THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



275 



old queen-cells. I had been told that 

 these conmiunites were systematically 

 divided, and that each division had 

 its particular work to perform, and 

 leaders or overseers were placed over 

 them to superintend the work in each 

 department; and some were assigned 

 the position of guards at the entrance 

 of the hive, and did not have to gather 

 honey. 



I w'Htched them swarm with more 

 than idle curiosity, and [ heard older 

 people say that when the swarm Is- 

 sued they followed the king out, and 

 wherever he went they followed — and 

 if the king died in a colony, they 

 would all stop work and would never 

 do anything more, and would tinally 

 all die. I watched them toil the sum- 

 mer through to accumulate their 

 sweet stores of food to provide for the 

 coming winter, only to he robbed of 

 them and cruelly murdered in the 

 fumes of the foul brimstone pit. I 

 said it was cruel and wrong, and that 

 there ought to be some other way, 

 and if their stores must be procured 

 in that piratical way, although honey 

 to me was a tempting luxury, I pre- 

 ferred for one to forego the pleasure 

 of such luxury. 



How did any one learn these won- 

 deful thingii, I said, unless by patient 

 and caiefnl watching, and if others 

 had discovered these wonderiul things, 

 why not I, by patient observation, 

 penetrate the mysterious precincts of 

 these wonderful little insect people 'i 

 And 1 did watch with all the energy 

 awakening curiosity could arouse, 

 and I listened often with my ear close 

 to the hive, to their mysterious bee 

 talk ; but their secrets remaind un- 

 told, and their every movement re- 

 mained a dark, unsolved enigma. 



But a new era came, light dawned. 

 There came the movable frame and 

 the new bee, the yellow bee, with its 

 wonderful reputation for penetrating 

 the depths of the rich red clover. And 

 what then ? Then came a knowledge 

 of those mysterious things within the 

 hive; improvement and progress in 

 bee-culture ; old superstitions van- 

 ished, new and startling truths were 

 brought out, until that mysterious 

 hive of 20 years ago is to-day a thing 

 of practical fact, within the compre- 

 hension of the veriest novice. Italian 

 queens were introduced into our colo- 

 nies of black bees, and in an incredi- 

 ble short time the whole colony was 

 changed from black to yellow bees, 

 discovering the startling fact to even 

 old bee-keepers, of the brief, almost 

 ephemeral existence of the honey-bee 

 during summer. 



So readily was this change made, 

 and so apparent the benefits gained 

 thereby, that Italian queens were 

 rapidly imported, queen breeders 

 sprung up over the land everywhere, 

 and the queen has become a common 

 article of trade in the market of bee- 

 keepers' supplies, and the superiority 

 of the yellow race of bees over the 

 black, became almost universally ac- 

 knowledged. But a mountain of dif- 

 ficulty arose in the pathway of queen 

 venders, especially importers. A stan- 

 dard of purity was necessary to pre- 

 serve the reputation of the imported 

 stock, and distinguish it from the 



plebeian race, but in attempting to 

 establish this, it became apparent that 

 even the imported stock would not 

 stand any single test, so various were 

 their markings and characteristics. 

 Suspicions were awakened among un- 

 prejudiced bee-keepers that the race 

 of bees from which we were receiving 

 importations, were not a pure race, 

 and this suspicion has been strength- 

 ened into fact, by the knowledge that 

 black bees are found in Italy. As a 

 result of these variations, different 

 strains of bees began to be brought to 

 notice, each possessing particular, 

 valuable qualities as set forth by their 

 particular champions ; and many a 

 sharp contest has been carried on in 

 the bee papers, by the advocates of 

 some particular stripe, or tint, or 

 tinge in his favorite strain, and now 

 we have almost as many strains of 

 bees as there are breeders. 



Who that has read the bee literature 

 has not a vivid recollection of the 

 sharp criticisms upon the dark queen, 

 sent out by Messrs. Dodant ; even un- 

 kind reflections upon their integrity. 

 They have outlived it all, and float 

 successfully now above suspicion. 



Some breeders take pride in publish- 

 ing what they no longer hesitate 

 themselves in believing— that they are 

 breeding a cross of the black and yel- 

 low race, and no longer consider yel- 

 low bands a test of excellence, or a 

 guarantee of purity, and that although 

 beauty and amiability maybe desired, 

 they are too often obtained unwisely, 

 at a sacrifice of more sterling qualities. 



