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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU 



full before the sections are occupied. I 

 have experimented all along this line. 



The fact is that the sections should 

 be half full of comb by the time the 

 cells at the upper edges of the brood- 

 combs are lengthening. Bees lengthen 

 these cells to store honey in after the 

 old honey cells are already filled. There 

 is plenty of time and a sufficient amount 

 of honey coming from the fields to have 

 from 20 to 50 sections filled with new 

 comb, but it is often wasted in patching 

 here and there with burr and brace- 

 combs, and otherwise arranging to store 

 honey near the brood. 



How to Arrange th.e Sections. 



Arrange the Sections by the side of the 

 brood-nest in the lower story by putting 

 in one wide frame full at a time. The 

 wide frame is a device by which many 

 of the " late crop " of bee-keepers will 

 probably object to as a thing to remain 

 in the past, but I find there is an " old 

 school " of bee-keepers who kept bees 

 twenty to thirty years ago, who have 

 clung to them all through the later years 

 of new fixture adoption, and to-day hold 

 them as old, reliable friends. 



About the only objection the wide 

 frames ever had was the liability of the 

 queen to lay eggs in them, and it is a 

 query why bee-keepers have not used 

 excluders at the sides of the brood, as 

 well as at the top of the brood-nest. 



The best drone-trap in the world is a 

 zinc on each side. of the combs the queen 

 occupies, and it matters not how much 

 drone comb there is outside the exclud- 

 ers, as it must be filled with honey if 

 filled at all. 



Clinton, Wis., Dec. 11, 1891. . 



Sieriority of tlie Italian Bee. 



J. S. BRENDLE. 



Having now been a subscriber and 

 careful reader of the Bee Journal for 

 three years, and feeling myself under 

 obligations to the editor, as well as to 

 the able corps of contributors who have 

 given sogenerously of their store of wis- 

 dom to render these columns interesting 

 and instructive to the bee-keeper, I deem 

 it but fitting that I should here record 

 my public acknowledgment of the bene- 

 fit I have received. My experience as a 

 bee-keeper is by no means extensive, 

 either in point of time or extent of plant, 

 but the little that I do know about that 

 important industry I am free to say 



must be accredited directly or indirectly 

 to this valuable paper. I have become 

 greatly attached to it, and always antici- 

 pate its weekly visits with pleasure. 



There is one subject of paramount in- 

 terest to every progressive bee-keeper, 

 which I know has received its due share 

 of attention in the Journal, and toward 

 the elucidation of which I desire to con- 

 tribute my mite of testimony. It is the 

 much mooted question relative to the 

 merits of the five or six banded Italian 

 bee as compared with other strains or 

 species. For this locality I say, without 

 hesitancy, that I consider the Italian 

 vastly superior to any other strain I 

 have tried or know of. 



I have five colonies of Italians that 

 yielded on an average between 35 and 

 40 pounds of honey during the past 

 season, while an equal number of black 

 natives, which received the same care 

 and attention, produced no surplus 

 honey at all. The trouble with the 

 natives seemed to be that they did not 

 get into working order until the best 

 part of the honey season was past, while 

 the Italians lost no time in getting to 

 work when the first cherry blossoms 

 appeared, and proved themselves the 

 busiest kind of bees during the entire 

 period of fruit blossoming. 



The points I would specify as decidedly 

 in favor of the Italians are their greater 

 vitality, industry and cleanliness, in all 

 of which desirable qualities they seem to 

 excel all others. Its greater vitality 

 enables the Italian bee to endure a 

 greater amount of exertion, and to 

 gather more honey in a given time, with- 

 out overtaxing its strength, than any 

 other kind that I have had. Its industry 

 on a sunny day, when nectar is to be 

 gathered in garden, orchard, field or 

 meadow, is that of the proverbial "busy 

 bee," and compares favorably with that 

 of any other. 



Its cleanliness is sufficiently remark- 

 able to justify a special mention thereof. 

 My honey during the past Summer was 

 of the finest quality, clear as crystal, as 

 inviting as the best honey can be, and 

 commanded extraordinary prices. If I 

 could have supplied the demand I would 

 be considerably the richer for it. Of the 

 peerless beauty of the Italian I need not 

 say anything; that is universally ac- 

 knowledged. Nor need I mention its 

 sweet disposition or amiable temper, for 

 that is a point admittedly in its favor 

 with all who are not partial to quick- 

 tempered bees. Such is the evidence of 

 my experience. 



Shaefferstown, Pa. 



