THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



49 



The Americans have bred the Shorthorn 

 until he is a fac-simile of the Devon. They 

 have bred the Poland-China until a whole 

 tield full of experts cauuot tell a Poland- 

 China from a Berkshire, ears alone excepted. 

 And they have bred the Italian bee until it is 

 identical with the Cyprian. Now, this has 

 not all been done by " judicious selection." 



When there is a demand for any type of 

 animal or bee, the Americans are goiny to 

 supply that demand, and do it right speedily. 



Why is it, Mr. Editor, knowing as you do 

 the nature of the imported bees to produce 

 workers almost identically the same, you 

 charge about double for a queen from an 

 imported mother, that herself happens to be 

 a little yellower than ordinary ? 



W. C. Fbazier. 



Atlantic, la., Dec. IG. 



[Our experience as importers is quite in 

 line with yours. Next to the Italian bee 

 keepers themselves, the importers who re- 

 ceive annually large consignments of queens 

 from that country ought to be in a position 

 to judge of the general characteristics of the 

 bees. It is our opinion tiiat imported Ital- 

 ians are as fixed as any race of bees known, 

 in their general characteristics, with the pos- 

 sible exception of the black, or German race. 

 Of the hundreds of queens we have imported 

 from Italy, we never saw any four or five 

 banded progeny from any of them ; neither 

 have we seen any one-banded progeny. 

 They have been uniformly three-handed 

 bees, though in the progeny of a few the 

 third band was quite indistinct, and some 

 would pronounce them only two-banded. 

 It is remarkable that the Lees of Italy should 

 show so generally such fixed qualities, and 

 that these qualities should duplicate tiiem- 

 selves so nearly in the first generation. It 

 is a fact, as we have often repeated, the 

 bauds of the importeds are leather-colored, 

 or, at least, a dark yellow : and these darker 

 bets have so far given better results in 

 honey. We therefore take the liberty of 

 putting in italics what you say on this point. 



It is true, that Americans will endeavor to 

 give people what they want : and because 

 there is a demand for yellow queens, and 

 because of the fact that only a few of them 

 ai-e among the daughters of imported moth- 

 ers, we have had to charge more for them : 

 but as we say in our price list, their bees will 

 have no more than three yellow bands, nor 

 will they be any better honey-gatherers than 

 tliose from darker daughters. In regard to 

 the article of Mr. Goldsborough, you will 

 see, by turning to page 9i8, Dec. 15. that he 

 must have visited only a few localities in 

 Italy, or else he observed very carelessly. 

 Although not intending to misrepresent, his 

 article gave a very incorrect idea of the kind 

 of bees found in Italy." 



From the way in which bees brought from 

 Italy have, by selection, been made to show 

 four and even five bands of yellow, it seems 

 to me that the Italians are not so fixed a race 

 but what they may be changed, at least so 

 far as color is concerned.— Ed. Review. 



The Hygrometer, or the Wet and Dry Bulb 

 Thermometers. 



Since the last Ueview was printed, I have 

 arranged a wet and dry bulb thermometer. 

 I took two ordinary dairy thermometers that 

 registered exactly alike, attached them to a 

 piece of board ten inches long by four wide, 

 with a little shelf at the bottom upon which 

 to set a bottle of water. With a strip of 

 cheese cloth I made a little cloth tube that 

 would just slip over the bulb, tying the cloth 

 above and below the bulb, so that it would 

 fit snugly. The lower end of the strip of 

 cloth rested in the bottle of water below, as 

 a wick rests in the oil in a lamp. 



WET AND UKV lUJLB THEKMOMETEfiS. 



In the sitting room, eight feet from the 

 coal stove, the wet bulb registered ;>4", the 

 dry, (18. In the cellar the wet bulb stands 

 at 40' most of the time ; the dry at 42". We 

 have had some two or three cold "snaps" 

 since the hygrometer was arranged in the 

 cellar, and when I saw that there was danger 

 of the temperature going too low. I carried 

 an oil stove into the cellar, and in that way 

 furnished artificial heat enough to keep the 

 temperature at about the same degree, viz., 

 40 : but I was very much interested in seeing 

 that while the artificial heat did not raise 

 the mercury very much in the dry bulb ther- 

 mometer, it loivered in the wet bulb instru- 

 ment. In other words, it dried the air as 

 well as warmed it. 



