January, 1910. 



American ^ee Journal 



not find favor. The question then 

 arises in my mind. How many pounds 

 of this mixed product can I "afford to 

 give for one dollar, taking 14 cents as 

 the basis of the price of section honey, 

 and 8>^ cents for the extracted; also 

 taking into consideration that these 

 last-named prices are wholesale; while 

 our new product will be sold in retail? 



I wish I knew how well the friction- 

 top cans, as offered by the Canners' 

 Can Co.. of Chicago, at $7 per 100 for 

 the 10-pound size, would suit. I am in- 

 clined to order a batch for a trial, any- 

 how. 



This is a subject which might be dis- 

 cussed at bee-keepers' conventions this 

 winter. Many of our producers may 

 scorn the idea of giving this matter a 

 trial, but if we by adopting the Texas 

 method, and dispose of a portion of our 

 honey in the home market, we would 

 make a gain by keeping that much 

 honey out of the usually glutted city 

 (market, and this in turn might have the 

 • effect of raising tlie price of the com- 

 CBodity. 



There can be no doubt that sooner or 

 later the scarcity of suitable timber to 

 make sections from, will force us to 

 make a change in our method of comb- 

 honey production. We would be wise 

 if we so planned as to be independent 

 of the basswood-timber supply. 

 Naples, N. Y. 



Progress of Bee-Culture in Italy 



BV C. r. [>.\D.\NT. 



The death, during the month of Sep- 

 tember, 1900, of two noted Italian api- 

 arists, has drawn the attention of the 

 bee-keeping world to that co\intry and 



Count Borromeo. 



ot the progress achieved by it in api- 

 culture. 



Italy, some GO years ago, was a 

 divided country, the greater portion of 



it being mider the iron rule of the 

 -Austrian monarchy, a small part un- 

 der the Pope's rule, and the remainder 

 under other small rulers. The unifica- 

 tion of the country by the overthrow 

 of the Austrian power and the securing 

 of an independence that was long 

 sought, under the influence of tlie spirit 

 of liberty set aflame by the patriotism 

 of Garibaldi and his volunteer legions, 

 gave an impetus to progress, and it is 

 hardly to be doubted that Italy would 

 not yet today be as progressive as she 

 is, even in the culture of bees, were it 

 not for the political progress achieved 

 in the middle of the past century. 



Germany had already achieved very 

 important progress in apiculture when 

 Italy came to the front; but Germany 

 had the good luck of being the birth- 

 place of two great apiarists — Berlepsch 

 and Dzierzon — the inventor of modern 

 methods and the parthenogenesis; not 

 to mention a number of scientists who 

 helped in discoveries in bee-anatomy. 

 America followed the footsteps of Ger- 

 many. To make sure of this, one 

 needs only to peruse the first two or 

 three years of the old American Bee 

 Journal. But the pupil soon got ahead 

 of the master, and at the present date 

 the Dzierzon and the Berlepsch hives 

 can not be compared in efficiency of 

 manipulation to any of our modern 

 hives. Langstroth was the man who 

 set the pace here, by his inventions and 

 his accurate researches. 



Italy then took the cue. In the six- 

 ties,one of her leaders,Major Hruschka, 

 invented the honey-e.xtractor. But to 

 use this machine a practical hive was 

 needed. Both the German and the 

 American hives were tried, and the 

 latter, I believe, took the lead very 

 promptly. In 1868, " L'.Apicoltore," their 

 national bee-journal, was founded. A 

 Central Association for the Encour- 

 agement of Bee-Culture was organized. 

 Let us bear in mind that Italy, like all 

 the old monarchies, is composed of 

 classes very far apart in social posi- 

 tions. The contadino or peasant, at 

 that time, had no education ; in many 

 places he lacks education yet, but he 

 is gaining slowly and surely. On the 

 other hand, the nobility is among the 

 most aristocratic of Europe. The Vis- 

 contis and the Borromeos trace their 

 ancestry back to the middle ages. But 

 it was among these aristocratic men 

 that the progress began. They bent 

 their energies in the most democratic 

 fashion to the spread of what they rec- 

 ognized as progress, and proud as they 

 were of their ancestry, they did not 

 consider it a degradation to put their 

 hands at useful work and to preach the 

 gospel of progress to the uneducated. 

 They mingled with the mass to teach 

 new methods, and counts, doctors, en- 

 gineers and ordinary tradesmen set 

 themselves on a basis of equality be- 

 fore the little honey-bee. Is this not 

 worthy of our consideration? Perhaps 

 we can hardly realize what such a 

 thing means, in a democratic country 

 like ours, where all men are equal. 



It would be useless and impossible 

 for me to name all the men who made 

 Italian bee-culture what it is today. 

 Crivelli, Visconti, Lurani, Rauschen- 

 fels. Dubini (the author of a splendid 

 treatise), Borromeo, Barbo, etc. The 

 work of the last named, extensive mi- 



croscopic studies, was brought to the 

 reach of every one by the art of 

 Clerici, who made beautiful lithographs 

 of most of them, and these lithographs 



CouNr B.MJBO. 



were published under the auspices of 

 the Central Association. They were 

 since re-published by the editor of the 

 journal " L'Apicoltore." Rauschenfels. 

 who is today upwards of fourscore 

 years of age, but still on the path of 

 progress. 



•Bee-culture in Italy has also been 

 urged forward by the demand for Ital- 

 ian bees from all parts of the earth. 

 But more than anything else the work 

 of its translators has been beneficial. 

 From the beginning of its publication 

 articles have been translated for 

 "L'.Apicoltore," first by Dr. Dubini, 

 later by others. Our .American readers 

 would be astonished to see how well 

 acquainted the Italians are with the 

 writings of Doolittle, Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 A. I. Root, Hutchinson, and hundreds 

 of others in America. In the same way 

 they quote from German bee-culture. 

 France. England, Belgium, Switzer- 

 land. There is not a magazine in the 

 world which is more cosmopolitan in 

 its make-up than " L'Apicoltore." 



But, dear reader, do not infer from 

 the above that the bee-keepers of Italy 

 are a// progressive. This would be a 

 big error. Neither are the bee-keepers 

 all progressive in .America. It was 

 lately found out by Mr. Holekamp, Sec- 

 retary of the Missouri State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, that there are 42,000 

 bee-keepers in Missouri alone. How 

 many of those are up-to-date apiarists? 

 Not one-tenth I dare say. And Mis- 

 souri does not hold the record for 

 ignorance, for we have other sections 

 of the country much farther behind. 

 Dare we criticise other countries? 



While the Steinheil trial was in prog- 

 ress in France, and our newspapers 

 were throwing ironical jests at the ren- 

 dering of justice in l'"rench courts, in 



