T^HB SSMERICMff mmM JOISRlfMlL-. 



779 



color nor as handsome to my eye as 

 the Cyprians, but tending towards that 

 splendid species. They are large bees, 

 yet long and slim. Tlieir wings are 

 long, and will carry a big load. They 

 work when Cyprians and blacks are 

 idle, and are out earlier in the morn- 

 ing, and fly later in the evening. They 

 gathered honey right along during the 

 drouth of 1886 and 1887, when the 

 blacks, Cyprians and Italians gath- 

 ered none, but used up all unsealed 

 honey in the sections, and then nearly 

 starved. 



They not only stand the heat, dry- 

 ness and cold better, but againstrob- 

 bers, insects, moth-millers and fungus 

 they have no equal ; and when prop- 

 erly understood and managed, they 

 will gather as much honey as any bees, 

 but they require another system of 

 management. 



They are amazingly interesting as a 

 race ; not for their superior hardiness 

 against cold and drouth, but for the 

 fact that they introduce a distinctly 

 new strain of blood, one which by 

 crossing with those we already have, 

 is likely to give us very superior bees. 



The four years that I' have been ex- 

 perimenting with the Caucasian bees, 

 I have learned something. The first 

 swarm I was at my wit's end to under- 

 stand rightly. At that time I would 

 have willingly given $50 had I never 

 seen them. They gave me much 

 trouble by their continuous swarming, 

 which was decidedly disagreeable and 

 annoying. I transferred them to re- 

 versible frames, and with a determina- 

 tion to conquer, and also to study their 

 habits and requirements, and by 

 domestication to civilize them so that 

 they would stay at home, I soon found 

 the prime cause to be in the queen, 

 resulting from her extraordinary pro- 

 lificness. The minor cause was pollen. 



The queens want more room than 

 any race of bees that I ever owned. 

 The peculiar device I have adopted in 

 my management of them was that I 

 gave the queens more i-oom without 

 inserting extra combs, and with the 

 help of the device I solved the puzzle, 

 and now I have them under control. 



Securing Hardiness in Bees. 



For 31 years I have been trying in 

 vain to discover one tjpe of bees that 

 I could rear successfully in northern 

 central New York ; and one of the 

 most discouraging things to contend 

 with, has been the difficult character 

 of hardiness. Indeed, I tliink if it 

 were not for this unsurmountable dif- 

 ficultj', we have bees hardy enough to 

 successfullj' breed much further north. 

 Without hardy bees there cannot be a 

 great success in honey-production ; 

 and to my thinking, it is this weakness 

 which has prevented my succeeding 



with the almost harily bees, such as 

 the Cyprian, Italian and blacks, and 

 their crosses. Thej* are all tine honey- 

 gatherers, but they fail during our 

 severe winters. 



It seems reasonable, and it may be 

 of some wisdom, that with the Cy- 

 pcrian bee from the South, and the 

 Caucasian bee from the North (or any 

 other first-class race of bees) — if we 

 could cross them with this most liardy 

 bee, and could rear them successfulh', 

 we would have the "American bee;" 

 and bj' crossing and judicious selec- 

 tion, we could retain the quiet, gentle 

 disposition and hardiness of the Cau- 

 casian, and thus remedy the teiTor — 

 stings. 



A cross of the Cjprians, and this the 

 hardiest and gentlest of all bees, might 

 confer upon the former those better 

 qualities, gentleness and hardiness, 

 which are generally needed ; and bj- 

 commingling the several different na- 

 tures, we will have an equisite beauty 

 — the American honej'-bee, not now 

 found in any one type. 



But our triumph will not then be 

 completed. We must, and can, pro- 

 duce an American bee vastly superior 

 to any now known. There is no ques- 

 tion of the certainty of such results. 

 We want first-class bees, and in order 

 to get them, we must have Jirst-dass 

 parcntaqe. 



From tlie fact that all bees are more 

 or less mongrels of many degrees of 

 crossing, and various relatives will 

 crop out in a multitude of disapjioint- 

 ments, yet our past success is a 

 guaranty for the future, that out of 

 many, some will be good.^ 



I trust that some enthusiastic api- 

 arist may be sufficiently interested in 

 the matter to make these crosses. This 

 can only be done by those who are so 

 situated as to be able to breed all 

 kinds, which we of the bleak, cold 

 North are unable to do. 



Collamer, N. Y. 



COLORADO. 



Report of tlic Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Society. 



WrilUn for the ColaraOo Farmer 

 BY J. 31. CLARK. 



An adjourned meeting of the Colo- 

 rado State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 met in Denver, at the Chamber of 

 Commerce, at 10:30 a.m., on Nov. 13, 

 1888, with President Milleson in the 

 chair. 



Secretary Clark read the minutes of 

 the last meeting, which were approved. 



Chairman Rhodes, of the committee 

 on foul brood, desired to confer with 

 the other members of the committee, 

 and report in the afternoon. 



Secretary Clark reported that he had 

 received communications from Delta 

 and Montrose, from parties desiring to 

 form an association auxiliary to the 

 State society. He also read a letter 

 from C. E. Carroll, of Liberty, Rio 

 Grande county, stating that he had 

 had several colonies in the San Luis 

 valley, but the experiment had not 

 been a success. 



President Milleson urged that the 

 Society be incorporated, so that they 

 could get their reports printed in con- 

 nection with tlie Horticultural Society 

 report, etc. V. De Vinney agreed with 

 the President, and moved that the Sec- 

 retary be antliorized to take immediate 

 steps towards incorporation under tlie 

 State laws, which was carried. 



Foul Brood and its Cure. 



V. De Vinney thought that for quite 

 awhile his bees had no foul brood. He 

 was appointed executor for an estate, 

 and brought the bees (which had origi- 

 nally come from the East) to his api- 

 ary three years ago. He did not un- 

 derstand foul brood then. He found 

 white spots and a slight odor, but not 

 such as books had led him to believe. 

 His own bees had robbed them as they 

 grew feeble. Sixty colonies got this 

 foul brood. Bee-Keepers should not 

 wait until the combs get bad, but as 

 soon as they find white spots .and a 

 slight odur, they should look out. He 

 cut out the bad places and washed the 

 frames with salicylic acid as the bee- 

 books direct. He saved some, as it 

 looked good, but gained nothing, as 

 much afterward proved bad, and other 

 foul brood was placed where he had 

 cut it out. He had been over five 

 years in getting this foul brood, so he 

 did not think that it was as bad in 

 Colorado as elsewhere. 



Mr. De Vinney's belief is that this is 

 nothing but a mold or mildew, no 

 worse than other mildew, and if cut 

 out early no harm would result. Where 

 he used salicylic acid last spring he 

 had found an improvement. It is gen- 

 erally said that when the comb is 

 flattened, it is an evidence of foul 

 brood. This is not true, for it may be 

 even. The depression is caused by 

 bees pressing against it in warm 

 weather. He saw such depressed 

 combs, took them out and examined 

 them under a magnifying glass, wlieu 

 he saw them move, showing that there 

 was life. 



Bees will .store honey when there is 

 foul brood. To -tell if clear comb is 

 affected with foul brood, tip it to an 

 angle of 90°, when j'ou see the " mum- 

 my." Do not look at them flat, as 

 they will appear all right, since the 

 bees will clean them out when they 

 can, but the "mummy" part is too 

 stickv. 



