safely introduce her— perhaps less 

 time— and time is valuable. 



Persons intending to rear queens 

 next season with which to Italianize 

 their apiaries, should procure the 

 queen-mother at once, so as not only 

 to test her bees this fall, but to rear at 

 least one batch of queens, in order to 

 test her queen progeny, even though 

 they mate impurely. Bees are much 

 like everything else, each one having 

 some peculiar trait more prominent 

 than others. Some queens excel as 

 queen-breeders ; some may produce 

 superior drones, and others may be 

 indifferent in everything. The latter 

 class are not wanted, as it would be 

 folly to consume tiuie in clianging 

 stock without some compensating 

 gain, which cannot be found in color 

 alone. Besides, by rearing even a sin- 

 gle batch of queens the previous sea- 

 son, it is possible one or more may be 

 properly mated, thereby giving Italian 

 brood with which to strengtlien the 

 old queen for drone-breeding in early 

 spring. If the intention be to buy the 

 queens with wliich to re-stock, then 

 by all means buy this summer, when 

 they can probably be bought cheaper, 

 and if wintered in the colonies there 

 will be no hybrid drones to embarrass 

 you the following season. 



A mistake is often made in buying 

 the first queen, many supposing a 

 young queen tlie most desirable kind 

 with which to re-stock the apiary. 

 We would advise the purchase of a 

 vigorous, prolific, last year's queen, 

 whose queen progeny, if possible, had 

 been tested, and that produced docile, 

 vigorous workers. A well matured 

 mother breeds better queens and is 

 more productive of early desirable 

 drones. Do not expect to buy a good 

 queen-mother early enough in the 

 spring to Italianize your apiary, for 

 fall will overtake you with the work 

 but half accomplished ; and do not 



