THOUSAND ANSWERS 141 



prefer those which have three bands, like the pure stock that 

 comes from Italy. 



Q. Are the S-band, or golden, any better than, or as good as, 

 the 3-band leather-colored Italian queens? 



A. There are goldens and goldens. Some are good, and some 

 are poor, according to all accounts; while the 3-banders, as im- 

 ported from Italy, are more uniform and of a more fixed type. 



The beginner is generally puzzled to know whether to choose 

 goldens, bright 3-banded, or leather-colored. Let it be distinctly 

 understood that all goldens are not exactly alike, neither are all 

 leather-colored. The three kinds mentioned are all Italians, and 

 they all vary. So a man may have a cfflony of goldens and a 

 colony of leather-colored, and the goldens are the better of the 

 two, while another may find that his own goldens are not so good 

 as his leather-colored. The matter of looks has no small bearing, 

 and breeders find that, other things being equal, the brighter the 

 color, the better the customers will be pleased. Yet a large pro- 

 portion of experienced producers of honey seem to prefer the 

 leather-colored, with the belief that in general these rank as the 

 better honey-gatherers. 



Q. Are the goldens generally recognized as the worst robbers 

 of all bee-kind? The ones I have certainly must be; however, 

 with the miserable slow flow we are having,' they are certainly 

 getting much more honey than are my blacks. 



A. I don't remember to have heard that charge against the 

 goldens. I am afraid it's true very often that the best gatherers 

 are inclined to be bad as robbers. Bees have no moral sense, and 

 don't make any distinction between getting stores from the field 

 or from another hive; so why shouldn't the best gatherers be the 

 best — or the worst — robbers? 



Q. Do you find the yellow Italians more vicious than those of 

 a darker color? 



A. They vary; some are vicious, and some gentle. 



Italianizing. — Q. What is the best time of the year to Italian- 

 ize? 



A. Other things being equal, there is no better time than to- 

 ward the close of harvest, but if I had poor bees I wouldn't want 

 to wait till then to get better stock. 



Q. I have a few colonies of black bees that seem to be weak, 

 though they are beginning to carry pollen. Would it not be 

 better to wait until later in the season before I attempt to intro- 

 duce Italian queens. Should I not catch the old queen and destroy 



