THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
65 
which do not show any disposition to swarm 
without a cause. If the bees are Italians, 
they should be handsome and evenly marked ; 
but the chief points to breed for are gentle- 
ness and honey gathering. As to which are 
the best bees for us, experience has shown that 
the Italians are much superior to the blacks, 
and that hybrid — the first cross — are excellent 
honey gatherers. 
The extreme heat of a South Australian 
summer has a considerable effect upon the 
development of queens when in the larval state, 
and greately accelerates it. This I know to 
my sorrow, having in years past lost several 
lots of queens through one emerging a day 
before she was due. Most authorities give 
sixteen days as the time from the egg to the 
perfect queen, but in this climate fifteen days 
arenearerthemarkin ordinary summer weather, 
and fourteen and a-half days during extreme 
heat. I would never leave the cells more than 
seven days after they are sealed. If it is 
necessary to feed bees when they are building 
queen cells, I use only good extracted honey, 
and am very careful that the feeder is kept 
clean. On no account should any salicylic 
acid and borax be administered with the food, 
or the queens will be ruined. It appears to 
arrest the development of the wings and 
prevents the queens from biting out of the cell. 
If you are afraid of foul brood, and wish to 
give someantiseptic,usevery sparingly salicylic 
acid dissolved in alcohol. By the aid of modern 
methods and appliances the beekeeper can rear 
queens in any number and at almost any time, 
but unfortunately he cannot control their ma- 
ting. Many reports have been published from 
persons who stated that they had succeeded in 
getting queens fertilised in confinement; but 
these reports have never received any credence. 
By the use of drone-traps, a queen breeder can 
prevent all objectionable drones from flying in 
his own apiary ; but my experience shows that 
this is of no avail. Mr. Alley states that 
half a mile is sufficient distance to keep the 
different races of bees apart to ensure purity, 
but he is evidently in error, and I am glad to 
note in the third edition of his book that he 
justifies this statement by adding that his 
fertilising apiaries are several miles apart. 
Two years ago Mr. Justice Boucaut had the 
only colonj r of Italian bees in the neighbour- 
hood of Mount Barker, and yet one of his 
drones mated with a black queen in Mr. 
Coleman’s apiary, four miles away. The early 
part of this summer proved most disastrous to 
black bees. There was so little honey to be 
gathered that drones were quickly killed off, 
and I anticipated no difficulty with my queens ; 
but in this I was disappointed, and in spite of 
the numbers ofltalian drones in my hives, at least 
half the queens mismated. There is only one 
certain plan to adopt, and that is to take our 
queen down to Kangaroo Island, where Italian 
bees alone are kept. This island has lately 
by Act of Parliment been set apart for this 
superior race of bees. The Chamber of Manu- 
factures, in order to make sure that there are 
no black bees on the island, issued circulars to 
the residents asking for information on the 
subject. The evidence is most conclusive that 
there are no other than Italian bees there. 
Mr. Fiebig, who has this season sent a number 
of young queens to Queenscliff, and brought 
them back as soon as they were laying, has 
had most pleasing results, and is highly satis- 
fied with the plan. In this connection I will 
give an extract from a letter received from 
Mr. T. C. Root, one of the ablest apiarists in 
America. He says — “If you are successful in 
passing the Bill [i e., the Ligurian Bee Bill,) 
and keep only Italian bees, the world will yet 
come to you for Italians. I would ask no 
greater privilege than to be able to keep the 
Italian bee where I could control its purity for 
a certainty ; 1 would build up a strain not to 
be surpassed.” I am confident that there is 
a good opening for any one to go and settle 
in Kangaroo Island and rear Italian queens. 
Of course he would require to be a skilled bee- 
keeper, and would have to take with him a 
complete outfit for queen rearing, besides one 
or two of the best queens obtainable. I will 
once more impress on you the importance of 
getting good prolific queens, and point out 
that in order to do this you must use no other 
than full colonies of bees for cell building. It 
is not so much the difference in appearance of 
queens raised in small boxes and in large 
hives, as in their future usefulness. Whilst 
one queen will perhaps give out after two 
seasons’ eggs laying, the other will prove vig- 
orous and prolific for three or four years. To 
all breeders who are also dealers in queens, I 
would say, adopt Mr. Alley’s motto of “ Better, 
not cheaper, queens.” 
Victorian Beekeepers' Club. 
The monthly meeting of the Club was held 
at the Exchange, Melbourne, on 10th May, at 
8 p.m., Mr. Ellery being in the chair. 
THE BEES OF INDIA. 
Mr. F. B. Miller introduced Mr. Nicholson, 
from India, who had had considerable 
experience with the bees of India and of 
the introduction of the Italian variety into 
that, country. 
Mr. Nicholson then gave an interesting 
account of his experience with the varieties 
of bees indigenous to India. He stated that 
there are three kinds of bees, a large one 
nearly an inch long, the Apis Dorsata, 
