THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



35 



exchange it tor a better one." I fought so 

 hard, among my neighbors, against these 

 imported bees, tiiat none of them were ever 

 brought into this locality. I am thankful 

 that such was the case. My neighbors are 

 also thankful that I succeeded in my labors 

 with them. No matter where you live, nor 

 whether you raise comb or extracted honey, 

 no bee in this world, so far as known to bee 

 keepers, can, in my judgment, e<iual a wise 

 and judicious cross between the best strain 

 of Germans and Italians. 



DowAGiAc, Mich., Feb. 13, 1889. 



Italians, Blacks, Syrians, Carniolans and 



Their Crosses— The Four-Piece Section 



The Best. 



H. D. CUTTING. 



fOV ASK, which are the best bees? I 

 '' think location, and the flora from 

 ' ^L,' which the nectar is obtained, has 

 much to do with the problem. If in 

 a location where honey comes in slowly, from 

 a long season, then Italians show at their 

 best. But if honey is near by, and in great 

 quantities, the blacks will store at least (iiie- 

 Niinl more than the Italians, and in much 

 liner condition. 



The blacks have some undesirable (luali- 

 ties, but I must say that, if we had done as 

 much to breed up the good qualities and elim- 

 inate the bad, as we have with the Italians, 

 we would hear less complaint about black 

 bees. 



I have tried a cross between the Italians 

 and Syrians. Such bees are splendid work- 

 ers, but it is hnsiiK'ss to handle them. 



I have tried the Carniolans two seasons. 

 They are good honey gatherers, very quiet 

 until after the honey season, then they pre- 

 fer to be let alone. They are excellent comb 

 builders. One colony, or \fock, the past 

 season, filled a hive, four stories high, with 

 comb, (from 1.2 sheet of .foundation. ) 



I shall buy several Caruiolan (lueens this 

 season to mate with Italian and Syrian 

 drones and try the different matings. We 

 must not jump at conclusions, but test them 

 for several years under different conditions, 

 before we saj' which are the best bees. 



I don't like to dab my fork into some other 

 man's plate of hash, but the article In the 

 last Review, by S. Patterson, of Berlin 

 Heights, Ohio, calls for a few words. In re- 

 gard to Mr. Boardman, I think he is right in 

 trying to preserve our basswoods. 



Mr. Patterson refers to "that nearly obso- 

 lete make-shift, the four-piece section." 

 Does Mr. Patterson know that many of our 

 largest honey producers use and prefer the 

 four-v>iece section:' In looking over my 

 order book, for several years back, I find 

 that I sell more than eight times as many 

 four-piece sections as I do of the one-piece. 

 Five years ago I sold over :'.0,0(H) one-piece 

 sections, since then the trade in one-piece 

 has dropped off, until now I have but few 

 calls for them. I used the one-piece in my 

 own yard for several years, and they were 

 from the best makers, but they never gave 

 the satisfaction that the four-piece di'i, I 



have a machine for putting together four- 

 piece sections that cost only .$1.00. It drives 

 them up solid and square, and they stay sf<, 

 which cannot be said of the one-piece. I 

 think if Mr. Patterson will investigate, he 

 will not find as much "stupidity" as he 

 thinks among the "jji-ogressive" bee keepers. 

 I don't make sections of any kind, and don't 

 sell any, except to my local customers, but I 

 am on the side of the four-piece, white 

 poplar, section rrcri/ fintc. 

 Clinton, Mich., Feb. 25, 1889. 



Blacks, Italians, Carniolans. — The Latter are 



Preferable, as They are Quiet, Amiable, 



Industrious, and "Winter Well. 



.lOHN ANDREWS. 



qJCT LL( )\V me to go back nearly thirty 

 3^) years, when I began my work with 

 black bees, learned to winter them 

 successfully, and obtained good 

 yields of honey. After the excitement over 

 the Italians had run a few years, I thought I 

 would get rich very fast if I could change 

 my black bees for Italians; and, one summer, 

 I bought more than thirty Italian queens, 

 getting them from three different breeders, 

 and reared queens and changed the others as 

 soon as possible. When taken from the cel- 

 lar the next spring, there were only forty 

 live colonies left out of one hundred. But I 

 bred them up as rapidly as possible in order 

 to save my empty combs, and in the years 

 that followed did not lose so /y^ro// in win- 

 tering. I kept Italians about ten years; part 

 of the time having bees in three or four 

 places. 



Five years ago this coming spring I sent 

 for an imported Carniolan queen. Last sea- 

 son, in company with Mr. Lockhart, I 

 changed the bees all over for the fourth time 

 since commencing with Carniolans, buying 

 both imported and home-bred stock, and for 

 myself and Mr. Lockhart I can say that we 

 consider the Carniolans ahead of any bee 

 we have tried. They hang to the combs as 

 well as the Italians; fight robbers and moths, 

 but are easily handled, and uncommonly 

 quiet in winter. This winter our bees are 

 in a temj)erature of 48° to '>0°, yet they are 

 as quiet as any ))lack bees we ever wintered. 

 The one Italian colony in the cellar has gone 

 down to a small cluster, losing as many bees 

 as the whole 121 (Carniolans have lost. 

 Patten's Mills, N. Y., Feb. IC, 1889. 



Carniolans are Gentle, Industrious, Good 

 Comb Builders, and use Little Propolis. 



l)K. S. W. MOBKISON. 



'^ BEGAN in 187(i with black bees. Four 

 dt) years later I replaced them with Ital- 

 ,Jy ians. From 1880 to 1884 I became ac- 

 ^ quainted, in my apiary of fifty colonies, 

 with the habits of Italians. During the 

 same time, and also later, I have watched 

 the habits of several strains of Cyprians and 

 Syrians, including Benton's strain of "gen- 

 tle" Cyprians, from select, imported queen. 



