March, 1915. 



American Vae -Journal 



ONE OF GAETANO PIANAS OUT APIARIES 



common in Italy, and I saw several 

 specimens of it. But this was nothing 

 new to me, for I have often seen them 

 on imported bees and queens. They 

 are so large that they cannot fail to be 

 noticed, and are easily removed from 

 the body of the queen. Professor 

 Bovelacci, of Forli, who was with us 

 and whom I will have the pleasure of 

 introducing a little farther along, as- 

 sured me that the louse is picked up by 

 the bees on such blossoms as the sun- 

 flower. His reasons for this statement 

 I do not know. He is a well informed 

 man. 



Some of the honey resources of cen- 

 tral Italy are similar to ours. They 

 have plenty of alfalfa, which they call 

 "erba medica." The scientific name 

 is"medicago sativa." This appellation 

 is derived from the alfalfa having been 

 originally imported into Europe from 

 Media, in western Asia. They have 

 another genus of the same family 

 which they call " lupinello," a variety 

 of the lupine, much grown in southern 

 Europe, in poor soils to enrich them. 

 But the best plant of all is the espar- 

 cet or sainfoin, which they call "suUa" 

 in Italian. It makes the very best hay 

 and the very best honey is harvested 

 from its bloom wherever it grows. 

 Why can we not grow it in America ? 

 I have seen it nowhere in this country. 

 Its botanical name, " hedysarum," is 

 derived from two Greek words, "edus " 

 sweet and "aroma" smell. It is indeed 

 a sweet-smelling blossom. I notice in 

 the latest Gray's Manual that there 

 is a plant of this genus in North Amer- 

 ica, " hedysarum boreale, Nutt," grow- 

 ing on the shores of Lake Superior, in 

 South Dakota, and the Rocky Moun- 

 tains south to Colorado. Is any one of 

 our readers acquainted with it and does 

 it yield honey ? Sainfoin is more com- 

 monly known under the botanical, 

 name of " onobrychis sativa," but in 

 Bonnier's " Flore " index it is listed as 

 hedysarum onobrychis. The Italians 

 list it as hedysarum coronarium. I see 

 that it has lately been introduced into 



HAULING BEES-GAETANO PIANA 



was meeting people who might have 

 known her boy. .America seems so 

 distant to most people on the conti- 

 nent that they do not realize how far 

 apart are North and South America. 



Mr. Plana, a young man of great 

 activity and teacher of apiculture at 

 the Royal Agricultural School of Imola, 

 has several honey-producing apiaries 

 and one for queen-rearing, the latter 

 with 128 nuclei. We give several pho- 

 tos of his bees. They are located near 

 Castel-San-Pietro, Emilia. So is the 

 apiary of Lucio Paglia, who is an old 

 and experiencedbreederand shipper of 

 queens. I was greatly interested in 

 examining the bees, which, as in all 

 other parts of central Italy, are of great 

 regularity. I opened hive after hive 

 without smoke and without angering 

 the bees. 



Since coming home, I have had an 

 extensive correspondence with Mr. 

 Plana, and have received a number of 

 fine queens from him. I must say that 

 his shipments were the most successful 

 of any that I have received by mail. 



from so great a distance. Were it not 

 for the war which put a stop to all 

 security in the quick transmission of 

 mail, we would have had some very in- 

 teresting experiences, both with Mr. 

 Plana and Mr. Penna, in testing the 

 mailing of queens across the ocean. 



Mr. Plana has also informed me con- 

 cerning the color of Italian bees 

 throughout Italy and on both sides of 

 the .'\pennines. There are very slight 

 differences, but the yellow bands are 

 everywhere apparent. The Riviera is 

 the only exception. As to the bees of 

 Sicily, they are of very dark color and 

 as small as the African bees, but re- 

 ported very peaceable. 



Plana introduces his queens into the 

 nuclei, just after they are hatched, with 

 the help of tobacco smoke. Indeed, 

 the use of tobacco smoke seems uni- 

 versal in Europe. I have no desire to 

 commend it, for I do not use it myself, 

 but the fact forced itself upon me. In 

 Germany they sell a special pipe for 

 use in the apiary. 



The braula coeca or bee louse is 



Prof. Carlo Carlini 



