72 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



our profession is a difficult one to thor- 

 oughly understand is shown by the great 

 amount of literature devoted to it. I be- 

 lieve there are few other pursuits the lit- 

 erature of which represents more study 

 '•esearch and experimenting than does 

 that of apiculture. Many intelligent men 

 have devoted the best part of their lives 

 to this work; still there are many impor- 

 tant things yet unsettled. To the novice 

 this appears strange, if not incomprehen- 

 sible; but those of more experience under- 

 stand the great difficulty of definitely de- 

 ciding many of these things. There is no 

 doubt, however, that advancement and 

 progress will Vje made; for, although 

 there is no possible chance in our calling 

 to secure the reward in a financial way that 

 the same amount of effort in some other 

 pursuits might bring, there is about it a 

 subtile something that lures us on year 

 after year. 



But to the question of bees. Although 

 I have tried several varieties, I shall dis- 

 cuss in this article only the German and 

 Italian. The latter are generally conceded 

 to be superior to the German or brown 

 bees; but, for the last few years, I have 

 been breeding out Italian blood; and, at 

 present, am using what I call German bees. 

 Whether German black and brown bees 

 are the same, is something I do not know. 

 Some say they are not; but I believe 

 that the majority say they are. Mine 

 are light brown in color, with yellowish 

 white bands, and are about the same size 

 as Italians— fully as large I think. With 

 the exception that there is probably some 

 admixture of Italian blood, they are the 

 same kind of bees that were found in trees 

 here when this locality was first .settled. 

 .\t one time, and in one year in particu- 

 lar, I spent a good deal of time and mon- 

 ey in changing my stock to Italians; and, 

 for a number of years Italian blood pre- 

 dominated in my apiaries. Probably my 

 locality, methods of management, and 

 what I wish done, accounts for my prefer- 

 ence in bees. Mv idea of success is to get 

 every possible pound of the white honey 

 flow stored in the sections; and I can ob- 



tain a better measure of success in this re- 

 spect with German bees than with any 

 strain of Italians I have ever tried, or that 

 I believe exists. At the beginning of the 

 first general or profuse honey-flow, which 

 is white clover, here, it is a trait of the 

 Italians to store as much as possible in 

 the brood chamber; apparently slacking 

 up breeding for this very purpose; and, 

 with me, no means or methods taken to 

 prevent this storage in the brood chamber 

 have been very successful. I<'or the be- 

 ginner, or amateur, and, undoubtedly, 

 for the great majority who keep bees, this 

 very trait, instead of being a fault, is a 

 point in their favor; but lam a specialist; 

 my only income is from bees; and, in 

 order to make it not only as large as I 

 would like to have it, but as large as pos- 

 sible, it is necessary for me to get all, or 

 nearly all, of the white honey into the 

 sections; especially in such seasons as we 

 have had here the last few years. With 

 German bees I am able to accomplish this 

 to a large extent; for the majority of the 

 colonies run for section honey will have 

 very little white honey in the brood cham- 

 bers at the end of the flow. In some sea- 

 sons, after the white flow, enough honey 

 is to be secured from miscellaneous sources 

 to keep brood rearing going until the 

 fall-flow; if not, or if there is no fall-flow, 

 which frequently happens, feeding has to 

 be done; but, as will be understood later, 

 I often have frames of dark or amber hon- 

 ey for this purpose. 



Another reason why I prefer German 

 bees for comb honey is that, as a rule, 

 they cap their honey so that it looks very 

 white. This is a matter of appearance 

 only; but I have a large trade that de- 

 mands, and is willing to pa>- for, appear- 

 ances, or looks; and while I freely admit, 

 and know, that Italians are superior in 

 many respects, I have never observed, 

 and do not believe, that the honey 

 they gather is in any respect better than 

 the German bees gather, as has been 

 claimed by some. 



Again, my methods and management 

 require, in some seasons, a good deal of 



