30 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
but conclude it is due to the difference in our 
climate. Tlie conclusion is thus forced upon 
me that such rules and conditions, as are ap- 
plicable to beekeejiing in the north and west 
will but poorly apply to the southern bee- 
keeping. This one fact should be kept in view 
always, when a southern beekeeper is reading 
after a northern or western apiarist, and vice 
versa, especially when he reads that which is 
so contrary to his own observation on the same 
points. That Mr. Taylor’s observations be- 
tween Italians and Hybrids for Michigan is 
correct, I must think, because I have every 
reason which he could give, and my knowledge 
of the man leads me to that conclusion; and 
further I know that he has for the past two 
years purchased of me what Hybrid Queens I 
happened to have on hand in the spring, 
though he has never been the man to order an 
Italian Queen of me. As to the relative points 
of value between bees here in the south, there 
never has been any bee that is superior to the 
American (Albino) Italians. Yes, American ! 
Why not American Italians ? Certainly there 
is a great improvement made in the markings 
of the Queens, Drones, and Workers, in any 
strain of pure Italians that have been bred up 
here on our American continent for ten or 
twenty years to the exclusion of imported 
stock,' that they are in no way Italian except 
from the fact that the bee was originally from 
Italy (?) any more so than many of the Ameri- 
can people to-day, who all, as a rule, originated 
from some other country, but are to-day 
Americans : and why would not the same rule 
apply to bees, friend Taylor ? More especially 
since in every way, except their originality, 
the true American Italian is foreign to the 
imported Italian stock; in this I can agree 
with Mr. Alley. 
Take the black bees in the south, and the 
first thing they do is to fill up every nook and 
corner of brood-hive with brood and honey, 
and then swarm, many times without so much 
as entering the sections. Then again they 
fill them one fifth or one fourth, sometimes 
less, and then swarm ; the result is all hees 
and no comb lioney. And this disposition is 
most prominent in the Germans and Italians 
crossed, as applied here. With pure Italians 
they at once enter the sections and go to 
work and fill them, removing, in many in- 
stances, all the honey from the brood chambers, 
excepting a little at each end of frames, and 
have brood right to the top bar of frame. I 
never bad a hive of pure Italians swarm till 
after the surplus department was filled ; that 
is their strong point here, which is more than 
I can say for any other strain or race of bees, 
and I have kept during the past four years, 
Cyprians, Syrians, Carniolans Italians, and 
Albino Italians. The same remarks that 
apply to Italians are applicable to golden or 
Albino Italians : their most striking difference 
being in their markings. 
(Queries anfc IRepltes. 
QUESTIONS. 
Question 4. — What is the best food to give 
to bees when they have got no honey in the 
combs in winter time, and what, is the best 
way to give it to them ? Some of my hees 
are dying, and the boxes are very light. I 
don’t think they have got any honey inside. 
J. Simpson, Otway. 
Question 5. — Mr. Editor,. — Please inform me 
what is the botanical name of the tree that 
bears a bright red flower, very much like the 
blossom of the honeysuckle, and like a bottle 
brush. It comes out early iu summer, and I 
saw hundreds of bees on them last season. Do 
they come from seeds or cuttings ? 
Waterloo. 
Question G. — I have a frame hive, and I 
want to move the hees out of a box into it. 
Is it safe to transfer them now, or is it better 
to wait till later P 
Queen Bee, Loddon. 
REPLIES. 
Reply 1. — The question of how to prevent 
bees fastening down the bottoms of frames 
and sections to the tops of the frames beneath 
by brace combs, Ac., is a difficult one. 
Numerous plans have been suggested and 
numerous devices tried, more or less but not 
completely successful. The perforated zinc 
honey-board appears to be the most certain 
preventative. Honey-boards made with narrow 
slats, with a bare bee space between each slat, 
and so placed that the spaces are exactly over 
the centre of each frame in the brood chamber 
beneath is also well spoken of, but are useless 
if not used with the strictest regard to the 
exact position described. The trouble is 
often much reduced by a careful adjustment 
of the space left between the tops of the frames 
and bottoms of sections, or slats of honey-board, 
this space should be just about I inch. We 
intend devoting an article to this question in 
our next number. — Ed. 
Reply 2. — Yes. Any piece of comb contain- 
ing honey can be cleared in the extractor by 
use o£ a little arrangement called an extractor 
basket. It is simply two pieces of wire net 
(i or f mesh) hinged together so as to hold 
the comb, and thus held it is placed in the 
extractor frame and cleared in the usual 
way. — E d. 
Reply 3. — We will endeavor to comply 
with J. S.’s request in our next. 
-*■ 
Thistles. — Common thistles form capital 
bee pasture, and in some districts have consti- 
tuted the only supply where hives have 
filled up rapidly with excellent honey. 
