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 
or 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 Bienenzcitung, Bie- 
nen-Vater, Deutsche linker 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 
