500 



THE AMEPvICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Joumat, 



The New Races of Bees. 



G. JI. DOOLITTLE. 



About a year ago I gave my opinion 

 resaidiiig tlie Cyprian and Syrian 

 bees, stating tliat I sliould not "have 

 anything more to do with the Cyprian 

 on account of its vindictive disposi- 

 « tion. and although not favorably im- 

 pressed witli the Syrian, I should give 

 them a more thorough trial during 

 the season of 1883. To this end I pro- 

 cured queens of the Syrian or Holy 

 Land race of three different breeders 

 during the fall of 1882, so I could have 

 full colonies of those bees in time for 

 tliF honey harvest. 



The result of this season's vyork 

 wiih them proved the same as that of 

 1882, which is, that for this locality 

 the Holy Land bees are practically 

 good for nothing as honey gatherers. 

 With a locality where there was a 

 steady flow of honey the case might 

 be different, but here we get little or 

 no honey until basswood, and these 

 bees seem to think that a large flow 

 of honey should mean lots of brood, 

 so at brood-rearing they go, the result 

 of which is, nearly all tlie honey they 

 gather is used up rearing an extraor- 

 dinary amount of brood, which hatch 

 so late in the season that the bees 

 from said brood are too late to gather 

 honey, hence become consumers of 

 the little honey already in the hive. 

 Therefore, when fall arrives, we have 

 a hive overflowing with bees, with 

 little or no honey, and scarcely a 

 pound of surplus to recompense the 

 owner. All are aware of my views 

 regarding the secret of honey-produc- 

 ing, lying in, getting the bees Justin 

 the right time for the honey harvest 

 (neither too early or too late),that being 

 of more moment than any one other 

 thing pertaining to honey producing. 



That the Syrian bees cannot be thus 

 managed in this locality is the reason 

 of my saying they are practically good 

 for nothing. Then they liave another 

 exceedingly bad feature, which is, 

 that before the young queens are 

 fertilized in the present hive, which 

 has cast a swarm, fertile workers 

 spring up. and the result is a queen- 

 less colouy,unless great pains are taken 

 to introduce a laying queen. This, 

 with me, as I allow natural swarming, 

 would be a very serious drawback, 

 but might be got along with it they 

 were enough better honey-gatherers 

 to warrant an extra outlay of time in 

 looking after tlie young queens. 

 However, as in all respects, unless it 

 is in wintering, they are inferior to 

 the Italians. I felt warranted in 

 doing away with them entirely, and 

 to-day hud's my yard without a Holy 

 Land bee in it. 



After deciding a year ago that I 

 would have nothing more to do with 

 the Cyprians, I thouglit,. perluips. I 

 had been a little hasty, as I had up to 

 ttis time but one queen of that race 



in my yard. Asa whole, I was pleased 

 with them, except their great disposi- 

 tion to sting whenever the hive was 

 opened. AVhen spring opened I found 

 that my Cyprian colony had wintered 

 the best of any colony I liad except 

 the old Holy Land colony, and hear- 

 ing so many favorable reports of the 

 Cyprians. 1 concluded to give them a 

 further trial. Consequently I pi-o- 

 cured a queen of B. F. Carroll and E. 

 T. Flanagan, as they seemed to pre- 

 fer them to any other bees. These, 

 with my old one. made 3 colonies, 

 and as far as getting the bees in the 

 fleld in time for the harvest, I am 

 well pleased with them ; as in fact I 

 am with all other points about them 

 except the " stinging point." 



If I could call the queen I had from 

 Mr. Flanagan pure, I should think 

 there was some prospect of getting 

 peaceable Cyprians, but she evidently 

 is not pure, for her queen progeny is 

 of a mixed multitude, being all the 

 way from jet black to as golden yel- 

 low as I ever saw an Italian queen, 

 while the daughters of the Corroll 

 queen, and from my old colony, are 

 nearly duplicates of the mother. The 

 bees from the Carroll queen are the 

 worst to sting of any bees I ever saw, 

 and I thought the original colony was 

 bad enough. Mr. Carroll says, in a 

 late number of the Bee .Journal, 

 that he has Cyprian bees whicli he 

 can handle without smoke, veil or 

 gloves, but he does not tell us whether 

 he considers them pure or not ; 

 neither does he tell us how many colo- 

 nies he has of the stamp produced by 

 the queen I got of him. 



