42 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



In working with these various strains I 

 have noticed many peculiarities and widely 

 different results from equally matched col- 

 onies of so-called pure bloods. I say "so- 

 called" because after several years of ol)ser- 

 vation I am satisfied that there are many 

 queens sent out by honest dealers as "pure" 

 that are very far from the original type that 

 gave the Carniolans their good name. 



The type that I found the nearest perfect 

 was a good sized, strong flying liee, with a 

 glossy blue black "skin" and light gray hair 

 on the thorax and abdomen. 



I emphasize thorax and abdomen because 

 I found strains that had light hair on the 

 abdomen and not on the thorax. 



Anything differing from the "perfect 

 type" I termed "rusty," because they pre- 

 sented a more or less dingy or rusty black 

 appearance. j ,, 



The strains of these rusty bees ranged all 

 the way from dull brown-black to almost 

 yellow and black spotted bees. The rusty 

 appearance was due to brown hair or brown 

 skin or both, in fact they varied as much as 

 hybrids generally do. 



It is this rusty type that is so given to 

 swarming, whereas the "black" type will do 

 almost anything rather than swarm. 

 This may sound like putting it rather strong, 

 but compared with the swarming propensi- 

 ties of the "rusty" type it is saying little. 



The object of this article is to try to induce 

 breeders of Carniolans to adopt as a "atatid- 

 aixV that type that comes nearest to perfec- 



At present we have no fixed or well defined 

 standard of purity, and it is next to impossi- 

 ble to decide which (Jarniolans are pure and 

 which are impure. ,. , t 



Some strains of "natives" with which 1 

 am familiar would now pass for very good 

 Carniolans. ■■ , . 



Color for itself is not to be considered, but 

 only as it accompanies or indicates desirable 

 working traits. 



In the "blue-black and gray" type whicli 

 I urge as a "standard" we have combined, 

 good disposition and excellent working qual- 

 Tties, with a fair amount of good looks. 



Providekck, R. I.. Feb'y 1,5, 1«K). 



Migratory Bee-neeping. — Reply to the Bald- 

 ridge Letter. 

 St. Chables, Ills., Feb. 2.5, 1890. 



[IRIEND H. — I must send you friend 

 Stevenson's reply; but I regret to no- 

 (jj^7 tice that he does not touch upon some 

 of the points in my letter. It was my 

 purpose to have written him again, and call- 

 ed his attention to the neglected points, hut 

 I have been too busy to do it. — and I think 

 it best not to delay any longer sending it on 

 to you. 



All winter long I have been giving a deal 

 of thought to supers, and the best way to use 

 sections so as to keep the outside of them 

 unsoiled. I am dissatisfied with the T super. 

 The super that may suit me seems to be the 

 Heddon style of wide frame, with tin sepa- 



rators, and side compression, filled with the 

 four-piece nailed, white poplar sections. 

 The one-piece section is "too weak in the 

 knees" to suit me, and is seldom square. 

 The Oatman boys long ago discarded all 

 sections but the four-piece white poplar, 

 made to nail. 



I have been experimenting all winter with 

 my honey patrons — by offeriug them their 

 choice of comb or extracted honey in five 

 pound lots at an even dollar for each. Per- 

 haps it may surprise you to learn that the 

 majority take the extracted honey ! This fact 

 is important to the bee keeping fraternity. 



I am in hopes the Review will take up 

 this topic: "Starters vs. full sheets of foun- 

 dation in sections," — and give it an over- 

 hauling. See what I say about it soon in the 

 A. B. J. M. M. Baldeidge. 



St. Chakles, Mo., Jan. 19, 1890. 



Fbiend B. — I used a stock-car for ship- 

 ping my bees but it was not more than two- 

 thirds full. The R. R. Co. would not give 

 me a car-load rate on bees from New Or- 

 leans to St. Louis, so I had to pay 93c. per 

 100 lbs. Of course a person might remove 

 the most of the honey, and the old bees, so 

 that a full colony could be shipped from 

 South to North for about 80 or 8r>c. I did 

 not cage the queen^-, as you suggest, but I 

 think it would lie a good plan unless the bees 

 were supplied with water en route. Those 

 colonics I gave water to saved most of the 

 unsealed (n-ood. I do think migratory bee 

 keeping can be made to pay and I intend to 

 give it another trial next fall. I will go 

 South about the 1st of October and return 

 here the middle of April. If I had moved 

 my bees from Louisiana to the vicinity ot 

 St. Louis, in the spring of 1888, I would 

 have secured a tine crop, for that was a good 

 heason here for honey. 



I hope Mr. Walker will make a success 

 with his traveling ajiiary. There are, how- 

 ever, a good many ifs and ands in moving 

 bees long distances even by rail. River 

 traveling is too slow, for me, as I am in 

 favor of making as fast time as possible 

 between points. 



In my trip North last spriim I had two 

 strong colonies each supplied in a top story 

 with a comb full of water, and they arrived 

 at destination in fine condition. But one 

 strong colony, without water, suffered con- 

 siderably. Still, I lost none of the colonies, 

 as nearly all were divided before I left 

 Louisiana. It is my belief that it is a good 

 plan to divide every strong colony before 

 leaving the South, and then to unite them at 

 destination. It is also my belief that full 

 colonies may be moved without loss of bees, 

 or brood, in a refrigerator car by the free 

 use of ice. If so, much time can be saved 

 in preparing the bees for the journey. By 

 this plan the queens may have their liberty 

 all the time. The brood thereby gained, 

 instead of caging the queen, say for eight or 

 ten days, would be quite an item. April 

 brood is what we need in the North for a 

 June crop of honey. 



Friend A. T. Williams is now at Blooming- 

 dale, Fla. 



H. S. Stevenson, 



