1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



309 



THE BEST BEES FOR BUSINESS. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT ITALIANS ON RED CLOVER, 

 ETC. 



fljlVE years ago I purchased a queen from J. H. 

 Nellis, of Cauajoharie, N. Y. From the work- 

 — ■ ers from this queen I obtained the first pound 

 of white honey that I had ever produced, this being 

 the first colony of Italians that I had ever owned, 

 and the only on:8 in the whole town. My bees 

 previous to this were blacks, as were all others own- 

 ed by other parties; and when this white honey was 

 produced by the new colony of Italian bees, and as 

 owners of bees in the vicinity, as well as myself, 

 had hardly ever, if at all, produced any white honey, 

 considerable interest was manifested, and a desire 

 for the Italians began to develop. At the time this 

 colony was storing white honey, the blacks were 

 slowly storing from buckwheat that had voluntarily 

 sprung up in fields of oats that had been devoted to 

 buckwheat the previous year. 



As I was much interested in the proceedings, I be- 

 gan to look about to see from what source these 

 Italians were obtaining this white honey. As there 

 was a large field of red clover of the medium variety 

 just across the road, opposite the apiary, in full 

 bloom, I began to watch to see if I could see any 

 bees working upon it. Upon making an examina- 

 tion I found both kinds, blacks and Italians; but the 

 percentage of Italians, although there was only one 

 colony in the country, while there were hundreds of 

 blacks, was greater than that of the blacks. I came 

 to the conclusion at once that the Italians would 

 work out of choice upon red clover, while the blacks 

 at such times would choose a variety, and work up- 

 on every variety of bloom that secreted honey; and 

 my conclusions were confirmed by finding the blacks 

 working upon every variety of bloom then in the 

 vicinity, but taking to buckwheat more than any 

 other bloom. I also at the same time made a close 

 inspection, but could find no Italians working upon 

 the buckwheat, while the blacks were visiting the 

 white snowy blossoms in countless thousands. 



As I had obtained, by close inspection, a complete 

 knowledge of the different sources of bloom that 

 yield honey in my locality, 1 summed up the case at 

 once, and came to the conclusion that a hybrid 

 strain of bees, and pure blacks, as well as pure Ital- 

 ians, could all be kept and worked with pleasing and 

 profitable results in a location like ours, here in this 

 portion of Schoharie County, where so many differ- 

 ent varieties of bloom abound, such as clovers, 3 or 4 

 kinds, melilot, basswood, volunteer buckwheat in 

 the latter part of June and the first of July; while 

 in August, thousands of acres of snowy fields of 

 buckwheat abound in every direction. 



The colony of Italians worked upon red clover, 

 and also upon white, until the season was past for 

 their bloom; in the mean time the blacks had kept 

 working upon the volunteer buckwheat until it 

 ceased to bloom, when they nearly came to a stand- 

 still. The Italians were every day busy, and slowly 

 storing pure white honey in sections, while the 

 blacks were gathering hardly enough to supply their 

 brood. This kept up until the last days in July, 

 when the blacks began to work upon a few acres of 

 buckwheat close by that had been sown rather early, 

 and in a few more days began with a rush, as buck- 

 wheat In general began to bloom. I now began to 

 watch the colony of Italians, which had begun to 



slow up, and were now storing in the corners of un- 

 finished sections of white honey a few cells of dark- 

 er, or amber-colored honey, to see if they would 

 take to the buckwheat, and do as well as the blacks; 

 but in this I was disappointed. The blacks were 

 working with a rush, and rapidly filling sections 

 with buckwheat honey, while the colony of Italians 

 were not doing much, and a large share of them 

 were hanging idle upon the outside of their hive. 

 This kept up for a few days, when I noticed that 

 they began to work a little sharper, and from this 

 time until the close of the buckwheat bl lom they 

 stored quite a little buckwheat honey, but a compar- 

 atively small amount in comparison to the blacks. 

 I also found a difference when I removed the sec- 

 tions; those from the Italians were not so nicely 

 finished as those frotn the blacks. The honey had 

 a dark, watery appearance, caused by capping the 

 cells direct upon the honey. 



After giving the matter due consideration, I came 

 to the conclusion that Italians would gather and 

 store white honey while the blacks were doing noth- 

 ing, unless thej' could find buckwheat; also that 

 they would work upon red clover, and store a iHrire 

 lot of beautiful and delicious honey from it, while 

 the blacks were slow to take to it, and gather but 

 little therefrom. I also noticed that they used less 

 propolis, and that the sections were much cleaner, 

 and less daubed upthan those upon the black stocks; 

 and every year since has proved the above to be 

 correct; and in a location like ours, I am fully con- 

 vinced that workers bred from Italian queens mated 

 with black drones will give just as much white hon- 

 ey, and in August, when buckwheat is in bloom, will 

 give more, and much finer in appearance, than pure 

 Italians. 



I wish to say a little more In regard to the charac- 

 teristics of the colony of Italians, above alluded to. 

 While every colony of native bees that I ha<l gave a 

 natural swarm, this colony of Italians never at- 

 terupted it. The next season wa? the same; and al- 

 though I kept this queen until she was nearly !"> 

 years old, they never attempted to swarm but once. 

 1 reared a good many queens from this colony, and 

 a greater portion of the queens and bees which 

 sprang from this colony show the same traits ^s did 

 the original stock. I also had a few colonies that 

 refused almost entirely to work upon buckwheat, 

 as a drop of dark honey could rarely be seen in their 

 hives. I also sold a queen from this same old colony 

 of Italians to E. W. Haverly, of this town, and he 

 has informed me that they would almost entirely re- 

 fuse to work upon buckwheat; and that, while 

 other stocks were storing dark or mixed honey, 

 this colony was storing light. The result of my ex- 

 perience and observations for the last five years has 

 convinced me that, in sections, where their main de- 

 pendence is buckwheat, a hybrid race, from half- 

 bloods down to nearly pure blacks, will give the 

 best results; and in sections Avhere there is a variety 

 of bloom, such as clovers, sumac, etc., with an 

 abundance of buckwheat, the apiarist will be better 

 satisfied to keep all grades, from a part as pure as 

 he can, some half blood, and some pure blacks; and 

 in sections where the main dependence is white and 

 red clover, basswood, and melilot, then keep noth- 

 ing but pure Italians, or as nearly pure as he can 

 keep them. In view of this I shall keep my home 

 yard all pure Italians (that will give me beautiful 

 honey from red clover), also a yard of half-blood 

 and lower grades, while further on, among the 



