American Beg Jonrnalj 



and see it. We went one afternoon to 

 the director of the Royal Observatory 

 of Apiculture, Viccolo Brune, and went 

 up six flats higher to the abode of Cav- 

 aliere Antonio Costantini, who re- 

 ceived us in a friendly manner, and 

 after he had shown us all the more or 

 less necessary implements, and we had 

 tasted his honey, we proceeded together 

 to the roof. Here we found about (30 

 colonies, and Mr. Costantini informed 

 us that he possessed an out-apiary 

 about 5 miles from town, where he 

 had also about 60 colonies in modern 

 and peasant styles. 



There are some shades on the roof 

 under which are various hives nicely 

 painted and covered with glass in vari- 

 ous parts, so that when uncovering the 

 glass one can see the bees at work like 

 those Abbott hives exposed in the 

 Crystal Palace near London, England, 

 in 1872, during the Apicultural Exhibi- 

 tion. 



You can see, in one of the pictures I 

 enclose, these hives in two rows one 

 over the other, while in front there are 

 some peasant hives. At the right, 

 through the bows, one can see the reno- 

 vated Pincio and the cupola of one of 

 the churches on the Piazza del Popolo. 

 On the roof in front of the main shade 

 is a big white board on which a large 

 queen-bee is painted under a royal 

 crown, and the inscription, " 111 mio 

 non sol ma I'altrui ben procuro," which 



has about the same meaning as the 

 American, " Our toil doth sweeten 

 others." 



Cavaliere Costantini does a good 

 business with his bees. He provides 

 most of the hotels with honey, and 

 ships bees and hives to all countries. 

 He buys as cheaply as he can swarms in 

 the peasant hives, and beating down 

 the hooks he can easily get the combs, 

 which he transfers to frames, and when 

 fixed by the bees, he puts these frames 

 in a forwarding box freely ventilated, 

 and such he sends to his buyers. 



The colonies on top of the house are 

 prosperous. Mr. Costantini spoke of 

 40 kilos, that is over 80 pounds of 

 honey per colony. While Rome is full 

 of large and beautiful parks and gar- 

 dens, such returns in honey prove the 

 fertility of the country. "My colonies 

 must not swarm, and I try to prevent 

 it," he said, but it looked very curious 

 when he pointed out to us from the 

 apiary deep below the garden of a 

 fraternity of Priests, where his swarms 

 clustered, and from where he had to 

 fetch them. 



It was a very interesting visit which 

 was followed by a call at " Casalina," 

 where a large apiary is at the disposi- 

 tion of agricultural students who pass 

 their fourth year of study there so they 

 can practice agriculture after 3 years 

 of study at the University. 



Trieste, Austria, May 30. 



Conducted by J. L. BvER. Mt. Joy, Ontario. 



Coal-Oil or Carbolic Acid for Preventing 

 Robbing 



Speaking of using coal-oil and car- 

 bolic acid as a preventive of robbing 

 (page 2(37), some may think that I have 

 had considerable trouble along this 

 line, but such is not the case, however, 

 as for some reason, although having 

 had all sorts of hives, yet I have 

 scarcely ever had any robbing. But 

 tne same motto quoted in connection 

 with what I have said about extracting 

 honey in time of dearth, holds good 

 here also, and it is always best to head 

 off a case of robbing in its incipient 

 stage. To this purpose, a small amount 

 of coal-oil daubed around entrances or 

 other openings in a hive will work 

 wonders. A common feather dipped 

 in the oil is the best means of applying 

 it. and one is soon aware of its value 

 after having tried it. 



Nice Rains, But Too Late for Honey 



Since sending the last batch of notes 

 for the American Bee Journal, we have 

 at last had some nice rains, and as a re- 

 sult the grass is green once more. 

 While the rains will greatly help pas- 

 turage for the stock, it is of course too 

 late to be of much benefit to the bee- 

 keepers, as on the evening of Sept. 12th, 

 we had a severe frost that froze all the 

 late buckwheat. As most of the buck- 



wheat was sown late this year in our 

 locality, this means that much of it will 

 amount to but little for the farmer. 

