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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



chamber, giving the bees at first only 

 one or two frames of comb — 8 or 16 

 sections. Over these was poured a little 

 honey, just enough to run across the 

 combs, and drip a little into the brood- 

 chamber. The bees immediately followed 

 up these little streams to their source, 

 and the work of storing surplus honey 

 began. This has often been done, and 

 resulted exactly as represented. Bees 

 are indeed "strange creatures." 



A woman just beginning bee-keeping 

 neglected to remove the iDoard between 

 brood-chamber and surplus chamber. 

 The hive stood about a foot from the 

 ground, on pieces of timber set under 

 each end of the hive. The bees, unable 

 to enter the surplus chamber, went 

 under the hive and built comb on the 

 bottom-board. 



Bees do not need continual attention. 

 They often have too much ; but at 

 *♦ starting points" here and there during 

 the season, a little help or interference 

 enough to turn the tide in the right 

 direction, will be advantageous. 



Wherever women have exhibited bees 

 and honey, great interest has been 

 manifested, and many questions asked. 

 No class of women are more independent, 

 or capable, or willing to be independent, 

 than the farmers' wives and daughters. 

 A large number are not satisfied with 

 present acquirements. They are uneasy 

 — especially the daughters, who ^ are 

 weighing the merits of the country 

 against those of the city, and are trying 

 to find something to do at home, that 

 they may stay at home, and yet be inde- 

 pendent and thrifty. 



Now, when the farmers' daughters 

 attend the fairs, and see some persever- 

 ing woman exhibiting bees, and talking 

 about them with such interest and en- 

 thusiasm, a new life may open, or a new 

 way in the old life may appear, that will 

 present to them an opportunity they 

 have long sought. Therefore, every 

 woman bee-keeper should make an 

 effort to make an exhibit which will be 

 to her benefit, as well as to others. Out 

 of the throng may come some inquirers 

 who will be sent on their way rejoicing. 



Some women cannot keep bees, any 

 more than some men ; but many can, 

 and to their great profit. Often a 

 farmer's wife or daughter welcomes an 

 occupation for the sake of its novelty, 

 something to break up the routine of 

 cooking, washing and sewing ; and bee- 

 keeping, even if it brings only a few 

 pounds of honey for the table, is un- 

 dertaken and carried through with 

 pleasure and delight. — New York Inde- 

 pendent. 



Breeillng " Yellow " Carniolan Bees. 



HENEY ALLEY. 



I desire to thank Mr. J. A. Green for 

 the sensible, able, and fair manner in 

 which he treated the above subject on 

 page 466 of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. I am glad to find one person who 

 can discuss this question, and treat me 

 as Mr. Green has. There was no neces- 

 sity for using the words '• humbug," 

 "fraud," etc., which nearly every 

 writer, but Mr. Green, who undertook 

 to debate this subject, has used. 



I will show wherein Mr. Green is 

 wrong on some points, and then, drpp 

 the subject. Mr. Green says : 



"The explanation of this is furnished 

 by Mr. Alley himself, when he tells us 

 that these queens were mated in an 

 apiary but little over a mile away from 

 a large apiary of Italians. Now, it is 

 agreed by most authorities that the 

 meeting between queen and drone may 

 take place at some distance — a mile or 

 more — from the hives. If they flew only 

 a mile away, apiaries would need to be 

 at least two miles apart to keep them 

 distinct. I have evidence which I con- 

 sider conclusive that different races will 

 intermix if kept/oit?' miles apart. More 

 than this, I believe — and this belief is 

 shared by many — that a queen is more 

 liable to be mated with a drone from an 

 apiary a mile away than from the one in 

 which she was reared." 



This is all wrong. I believe I have 

 had as much experience in the matter of 

 fertilization of queen bees as any man 

 in the world. I have had Italian queens 

 fertilized within one-fourth of a mile of 

 a large apiary of black and hybrid 

 queens, and though this was before the 

 invention of any arrangement for catch- 

 ing and destroying drones, not one of 

 those queens was mismated. The inex- 

 perienced bee-keeper is the only person 

 who will make such statements as the 

 above. 



I want it understood that there were 

 as many Carniolan drones in the Carnio- 

 lan apiary as there were Italian drones 

 in the Italian apiary. I never use the 

 drones of but one colony in any of my 

 queen yards, no matter how many colo- 

 nies of bees there are. Drone-traps are 

 kept on all but one hive. 



Now, friend Green, if the Italian 

 drones would fly 2 miles to meet the 

 Carniolan queens, why would not the 

 Carniolan drones fly the same distance 

 and mate with the Italian queens ? 



