306 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' ltEV^jjJ\>v. 



banded for comb honey, and I say so, and 

 will stand to it until it is proven beyond a 

 doubt, that a good strain of five-banded bees 

 are the best bees for comb honey in exist- 

 ence to-day, and I value them so highly for 

 comb honey that I expect to run 100 col- 

 onies for comb honey next year. There are 

 inferior queens among all classes, and you 

 must remember that the five-banded bees 

 are comparatively new. Like all new things, 

 they are watched very closely, and their be- 

 ing so yellow makes them very conspicuous, 

 and any fault is quickly caught and held up. 



But five-banded bees are here to stay just 

 the same. Bro. Q. thinks that the purchasers 

 of five-banded queens are ruined, and that 

 queen breeders are to blame for it. Well, 

 Bro. Q., I think just to the reverse. Those 

 that have bought good stock are proud of it, 

 and I don't think any of our bee-keepers 

 jumped right in for five-banded bees just be- 

 cause they were advertised, but on the con- 

 trary, I think most bee-keepei-s who have 

 five-banded bees, first bought a few queens 

 only, tested them, found them far ahead 

 of other bees, and bought more heavily. 

 Some of our most extensive honey raisers 

 after trying the five- banders sufiiciently. did 

 away with all others, and I think queen 

 breeders are just as honest as honey pro- 

 ducers, and would not push anything upon 

 another just to get filthy lucre. No, no, Bro. 

 Q., you must be excited, drinking, or did not 

 sleep any the night before you wrote that 

 article running down queen breeders. 



Now I will tell you what let's do : You go 

 ahead and raise just such queens as you 

 choose, and allow others to do the same, and 

 conclude that one party is just as honest as 

 the other. Don't think that because you 

 failed with five-banded bees, everybody else 

 will, for such is not the case. I know that 

 five-banded bees have their faults ; so do all 

 other kinds of bees for that matter. But I 

 say we should always be willing to 'tote fair,' 

 give Satan his dues, etc. The best way to 

 determine these things is to allow the major- 

 ity to rule. Ask all that have tried five- 

 banded bees to report — weigh them up, and 

 decide accordingly, and not plead the case 

 before the witnesses are examined. 



Bebville, Tex. 



Mrs. A. — You are the first person to say 

 that Italians kept pure would soon breed to 

 solid yellow, and all tvell posted l)ee-keepers 

 know you are making a statement you can- 

 not prove, and for proof I would refer you 

 to all the older importers and breeders of 

 Italian bees. I shall ' tote fair,' and if some 

 of you cannot keep your heads above, you 

 will have to sink, that's all. I kept on tryine 

 everyone's five-banded bees, who advertised 

 them as the best, until I am thoroughly dis- 

 gusted with the whole affair, and have lost 

 hundreds of dollars. I have paid the price 

 asked for the best breeding queens, and I 

 had a right to expect the best, but the result 

 has been the same in every case. There was 

 some Atchley stock in my yard this season, 

 though the bulk of this season's stock came 

 from a Texas breeder who has furnished you 

 queens when you were short. Now, Mrs. A., 

 yon get all the reports of those who have 



bought five-banded queens, those who have 

 had them one year. I will go on record here 

 that there is not one in twenty that will favor 

 them who is a practical honey i)roducer. I 

 will say further that these testimonials are 

 given in a short time after the queens are 

 received, and not one in twenty has any 

 bearing on honey gathering qualities of the 

 bees. I may not be a bee keeper, but I have 

 been known to get a crop of honey when 

 other bees around me did not get enough to 

 winter on. Ten colonies m my apiary this 

 dry year produced more than ten times as 

 much surplus as a whole apiary of fifty col- 

 onies of five-banded bees in Texas. I never 

 claimed queen breeders were any more dis- 

 honest than honey raisers, but some breeders 

 are very aggressive in a business way. As 

 to being excited, drinking, etc.. I will have 

 the six editors of the bee journals that I met 

 in the St. Joseph convention, decide. Five- 

 banded bees are poor comb builders — a most 

 undesirable thing in any bee — when comb 

 honey is the object. My experience with 

 these bees the last five years convinced me 

 that it was time and money thrown away to 

 try to make a success at liee-keeping with 

 the five banded bees, though I did not want 

 to Jidmit it, for I love beautiful bees as well 

 as anyone. Now, Mrs. A., you say, 'Don't 

 plead the case before the witnesses are ex- 

 amined.' Let me inform you that the wit- 

 nesses have been furnished the past three 

 years by all prominent advertisers. They 

 have been examined by the side of other 

 races of bees, and have convicted themselves. 

 The devil seems to be 0. K., etc. 



E. F. QUIGLEY." 



The Dadants on the Foundation Question. 



There is probably no firm that has made 

 more foundation than has that of Chas. Da- 

 dant & Son. They could never have sold this 

 amount of foundation had it not been of a 

 superior quality, hence their views on the 

 foundation question are worthy of consider- 

 ation. E. R. Root wrote them asking for 

 their opinion on the Taylor experiments, 

 and C. P. Dadant replied as follows : 



'• Friend Ernest : — It is with some reluc- 

 tance that I respond to your request for my 

 opinion on the Taylor experiments in favor 

 of Given founrlation, for I dislike any thing 

 that looks like ax-griuding. The remarks 

 that we had made on the Taylor experiment 

 coincided wi'h yours, and my father had 

 called my attention to the fact that Taylor's 

 tests agreed with the tests made by us long 

 ago; that is (o say, that, t' e heavier the 

 foundation furnished to the bees, the more 

 readily they fill it with honey. This is very 

 natural. The bees are always in a hurry 

 when the crop is good, and they find it much 

 handier to stretch out the cells which con- 

 tain a great surplus of wax than to wait on 

 the wax secretions of the wax-builders to 

 finish up the rudiments of cells already be- 

 gun. But one result, that we all know, of 



