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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



pasturage may be more important than either; 

 but it is not a matter of importance that is in 

 question. We would hardly vote a man an 

 expert in bee keeping just because he hap- 

 pened to be in a fine honey location. He 

 probably means that it requires more skill 

 to be an adept in queen culture than to suc- 

 ceed in wintering or springing. Whether he 

 is right or not in his comparative judgment, 

 it is probably quite certain that the average 

 bee-keeper would great ly increase his income 

 if he would give proper attention to queen 

 culture. [If Rev. Mr. Luger meant that it 

 required more skill to rear queens than to 

 winter or spring successfully he is certainly 

 right. The most difficult problem in all bee 

 culture, in our judgment, is the rearing of 

 high-classqueens that will produce more hon- 

 ey than the average common run of stock. — 

 Ei>.] 



It may be remembered that for several 

 years 1 had been breeding from queens whose 

 colonies gave largest crops, with least incli- 

 nation to swarming, regardless of color, my 

 bees being hybrids with Italian blood pre- 

 dominating, but with evil tempers, and that 

 last year 1 go- 10 Italian queens with the ex- 

 pectation on the part of a certain editor, as 

 also a strong desire on my part, that the best 

 of the 10 would turn out to be equal to the 

 best of my hybrids. The past season was 

 not one which allowed a big yield from any 

 colony, white clover blooming freely but not 

 yielding — at least till late in the season, and 

 not much then — but later on I had a fair 

 flow of white honey from other plants, al- 

 lowing a fair chance for comparison. The 

 Italians seemed in the lead at building up 

 strong, and I think they held that lead 

 throughout the season. But they did n't seem 

 tt) take hold at storing with the same vim as 

 the hybrids. No. 34 was the best of the Ital- 

 ians, and it produced 9(> sections. The best 

 of the hybrids was No. 211, which produced 

 lb8 sections, or 75 per cent more than the 

 best Jtalian. I don't think that shows that 

 Italians in their purity are poor, but that 

 persistent selection for years in breeding 

 from best honey- gatherers without regard to 

 color has materially increased the yield of 

 my hybrids. The question is whether I might 

 not have done as well to have adhered rigid- 

 ly to the pure bloods. At any rate, if I had 

 it to do over again I think that's what I should 

 do. Another question which immediately 

 confronts me— and I'd give a good deal for 

 the right answer — is this: Shall I give up the 

 fruit of years of selection, and start in afresh 

 with pure blood, or hold on to my big yields 

 and live among hornets? [Better keep on 

 breeding those "hornets." If there is a dif- 

 ference of 75 per cent between them and the 

 gentler strains of Italians, you can well af- 

 ford to wear a veil and wear bee-gloves, be- 

 cause the mere matter of stings can not com- 

 pare with one of dollars; and, after all, one 

 can put on enough armor so that he would 

 suffer no great inconvenience, and on the 

 other hand he has the comfortable assurance 

 that no mischievous boys or petty thieves 

 would meddle with the hives. 



At one of our outyards, when we had been 

 having some trouble from meddlers, we put 

 a very cross colony at the front and entrance 

 of the yard. We afterward learned that 

 some boys concluded they would help them- 

 selves to some honey. They "tackled ' this 

 particular colony because it was right handy. 

 An eye witness described the events that fol- 

 lowed as something really funny. The boys 

 ran only because ♦ihey could n't fly. Of course 

 the one season should n<»t be regarded as a 

 final test between those hybrids and Italians. 

 We hope, doctor, you can continue experi- 

 menting for several years at least. In the 

 meantime we are of the opinion with your- 

 self that, if you had devoted the same time 

 and thought on a pure strain of Italians, you 

 would have secured practically the same re- 

 sults so far as honey is concerned. Mr Alex- 

 ander belives that he has pure stock that will 

 equal any hybrids, besides their being much 

 more pleasant to handle. — Eu.] 



O^JE of the features of the German and 

 Austro-Hungarian bee-keepers' meeting at 

 Frankfort was an address or paper by a Mr. 

 Fleischmann, of Sonderhausen, who gave 

 out very interesting information with re- 

 spect to the impnjvement in the color of 

 dark Australian honey when subjected to 

 the action of currents of electricity. More 

 later. w. k. m. 



The September number of Le Progres Api- 

 cole (Belgium) states that the country of 

 Limbourg has just been invaded by millions 

 of foreigners. This is due to the flowering 

 of the heather at the moment in the district 

 of Campine, inducing the bee-keepers of 

 Holland and Germany to send thousands of 

 hives of bees to participate in the great har- 

 vest of honey to be obtained. It is estimat- 

 ed that the bees numbered several hundred 

 millions, allowing 50,000 to each hive This 

 gives us a delightful glimpse of European 

 bee-keeping. w. k. m. 



Quite a number of our readers have late- 

 ly sent us clippings from prominent daily pa- 

 pers giving an account of what is termed a 

 most extraordinary discovery by a professor 

 in Lausanne, Switzerland, whereby he cre- 

 ates honey from a mixture of crushed bees 

 and the sweet sap of all S(jrts of plants. 



This yarn is not less than forty years old. 

 These intended aspersions on the honey in- 

 dustry will not do us any harm, now that 

 the pure-food laws are actively enforced. It 

 is, however, a matter of regret that newspa- 

 pers catering to an intelligent class of read- 



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