260 



American Hae Journal 



August, 1915. 



this honey plant, we have received, 

 from our good friend A. Cotini, mana- 

 ger of the Federazione Apistica Ital- 

 iana, of Ancona, some excellent photo- 

 graphs of the " sulla " (l/edysarum cor- 

 onarium) and of the " crocetta " (es- 

 parcet or sainfoin, Onob>-ychis sa/iva), 

 side by side, to show plainly the differ- 

 ence between them. A 2-meter guage 

 shows the height of the plants. As the 

 meter represents 311.37 inches, the sulla 

 shown is about oil inches high, or 

 nearly 5 feet. The sainfoin is a trifle 

 shorter. 



There is, in the Rocky Mountains, 

 from Colorado northward, an Ameri- 

 can variety of the Hedysarum, H. ameri- 

 canum or borealc. If this plant yields 

 honey, perhaps some of our readers 

 would be able to send us information 

 concerning it. 



Our thanks are extended to friend 

 Cotini for his kindly attention in send- 

 ing the photographs. 



Italiau Bees 



The June 10 number of the British 

 Bee Journal contains a long article by 

 Herbert Mace, which is an indictment 

 of the Italian bees. He is not the first 

 writer of England who condemns the 

 Italians, for these bees seem to prove 

 unworthy with our British cousins. 

 Perhaps with them as with the Swiss, 



CROCETTA OR SAINFOIN 



the climate causes the difference. This 

 writer acknowledges some good points 



SULLA 



SULLA [llcdvsxirtnn corotnirium) 



in the Italians, that they work earlier 

 and later in the day than the blacks, 

 for instance. But he at once says that 

 this is a "matter of individual charac- 

 ters." He holds that the Swiss have 

 overwhelmingly found them more sub- 

 ject to foulbrood than the blacks. But 

 he has not taken notice of the fact that 

 the Swiss had not as yet drawn a dis- 

 tinction between European and Ameri- 

 can foulbrood. It is in the European 

 foulbrood only that the Italians are 

 superior to the blacks. He speaks of 

 their " inveterate devotion to robbing." 

 We believe that this must have been 

 "an individual characteristic" in the 

 colony or colonies which he owned, 

 for in this country wherever a few bees 

 are found lurking around corners, they 

 are almost sure to be blacks, if there 

 are any in the apiary. On the other 

 hand he fails to take notice of the fact 

 that the pure Italian bees defend them- 

 selves better than the common bees 

 against robbers and moths. 



At the last he recognizes that pure 

 Italians are more amiable than the 

 blacks and also more prolific. To our 

 mind the principal and most weighty 

 argument given against the Italians is 

 the comb-sealing habit of closing the 

 cells with cappings against the honey 

 which gives it a watery appearance. A 

 matter of appearance and no more. 



