May, mis 



IGl 



American l^ee Journal 



ers, and which have spent a long and 

 useful life. 



These old bees hold their wings in 

 an uplifted manner, and they go and 

 come almost like shot in the air or at a 

 wonderful swiftness. These bees ap- 

 pear but little among the German bees, 

 and by this and their much deeper grey 

 color on the comb, as they are han- 

 dled we may know them. The gentle- 

 ness and behavior while handling, the 

 prolificness of the queens and the vim 

 of the bees will also tell the tale. The 

 grey propolis will appear about the 

 entrance of the hive at the close of the 

 honey flows. 



From time to time there has been 

 much said through our Dixie Depart- 

 ment about the good qualities of the 

 Caucasian bees, as they have been given 

 a 'trial by progressive beekeepers in 

 different sections of our country. If 

 there is one beekeeper who has tried 

 them and has not reaped good results 

 he has failed to report. It may be true 

 that we have had too much to say 

 about these bees. "A good thing can- 

 not be told too often," but we have 



done it conscientiously with nothing 

 in view except the general promotion 

 of our industry. 



Tiie more experience the writer has 

 with these bees the more they come 

 into favor. The general spring apiary 

 work among all our bees reveals the 

 fact on every hand that our Caucasian 

 stock is all that we can depend upon 

 for good results this season. Their 

 hives are full of bees, and they are 

 right in the harvest with the greatest 

 force we ever saw, and honey is appear- 

 ing in the hives as fast as we ever saw 

 it. Our best Italian stock is far be- 

 hind in breeding, and the first flow in 

 the spring will be over before they are 

 ready for it, and at one or two branches 

 of our business, where we have the 

 Italians installed, we cannot hope for a 

 half crop of honey. One apiarist who 

 has charge of some 450 or 500 colonies, 

 writes us, "No more Italians forme, 

 and nothing but Caucasians will do." 



It will only be a very short while be- 

 fore every colony in our yards will be 

 headed with a Caucasian queen. 



Notes From ^ Ab r oad 



By C. P Dadant. 



From .'\ncona to Rome, the railroad 

 line crosses the Apennines, those 

 famous mountains which were for cen- 

 turies the refuge of the Italian bri 

 gands. But brigandage has disap- 

 peared since the unification of Italy, 

 in the last half of the past century. 

 To find brigands, one has to come to 

 America, where bold robbers occa- 

 sionally ply their vocation in some of 



the finest railroad coaches of the en- 

 tire world. The Italian railroad 

 coaches are not so comfortable as our 

 own, and we had followed the advice 

 given us to travel only in first class. 

 But one is safe in them, and the Italian 

 railroad officials are as polite and ac- 

 commodating as ours, at least. 



The Apennine mountains have noth- 

 ing attractive. They are not high 



enough to be snow covered in summer 

 and their highest peaks are as barren 

 as our Arizona cliffs. The hills along 

 the streams in the part crossed by us 

 were covered with olive trees. The 

 grapevines of course are to be found 

 everywhere. Villages, castles, monas- 

 teries, convents are built on the crest 

 of the hills. They are all very old, 

 grey and dilapidated. They were built 

 there for self protection centuries ago. 

 The houses are huddled together with 



SOME OF ITALY S LEADING APIARISTS BEFORE THE DOORS OF THE 



MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AT ROME 



Cotini. Triaca. Bovelacci. Capponi. Visconti. Asprea. 



ENGINEER CAPPONI, OF SAN REMO 



just passageway between them. As the 

 meager grain and hay crops are grown 

 in the valleys, everything has to be 

 hauled to the hilltops for use. 



However, one must not think that 

 every spot among the hills between 

 Ancona and Rome is to be thus de- 

 scribed. There are beautiful regions. 

 The apiary of Mr. Degeneve, of Sal- 

 mata, in Perugia, is in one of those 

 fine spots, and we reproduce it in this 

 number. 



Rome, the Eternal City, is a mixture 

 of the magnificent .W-zo and the ruins 

 of the great Pas/. It is out of the com- 

 pass of my letters to tell of its monu- 

 ments, its immense ruins, its museums, 

 its 380 churches, its marble palaces, its 

 catacombs. The foreigner who wishes 

 to become acquainted with Rome must 

 stay there a month at least. A year 

 would hardly be sufficient to see all its 

 wonders. We remained but three days. 

 We left it with a deep impression of its 

 greatness, its vastness, and its beauty. 



We did not meet any beekeepers, 

 although some were an.xious to meet 

 us. VVe received afterwards a very 

 lengthy and complimentary telegram, 

 which had been sent to .-Vncona, the 

 very day upon which we left the city, 

 from a noted Roman apiarist, Signor 

 Montagano, inviting us to call upon 

 him. We regr-tted very much not 

 having received it in time. 



Signor Montagano is the author of 

 several modern works on bee culture, 

 of late date, 1911 to 1014, and a con- 

 tributor to to the Italian bee-papers. 

 One of these works, "La Mezzadria 



