May, l!»ir,. 



American l^ee Journal 



able to find the exact limit where the 

 change to tlie pure race of 3-banded 

 bees is found. Certain it is that we 

 saw only regularly banded, quiet Ital- 

 ian bees, all through central Italy, 

 while along the Kiviera they are darker. 



The honey harvested in these moun- 

 tains, according to the experience of 

 Mr. Capponi, is mainly from the blos- 

 soms of lavender {/ n-t'inulKhi DiHiina/is) 

 which grows there wild. Its honey is 

 very thick and quite difficult to extract. 

 The nectar contains very little water 

 when harvested. In this it resembles 

 heather honey. 



Mr. Capponi had never seen bee dis- 

 eases of any kind, but said that the bees 

 there were very much annoyed by the 

 death's-head moths, which abound 

 along the coast. 



San Kemo has sutTered at different 

 dates from earthquakes. As a result 

 they have braced the houses, in the old 

 part, against each other across the 

 streets. Mr. Capponi took a snapshot 

 of us in one of these old streets. But 

 the new parts of the city, the villas of 

 the wealthy tourists are beautiful. We 

 had a chance to admire a few which 

 had been designed by our host, and 

 upon which money had been lavished 

 evidently without counting. 



On the morning of the 20th, we took 

 a definite leave of Italy and its apiar- 

 ists, with much regret, for nowhere 

 had we met a more hearty reception. 

 France was again before us. 



At Vintimille, the grotesque cere- 

 mony of custom-house examination 

 had to be endured, the French officials 

 overhauling our baggage at one end of 

 the big hall, while just across a desk 

 the Italian officials were doing the same 

 thing to the baggage of the eastward- 

 bound public. When will the human 

 race quit putting artificial barriers to 

 its own traffic ? A hundred years ago, 

 they had such barriers between all 

 cities and the neighboring country. 

 Even now the "octroi" or city-toll 

 flourishes in a great many places, and 





APIARY OK FREDERIC DEGENEVE AT SALMATA. ITALY 



there are conservative persons who 

 believe it necessary. 



■■ Pour qu'au loin il abreuve 



l,e patre et lliabitant 

 ' Le bon Dieu cree un fleuve. 



lis en font un ttang." 



(*The Lord makes a river. 

 They change it to a pond.) 



Had the Southern Confederacy suc- 

 ceeded in seceding from the United 

 States during the Civil War, the Miss- 

 issippi river would now be cut in two 

 by custom house lines. The big river 

 would be changed into a pond and 

 many peopl ■ would think that quite 

 correct. 



Here also was the change from the 

 hour of Central Europe to that of Occi- 

 dental Europe. We turned our watches 

 back an hour ; a very evident proof that 

 we were going towards home. 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



A Little History Concerning 

 the National 



ONLY two men are now living who 

 attended the first National Conven- 

 tion of Beekeepers Dec. 21 and 22, 

 1870, at Indianapolis, Ind. This con- 

 vention organized under the name of 

 "North American Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation." The two now remaining 

 members are M. M. B Jdridge, of St. 

 Charles, III., and Dr. G. Bohrer, of 

 Chase, Kan. Mr. Baldridge was elected 

 secretary ot ihat association. 



Rev. H. .\. King, who was then using 

 and selling a hive that was infringing 

 upon the Langstroth patent, sent a call 

 for another meeting for Feb. 8 and '.) 

 following. At this meeting Dr. Bohrer 



was also present. He is, we think, the 

 only man living who attended both of 

 these original conventions. The name 

 given to this second association was 

 " American Beekeepers' Association." 

 It met at Cincinnati. As far as we 

 know, only one other man is living 

 who attended this. It is A. I. Root, of 

 Medina. Ohio. 



The two associations were merged 

 into one at a consolidation convention, 

 in Cleveland, Dec. 0, 7, and 8, 1871. 



Concerning these interesting matters, 

 Mr. Baldridge writes us: 



The Cincinnati convention was held 

 on Feb. 8 and !), 1871. I did not attend 

 that convention nor the consolidated 

 convention held in Cleveland Dec. ti, 7, 

 and 8, 1871. Rev. H. A. King, of New 

 York, was elected secretary of both the 



Cincinnati and Cleveland conventions 

 N. C. Mitchell, of Indianapolis, Ind., 

 was made treasurer of the Indianapolis, 

 Cincinnati and Cleveland conventions. 

 Father Langstroth was elected presi- 

 dent of the Cincinnati and M. Quinby 

 of the Cleveland convention. 



EARLY EVENTS OF AMERICAN BEEKEEPING. 



I was born Dec. 2, 1838, near Middle- 

 port, N. Y., and lived there until the 

 spring of 1861. I began to keep bees 

 in 1848. In the fall of 1857 I visited 

 Mr. Quinby and his apiary, and I saw 

 there for the first time the Langstroth 

 hive. Mr. Quinby, at that date, had 

 nearly 100 Langstroth hives in use in 

 his apiary, and he was so well pleased 

 with them that he advised me to adopt 

 the hive in my apiary the following 

 year. I followed his advice, but not 

 until after I received a visit in the 

 spring of 18-58 from R. C. Otis, of 

 Kenosha, Wis., the man who purchased 

 the patent of Father Langstroth, and 

 who did more as a pioneer in introduc- 

 ing the movable frames among the bee- 

 keepers of the United States, prior to 

 1870, than any living man. 



I first met Father Langtroth in the 

 spring of 1800, at Flushing, Long Is- 

 land, at the home of S. B. Parsons, the 

 person who first imported the Italian 

 bees direct from Italy. I was at the 

 time attending the State Normal School 

 at .Albany, N. Y. Father Langstroth 

 sent me an invitation to visit him at 

 the Parsons apiary and see the Italian 

 bees Mr. Parsons had imported for him- 

 self. I complied soon thereafter, and 

 on the day of my arrival Father Lang- 

 stroth and I had the pleasure of seeing 

 the first Italian queen emerge from her 

 cell. While there I also saw the only 

 three Italian queens that were then 

 alive from that first importation direct 

 from Italy. Mr. Parsons b.ught a num- 

 ber of Italian colonies in Italy for him- 

 self, but lost the most of them on their 

 way by water to New York city. Owing 

 to this heavy loss the three queens 1 

 saw, as stated, represented an outlay 

 by Mr. Parsons of about $900. 



FACTS IN REGARD TO THE LANGSTROTH 

 HIVE. 



The movable-frame hive was pat- 



