754 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



On this account the trial of the new 

 races is a matter of much interest to me. 



About the Carniolan bees much wild 

 fuss has been made. The idea has taken 

 hold that the Carniolan must be a pure 

 race. In my opinion nothing is further 

 from the facts. I procured an imported 

 queen directly from Mr. Benton, two 

 years ago, and though her worker 

 progeny were uniformly dark, only some 

 of the aged workers showing slight 

 splotches of rust color, not yellow, on the 

 first segment of the abdomen, when I 

 came to breed from her the young queens 

 were far from uniform in color. 



Among the first brood of young queens 

 reared, there was one nearly as yellow 

 as the queens of my light-colored Ital- 

 ians ; and, when she was mated, her 

 workers were just like well-marked 

 Italians. One of the features notice- 

 able in these bees is the fact that they 

 never deteriorate, in breeding, like 

 other bees. 



Of the number of colonies of these bees 

 that I have handled, not one of them has 

 slid back into colonies of dingy hybrids, 

 so commonly met with in nearly all 

 Italian apiaries. 



I gave two Carniolan queens to a 

 friend of mine, who lives in a black-bee 

 region, and he has reared queens from 

 them, and he says that they hold their 

 grip of yellow blood, against the black 

 bees, much stronger than do the best 

 types of the Italian race. This would be 

 beyond belief to me, if I had not seen it 

 for myself. 



Introduce some Italian queens in an 

 apiary of black bees, and leave them to 

 fight their own battle for color^ and the 

 result has no uncertainty about it. The 

 black blood will predominate over the 

 yellow till but a trace of the yellow will 

 be visible. 



But when once the Carniolan becomes 

 yellow in color, no fnfluence seems to 

 force them down. 



But to deal fairly with them, and all 

 other races of bees, I have found the 

 Carniolan bees, especially in their Aus- 

 trian dark dress, more inclined to swarm, 

 and harder to manage when they swarm, 

 than most races of bees that I have 

 handled. But as they become American- 

 bred this undesirable feature in their 

 make-up disappears, in a measure at 

 least. 



The little nigger Funics may be no 

 good when thoroughly tested, but now 

 they stand before the judgment bar of 

 unprejudiced apiarists untried. They 

 exhibit peculiarities not seen in any 

 other bees heretofore introduced into 

 this country. 



Their small size, solid color in a state 

 of purity, and their quick movements, 

 (quick as a flash), are points that must 

 interest any close observer, while he 

 watches the outcome of the little black 

 strangers. 



I have made it a point to test for my- 

 self all new races of bees. It has cost 

 me some money to do it, but the interest 

 I have felt in the enterprise, and the 

 pleasures I have derived from the experi- 

 mentation, have been ample compensa- 

 tion. I now have a Punic queen, and 

 anticipate much pleasure in testing her 

 workers next season. — Ainculturist. 



Siall Coml) for Nuclei, 



E. L. PRATT. 



I will use Mr. S. F. Trego's words as 

 near as possible in answer to his article 

 on page 589, giving my views and ex- 

 perience on the above subject. Please 

 compare : 



I want to say that small nuclei are not 

 a nuisance. In 1891 I used over 300 

 of* the Pratt style, and, if I remember 

 right, I got 88 per cent, of mated 

 Punic and Carniolan queens from these 

 small hives. 



If Mr. Trego will read my book care- 

 fully he will see how to care for small 

 nuclei, so that it will not require " half 

 a day trying to keep them from abscond- 

 ing." If properly managed there will 

 be no "swarming out" of any account. 



I feed my bees a generoiis amount of 

 sugar syrup as often as they need it, and 

 I am not troubled with the tricks Mr. T. 

 mentions — following the queen' when 

 she flew out to mate — absconding a few 

 hours after I had shipped their queen — 

 absconding if I did not take the queen 

 out before she had all the combs full — 

 and I never fail to get them to accept a 

 vigin queen, either young old. I can 

 remove three mated queens per month 

 from a small hive in good weather. 



Eobbing is a bad thing to have started 

 in a yard containing small nuclei, and 

 unless one is experiencad in managing 

 them, robbing will surely start, and that 

 was Mr. T.'s whole trouble, without 

 doubt. 



I shall not remodel the bodies of my 

 small hives for feeders, or anything of 

 the kind, but shall continue to use them 

 with excellent success, as I have done 

 for the past three years. 



If I was obliged to use a four-frame 

 Langstroth hive for mating queens, I 

 would quit the business. In the first 