 Unfortunately the same applies to the 

 bee-keeper as well, as only one of our 

 yards here in the home district yielded 

 any surplus. Around home the buck- 

 wheat was sown very late, and as a 

 usual thing we get little from buck- 

 wheat after Aug. 20th. 



At the one apiary that yielded surplus, 

 there were two or three fields of buck- 

 wheat sown earlier than the otiiers, 

 owing to the land being summer-fal- 

 lowed, and therefore containing mois- 

 ture enough to germinate the seed. 

 Those fields yielded heavily for about 

 10 days, and the bees filled the supers 

 in a short time. 



As intimated in a former issue, pros- 

 pects for clover honey in our section 

 are very poor indeed for next season, 

 as about all of the freshly-sown seeds 

 were killed by the extreme drouth that 

 lasted for months in this country. 



Bee-Escapes During Extracting-Time 



Just at present I am seriously won- 

 dering if it would pay to use bee-es- 

 capes during extracting times. Many 

 of my friends use them, and say they 

 would not go back to the old way 

 again, while, on the other hand, others 

 say that after trying them they really 

 have no use for the article. Last Mon- 



day (Sept. I8th) I went to the Altona 

 yard to extract the buckwheat honey — 

 started work at 9 :30 and stopped at 5 

 o'clock, after taking off 2100 pounds. 

 We had no robbing whatever, and I 

 have been wondering if it would have 

 paid me in this case to have driven the 

 1(3 miles the evening before and placed 

 the escapes on the hives, as would have 

 been necessary. 



Then, again, it would be necessary 

 to have quite a number of the con- 

 trivances to fix up enough colonies to 

 provide for a day's extracting. Cer- 

 tainly the escape method must be all 

 right for a home yard, and especially 

 so if one does not desire to stir up the 

 bees any; however, I have my doubts 

 as to their being a t'aying- proposition 

 for a large out-apiary. 



In taking off the honey referred to, 

 although not a drop of nectar was 

 coming in, yet there was no robbing, 

 and few cross bees. Just a few rods 

 from us four men were working all day 

 building a silo, and when I say not 

 a bee disturbed them, that will prove 

 how quiet the bees were. 



Mrs. Byer a Good "Smoker-Woman" 



By the way, I might say in passing, 

 that this year I persuaded Mrs. Byer 

 to let others do the uncapping, as I 

 concluded the work was too heavy for 

 her. While she consented to this, yet 

 she insisted on helping, so as a com- 

 promise I consented to her assisting 

 me at the hive-work. She has operated 

 the smoker, and after a few days' prac- 

 tise has become so handy at the work 

 that I think she could hold her own 

 with any zcoinan, and beat a good many 

 men, in clearing a super of combs from 

 bees. 



One reason why we had no robbing 

 at the work during the last day's ex- 

 tracting, when no honey was coming 

 in, was because the bees were not al- 

 lowed to get a single taste of honey. A 

 bit of comb dropped, or honey daubed 

 on the sides of hives, etc., will raise a 

 commotion in an apiary at a time like 

 this in a hurry. An ounce of preven- 

 tion is certainly worth a pound of 

 cure, so far as working with bees is 

 concerned at a time when no honey is 

 coming in. 



Italians and Carniolans vs. Foul Brood 



Of late I have received letters from 

 bee-keepers who have had experience 

 with European foul brood, protesting 

 against the claim that Italians were 

 more immune to this disease than are 

 the Carniolans. Of course, we know 

 that they are no more immune to 

 American foul brood than are other 

 bees. One man who has been "through 

 the mill " with Europen foul brood 

 says that he would choose the Carnio- 

 lans any time to fight the disease in 

 preference to Italians, as their being 

 so much more prolific is a great factor 

 in their favor. As I said before. I have 

 had no experience in the matter, but as 

 the disease is rapidly approaching us, I 

 sincerely hope that the Carniolans are 

 good in this respect, for, as is well 

 known, I have a decided preference for 

 this race of bees. 



