THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



21 



for this portion of the country. In our 

 opinion there are only three varieties worthy 

 of consideration, viz.: Italian, black and 

 Carniolan. As yet, the latter is on trial. 

 It is claimed for it that it possesses all the 

 good qualities of the black bee with the 

 added ones of gentleness and ijrolificness ( ? ). 

 A word right here about prolificness. Ab- 

 normal, or unusual prolificness is of no 

 value — it is an objection. Did queens cost 

 large sums of money, there would be a shade 

 of sense in desiring prolific queens ; but, to 

 the practical honey producer, they cost ab- 

 • solutely nothing ; and by using hives that 

 are not too large, queens of ordinary pro- 

 lificness will keep the combs sufficiently 

 tilled with brood. This is a point upon 

 which the Italians are unexcelled. During 

 the spring month"- they push breeding with 

 wonderful rapidity : but as soon as the honey 

 harvest begins in earnest, bpeeding is reduced 

 more than one-half. Now that we are speak- 

 ing of Italians, it is a significant fact that, 

 in «(•«;■/;/ all the "crosses" that have been 

 advocated, the Italians are one of the factors. 

 They are the standard variety of this country, 

 and for the production of extracted honey 

 are probably unexcelled. There seems to be 

 about them a peculiarly quiet, steady, ener- 

 getic determination, possessed by no other 

 variety. When honey is coming in slowly, 

 and must be sought for far and wide, it is 

 then that the Italians carry off the palm. 

 But as producers of comb honey they have 

 two very disagreeable traits. They are loth 

 to store honey outside of the brood apart- 

 ment, and fill the cells too full of honey. A 

 producer of first class comb honey cannot 

 afford to ignore the splendid comb building 

 qualities of the blacks, and the willingness 

 with which they will work in the supers ; 

 neitlier can he dispense with the great energy 

 of the Italians. It is needed to bridge over 

 the poor seasons. The proper way is to 

 cross the two varieties ; then by continued 

 selection retain the good qualities and weed 

 out the poor ones. It is practical to do this 

 without any mating of queens in confine- 

 ment. Simply rear the queens from the best 

 stocks ; the drones ditto : keeping the drone 

 comb out of all undesirable colonies, and 

 giving some of the choice stocks an abund- 

 ance. This will fill the air with choice 

 drones, and the chances of a queen's mating 

 with an undesirable drone will be very slight 

 indeed. This is the only practical method 

 of improving our bees. The time has passed 



when a man will bring down a shower of 

 abuse if he advocates the crossing of bees : 

 in short, our best authorities recommend it. 

 '• Which are the best bees?" is to be the 

 special topic of the March Review, and we 

 should be glad to hear from all who have 

 had experience in this line, particularly 

 would we like to hear from those who have 

 tried the Carniolans. 



" PKACTICAL BEE-KEEPING." 



As mentioned in the December Review, 

 Mr. D. A. Jones is writing, and publishing 

 in the C. B. J., a series of articles on "Prac- 

 tical Bee-Keeping." 



It is seldom that a work of this kind is 

 above criticism, and the fault we have to 

 find with this one is that, especially in the 

 opening chapters, too much space is taken 

 up in giving well known facts — those found 

 in nearly every text book. But there might 

 be more objectionable features than this, 

 and we shall probably find plenty that is 

 new. 



Like every practical bee-keeper, Mr. .Tones 

 sees the advantage of learning the business 

 the same as other kinds of business are 

 learned — by actual work in a well managed 

 apiary. He says a student ought not to ex- 

 pect pay the first year. — He urges the teach- 

 ing of the elementary principles of apicul- 

 ture in schools. We believe that our schools 

 should teach those branches only that are 

 needed in all the walks of life; and not med- 

 dle with the bees, hens and pigs. — In men- 

 tioning the desirable spots for locating the 

 apiary. Mr. Jones speaks of the orchard. 

 Mr. Allen Pringle; who is reviewing these 

 papers, objects on the ground of too much 

 shade. After ti-ying both shade and open 

 exposure, he prefers the latter. He says the 

 bees build up faster in the spring, and work 

 more hours: that the expense of providing 

 some cheap shade in very hot weather is tri- 

 fling compared with the advantages accru- 

 ing from the sunshiny location. We agree 

 with Mr. Pringle. — Mr. Jones tells us, and 

 we know it to be true, that bees may be kept 

 near a highway without making trouble to 

 passers-by, if there is some barrier, as a row 

 of trees or a high fence, between the bees 

 and the street. In passing over the obstruc- 

 tions the bees fly so high that they are above 

 the travellers on the road. It is not neces- 

 sary that the fence should be absolutely tight. 