The reports of large yields of honey 

 coming from colonies not possessing 

 the requisite number of yellow bands 

 to entitle them to a certificate of roy- 

 alty, has become too frequent to be 

 accidental, and the wise apiarist will 

 hesitate long before superseding the 

 queens of such colonies with those 

 having the regulation markings. 



We are, without doubt, largely in- 

 debted to the introduction of the yel- 

 low race of bees into this country, for 

 the knowledge and improvements in 

 modern bee-culture. 



But while Mr. A., and B., and C. 

 have made a paying business rearing 

 queens, and have made a hobby of 

 yellow bands and golden tints, we, as 

 practical bee-keepers, are looking to a 

 different source for our revenue, and 

 are only anxious how we may obtain 

 large yields of honey. Beauty and 

 pleasure are secondary considerations. 

 Honey gathered by the black or hybrid 

 bees, brings as much money in the 

 market as that obtained by the most 

 beautiful golden Italians— and in fact, 

 it is claimed that honey comb made 

 by the black bees is whiter and more 

 delicate in appearance than that made 

 by the yellow race. 



But what shall we say of the new 

 races more recently introduced into 

 this country by Mr. D. A. .Jones, of 

 Canada, at such great expense both 

 in time and money ? The Cyprians 

 and the Holy Land bees, what can we 

 say of them V except that they are an 

 experiment, and like all experiments 

 in bee-culture, .should be tried with 

 much caution. There is an old maxim, 

 " Let well enough alone," not alto- 

 gether a noble one, yet for all that. 



successful for the moderately ambi- 

 tious, and perhaps a very safe one for 

 the average bee-keeper. We can but 

 admire the enthusiasm of Mr. Jones, 

 which has prompted him to such un- 

 tiring energy, and to make such sacri- 

 fice of time and money in his search 

 for some superior race of bees, by 

 which he might benefit mankind. 

 And Mr. Frank Benton, too, his as- 

 sistant, has done much to command 

 our esteem and admiration. 



But all great enterprises of this 

 character are measured by their ulti- 

 mate success or failure. The reports 

 that have already been received from 

 his importations", seem to promise but 

 little or any improvement upon tlie 

 yellow races of bees already so uni- 

 versally diffused over this country, of 

 which I prefer to consider them only 

 a strain — and. indeed, the Cyprians 

 have already gained a reputation of 

 being very un-amiable in disposition ; 

 and orten becoming angry without 

 provocation. 



By what name, then, shall we know 

 the coming bee V We might adopt 

 the phrase used by Mr. Heddon, and 

 applied not to bees, but to bee-keepers, 

 " Get there success," as it is very 

 comprehensive of the qualities we 

 think essential, but we prefer that 

 other, more beautiful and more sig- 

 nificant name, already heralded forth 

 among progressive bee-keepers : Apis- 

 Amencana. 



Townsend, O. 



C. E. Newman asked if Cyprians or 

 Holy Land bees had proven more 

 profitable than the Italians. 



Mr. Boardman said, he thought the 

 Italians were the most profitable. 



S. F. Newman said, he had tried 

 both Cyprians and Italians, and in his 

 experience the Italians had proved to 

 be fully equal to the Cyprians as honey 

 gathers, and were not as irritable. 

 At times it was almost impossible to 

 handle the Cyprians unless they were 

 chloroformed. 



Mr. Bartow said, he preferred hy- 

 brids to Italians ; they protected their 

 stores better than other bees. 



Mr. Bartow asked whether Holy 

 Land bees were more likely to be 

 pure than the Italians. 



Mr. Boardman said, he thought the 

 Holy Lands as likely not to be pure as 

 the Italians. 



The President :— We are ignorant 

 as to the fact whether the Cyprians 

 are indigenous totheislandof Cyprus, 

 or whether they were Italians modi- 

 fied to a certain extent by climate and 

 other causes. The important ques- 

 tion to be decided is, which race of 

 bees will give us the largest amount 

 of honey, and thereby fill our pockets 

 with money. He wanted no pure bees, 

 but preferred hybrids. 



Mr. Whitney asked Boardman which 

 produced the best workers, an Italian 

 queen mated with a black drone, or a 

 black queen with an Italian drone. 



Mr. Boardman: did not know which 

 would produce the best results. The 

 facts are that Italian queens generally 

 mate with black drones. 



Mr. White : an Italian queen mating 

 with a black drone produces better 

 workers than the reverse. 



