THE AMERICAjN bee JOURNAL. 



743 



allow tlie readers of the Bee Jour- 

 nal to judge as to whether, or not, I 

 am entitled to the claim of having a 

 superior strain of l)ees. 



I wish, lirst, to submit the following 

 table of 80 colonies containing bees on 

 June 1, 1882: 



STATISTICAL TABLE. 



References.— a, cast one swarm ; 

 b, sold June 7; c, daughter of im- 

 ported queen ; d. cast two swarms ; 

 ■e, young queen, laying; f, virgin 

 •queen ; </, cast swarm, Aug. 9th ; h, 

 hybrid ; i, hybrid ; ?. daughter of im- 

 ported queen ; fr, imported queen; (, 

 virgin queen, June 1st; hybrid. 



Tlie aliove-named 80 colonies were 

 all I had left of 50 colonies last fall. 

 Their pitiable condition on June 1, as 

 shown 111 the table, was due to the ex- 

 treme wet and cold in March, April 

 and May. 



On May 27 I do not think there was 

 a, pound of honey in my apiary. The 

 last feeding was done on May 28. The 

 weather, tlirough June and the lirst 

 half of July, was extremely wet and 

 •cool for the time of year. From June 

 1 to Oct. 1 rain fell on 35 different 

 •days. 



We have .53 colonies now. with am- 

 ple provision for winter, and tlie total 

 amount of honey taken is 4,700 lbs.; 

 1,097 lbs. of it is comb. 



Reckoning nine frames to the hive 

 (the size I use), and allowing for the 



nuclei that was sold June 7, 1 had, 

 on June 1, the bees for 18 full colonies. 

 This gives 2()1 lbs to the colony, or a 

 little over 28A lbs. to the frame. Some 

 may object to reckoning in this way, 

 on account of the extra queens ; but I 

 know of no other way to come at it 

 fairly, and I think, too, that the dis- 

 advantage of having the bees in so 

 many hives more than offsets the ad- 

 vantage of the extra queens. 



Our bees are a strain of Italians, 

 procured in August, 1878, of Samuel 

 Replogle, Hagarstown, Ind. I have 

 bred them for stripes, industry, hardi- 

 ness, prolilicness, docility and size. 



Judging from what I have read in 

 the journals, my bees will not com- 

 pare in proliticness and color with the 

 Cyprians or Syrians, and some strains 

 of Italian will surpass them in these 

 respects, but for industry, hardiness, 

 docility and size, I do not think I 

 could get better bees anywliere. 



As for comb building, iny bees, like 

 other Italians, build an excess of 

 drone comb, liut for comb honey I see 

 no difference in the whiteness of the 

 comb of that which they build, and 

 that built by black or hybrid liees. In 

 order to satisfy the readers of tlie Bee 

 Journal, as "well as myself, I wall 

 forward a sample of my comb honey 

 to the editor, and he may decide for 

 us all in this respect. The greater 

 part of our comb honey was taken off 

 in September, of which the sample is 

 a specimen. 



Bryant, 111. 



[The sample of comb honey was re- 

 ceived in excellent condition — not a 

 drop of leakage — and presents a very 

 nice appearance. The cappings are 

 exceedingly white, having moreof the 

 appearance of that done by black 

 rather than Italian bees. The honey 

 is light, but not the lightest ; one of 

 the combs is not fastened to the sides 

 or bottom of the section, as well as 

 we may desire, but on the whole it 

 would grade No. 1 as to marketability. 

 —Ed.] 



For tbe American Beo JoumaL 



Development of " The Coming Bee." 



E. L. BBIGGS. 



The public bee fraternity are always 

 interested in anything that looks like 

 the improvement of the race of honey 

 gatlierers in America, or elsewhere. 

 So I wish to report progress; and offer 

 another prize for the best Italian 

 queen out of eight ; to be sent to me 

 at any time before the 1st of July, 1883 ; 

 to be not over 18 months old ;" home- 

 bred or imported. 



I hereby offer $25 for the best queen 

 in eight, to be sent to me, by as many 

 different breeders, on or before the 

 1st of July, A. 1). 1883 ; in addition to 

 the usual price for each queen sent as 

 a contestant for the prize ; subject to 

 the following conditions: She must 

 be better than either my Wilson Queen, 

 No. 4 ; or my Lake Queen, No. 3 ; or 

 my Henderson Queen, No. 6 ; in one, or 



more, of the five following particu- 

 lars, viz.: 



1. She must be larger in size and 

 produce larger workers and drones 

 than either of the above prize queens. 



2. She and her offspring, workers, 

 drones, and queens, must be as bright, 

 or brighter yellow than the above. 



8. She, and her worker offspring, 

 must be as gentle, or more so, to 

 handle ; clinging to the combs when 

 lifted out, with the same or greater 

 tenacity. 



4. Her worker progeny must mani- 

 fest a greater industry in gathering 

 honey, and tilling surplus boxes, than 

 either of the above. 



5. She must be the most jirolilic as 

 a breeder, keeping her colony strongest 

 in numbers. 



I reserve to myself the right : 1. To 

 accept the breeder who offers to be- 

 come a contestant, or reject his offer, 

 at my own option. 2. To keep any 

 one of the queens forwarded, by pay- 

 ing tne catalogue price for the same, 

 or one of my young prize queens, in 

 exchange, as the sender may elect, or, 

 of returning her to the sender, if she 

 does not come up to the standard of 

 those I already have. 3. The sender 

 must pay the expressage to this place ; 

 and in all cases, when she is returned, 

 both ways. On the first Thursday in 

 next September the prize to be awarded 

 by a committee of threeortive breed- 

 ers to be named by Thos. G. Newman, 

 editor of the American Bee-Jour- 

 nal. At which time I will here, and 

 now, invite a convention of bee-keep- 

 ers, and others, to assemble and wit- 

 ness the award, and to discuss the in- 

 terests of the cause generally ; for a 

 couple of days, or more. 



I make this offer, not in the way of a 

 banter, but in good faith. For I be- 

 lieve that every now and then there 

 will appear a very superior queen, 

 which the producer would perhaps 

 ship off, at the ordinary price, and 

 her superiority would be lost in min- 

 gling with ordinary stock. But by a 

 careful selection he not only insures 

 himself the selling price, which he 

 charges, but he stands a chance of 

 getting S25, in addition. And I make 

 It further, because I am determined, 

 if money, time, patience, and careful 

 selection will doit, to breed the honey- 

 bee up to the highest possible state of 

 perfection. And I am conlident that 

 it is best for the whole bee-keeping 

 fraternity that there should be " one 

 best apiary "' where stock is bred for 

 perfection ; and where it can be pro- 

 cured in its highest purity at any time. 



I flatter myself that among the fifty 

 or more tested young queens, now 

 heading as many colonies in my apiary, 

 bred from my three prize mothers of 

 last year, I could select several which 

 would take the prize I offer. And, 

 doubtless, there are other breeders 

 who can do the same. Out of our one 

 hundred other colonies, there are not 

 live, I think, which contain bees with 

 less than three yellow bands. They 

 have all been queened by imported 

 stock, or the best of home-bred 

 mothers. And as to their honey- 

 making qualities, they have lilled 

 nearly every receptacle which I have 

 given them to till, this summer. 