Xow. Mr. C., in all candor, and de- 

 siring information, I ask how you 

 manage such bees as the queen you 

 sent me produces.^ That you knew 

 they would sting is proven by your 

 saying when you sent her, that if she 

 proved too •• tirey." I could send her 

 back. Perhaps 1 may do so in the 

 spring, when even the Cyprians can 

 be handled quite comfortably, but I 

 would not open that hive to-day to 

 get that queen for all the queens of 

 like stamp there is in the world. 



Mr. T. S. Bull, a large bee-keeper of 

 Valparaiso, Ind., called on me not 

 long ago, and I told him of these bees. 

 As he wished to see them, I took off 

 the cover to the hive and raised the 

 quilt a little, smoking them all the 

 while, but for all that a cloud of an- 

 gry bees rose in the air, crawling into 

 our pockets, under veils, and where 

 ever they could get, all the time sing- 

 ing such a sweet tune, like an angry 

 bee can when he gets in your hair. 

 They seem to care nothing for smoke, 

 and how any one can manage them 

 for extracted honey, is more than 1 

 can understand. I worked them for 

 comb honey, and to say that I was 

 glad when I had the sections off that 

 hive does not half express it. In 

 shaking the sections to rid them of 

 bees, nearly all the bees vvould take 

 wing and come for me like so many 

 angry hornets; and, although I care 

 little for stings. I confess that my 

 flesh fairly crawled at the sound of a 

 quart or more of angry bees hissing 

 about my bee-veil, and occasionally 

 stinging through pants and shirt. 



Xow, if any one can tell how I can 

 manage these Cyprian bees from the 

 lime the honey harvest commences 

 until winter, I shall be glad to keep a 

 part of Cyprians in my apiary, but if 

 they cannot. I shall have to bid them 

 adieu, for their stinging qualities 

 more than over-balance all their good 

 traits. 



Borodino, X. Y. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Winter Ventilation and Protection. 



DK. G. L. TINKER. 



The experience of bee-keepers ap- 

 pears to be widely different on the 

 proper size of the entrance of a hive 

 in out- door wintering. One will tell 

 you to make it not larger than % by 4 

 inches ; another % by 8 inches ; and 

 still others recommend % by the 

 width of the hive inside. My own 

 recommendation for a full colony is 

 to make the entrance 3| by 8 inches. 



To keep out mice, set the hive on a 

 stand made as follows : Make a box 

 4 inches deep, just the size of the bot- 

 tom of the hive, out of heavy boards 



4 inches wide. If the side boards are 



5 inches wide, the bottom can be 

 nailed inside into rabbets made in 

 the lower edge of the front and rear 

 pieces. The stand looks better if the 

 bottom is nailed inside. Lastly, nail 

 four pieces 3 inches wide by a foot 

 long to the front and rear corners. 

 These pieces should be planed smooth, 

 and all ought to be painted. Now set 

 the stand on four bricks let into the 

 soil on a level, and Hll quite full of 

 dry sawdust. Sit on the hive and 

 move about until it tits firmly. There 

 is very little danger from mice to a 

 colony on such a stand, and besides, 

 it is far more convenient for the bee- 

 keeper. Xo sawdust or other material 

 need be put around the hive to keep 

 down weeds, for the weeds will grow 

 anyway, unless the sawdust is often 

 removed. The scythe is the best 

 thing to keep down the weeds and 

 grass. The stand also keeps the hive 

 up from the ground, so that there is 

 less danger from dampness. Again, 

 a lot of hives set on these stands pre- 

 sents a very neat appearance. Here- 

 tofore I have had my hives set near 

 the ground upon bricks, and I find 

 that there are many disadvantages in 

 having them set so low down. 



My reason for so large an entrance 

 is, that bees require a large amount 

 of fresh air in winter, and the most 

 natural point for the air to reach 

 them is through the entrance. There 

 is nothing more certain than that a 

 very small entrance, % by 4 inches, is 

 too small for tiie bees either in winter 

 or summer. The proper size of en- 

 trance for a strong colony in summer, 

 according to my mind, is ?^ by 13 

 inches. When the bees are breeding 

 in the spring, and the nights are cool, 

 then the entrance should be small, 

 but at no other time of the year. 



AVilli a large entrance, there should 

 be a very small amount of upward 

 ventilation allowed, and that through 

 not less than 7 inches of chaff gently 

 pressed down. Some fine chaff like 



