THOUSAND ANSWERS 107 



weather being damp and cool was very much against those colo- 

 nies. These colonies had lived for the first three weeks on the 

 punctured fruit and on the honey off of the fruit which had been 

 dipped; as there were at that season few plants in flower from 

 which they could gather nectar, these bees had died of starvation, 

 notwithstanding the proximity of the ripe, juicy fruit. The supply 

 of food which they were so urgently in need of was only sep- 

 arated from them by the skin of the fruit, which, however, this 

 evidence proves, they could not puncture, as they did not do so." 



Fruit-Bloom. — Q. Is there much honey from fruit-bloom (prin- 

 cipally apples) ? 



A. I am in a region of abundant fruit-bloom, but I never had 

 a pound of surplus from it. It is all used up in rearing brood. 

 If it came in the middle of June I should probably have had tons 

 of honey from it. Yet I wouldn't for many dollars have it in June. 

 The bees reared from fruit-bloom are what gather the surplus 

 later on, and so fruit-bloom is of the highest value. In this region 

 apple is worth all the rest put together, for it lasts two to four 

 weeks, there being that difference between the earliest and latest 

 varieties. 



Gentle Bees. — Q. What strain or race of bees do you consider 

 most gentle and easy to handle? 



A. The Caucasians are claimed to be gentlest of all, but re- 

 ports do not all agree. Italians are good. 



German Bee-Papers. — Q. Is there a German bee-paper pub- 

 lished, either here or in foreign countries? 



A. No German bee-paper is published in this country, but a 

 number across the water, among them Schweizerische Bienen- 

 zeitung, Praktischer Wegweiser, Leipziger Bienenzeitung, Bie- 

 nen-Vater, Deutsche Imker aus Boehmen. Names and addresses 

 of German papers can probably be obtained by addressing re- 

 quest to the office of the American Bee Journal. 



Giant Bee of India. — Q. Do you think the giant East Indian 

 honeybee will ever be imported to this country? 



A. No; and I don't believe it would be of any value if it were 

 brought here. 



Glass for Super-Covers. — Q. I have noticed two or three 

 times in the American Bee Journal beekeepers using a sheet of 

 glass for a super cover. I would like to adopt it myself if it 



