AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



"visit " in the " spring of 1856." It is 

 well known that not until 1860 were 

 any bees imported direct from Italy. Mr. 

 L. details in his story of that visit thus : 



"On the 19th of April (1856, he 

 says), as soon as the bees were allowed 

 to be landed, they were carried to Flush- 

 ing. The small boxes in which they 

 were put up, were in three different 

 packages, one of which was consigned 

 to the United States (-Government (I call 

 attention to the fact that this mention 

 of the United States Government in con- 

 nection with Italian bees is the first and 

 only mention Mr. L. has put on record. 

 He has ignored the Government, and 

 aimed to credit Parsons with the whole 

 honor of being the first importer of Ital- 

 ian bees from Italy— a private enter- 

 prise, according to his version) ; one to 

 Mr. Mahan and one to Mr. Parsons 



and I can assure Mr. Robinson 



that every colony consigned to the Gov- 

 ernment and Mr. Mahan, was dead (?)." 



Mr. Mahan never ordered bees from 

 Italy — he would not have ordered bees 

 through Parsons, and no bees were 

 "consigned to Mr. Mahan." If bees 

 had been consigned to Mr. Mahan, of 

 Philadelphia, they ought not, and would 

 not have been taken to Flushing to be 

 examined by Parsons and Langstroth, 

 for it is well known that Mahan was 

 more of an expert bee-man than Lang- 

 stroth, and as mentioned by Mr. L. on 

 page 82 : " On my way (to Flush- 

 ing) I called upon Mr. Mahan, who was 

 joint owner of a large interest in my 

 patent hive." Thus it will be seen that 

 Mahan was interested with Mr. Lang- 

 stroth, and was, at least, his peer. 



It is history, recorded by Mr. L., that 

 he was invited by Parsons to visit him 

 and advise as to the best way of manag- 

 ing his Italian bees. Parsons had re- 

 ceived bees from Italy. Mr. L. goes to 

 Flushing and meets Parsons, who 

 "showed him five hollow logs or gums. 

 I saw only an occasional bee flying out 

 from one of the hives. These colonies 

 had been purchased in Italy. Four of 

 these died at Flushing. The fifth con- 

 tained a mere handful of bees, with 

 their queen, which I introduced to a 

 colony of black bees." Now, as his 

 story runs, while on the same visit, he 

 goes on and describes the incidents of 

 the importing of the bees consigned to 

 the Government, Mahan and Parsons. 



As Mr. L. records the incidents, he 

 was first shown the log hives direct 

 from Italy, and he makes the date the 

 spring of 1856; then he must have 

 been showo the small boxes put up in 



three packages, as he says, one for the 

 Government, etc. He does not explain 

 how it came to pass that Parsons and 

 himself assumed possession of the pack- 

 ages consigned to the Government — no 

 package was consigned to Mr. P. J. 

 Mahan. But Mr. L. records : "A few, 

 only, of those marked for Mr. Parsons 

 (?) had living queens, some of which 

 soon died, and in a short time he found 

 himself the possessorof only two queens, 

 one of which was the queen found alive 

 on my arrival at Flushing." Mark, Mr. 

 L. finds one Italian queen in the hollow 

 log, and one in the package consigned to 

 Parsons, and he treats the consignments 

 as one shipment. No reader can recon- 

 cile the statements made as history by 

 Mr. L. in his criticism of the history re- 

 corded by me. 



Mr. L. recorded : " One of the queens 

 (the two he saved) was intrusted to the 

 care of Mr. Wra. W. Gary, of Colerain, 

 Mass., on the premises of Parsons, and 

 the other to Mr. Bodmer (who came over 

 with the bees), some distance away." 

 Please note : In the spring of 1860 Mr. 

 Parsons has two Italian queens. In the 

 spring of 1861 Mr. Parsons inserts an 

 advertisement in the American Bee 

 Journal, which reads thus — I here 

 transcribe verbatim : 



" Orders will now be received for these 

 bees, to be delivered in the spring 

 (1861). A circular will be sent to all 

 applicants inclosing a stamp. In it will 

 be found the terms, and also reports 

 from Mr. Langstroth, Dr. Kirtland, Mr. 

 Bracket, Mr. Baldridge (the man who 

 wrote the criticism on page 623, reflect- 

 ing on me), and others, testifying fully, 

 from actual observation (?) to the great 

 superiority of this race of bees over the 

 common bee." 



The record shows that the said critic 

 certified to the "great superiority" of 

 Italian bees from "actual observation." 

 How could either of the parties have bad 

 actual observation as to a comparison of 

 the two races of bees when the facts 

 were that neither man had an opportu- 

 nity to see a working colony of Italian 

 bees ? Bear in mind, only two queens 

 near New York in the season of 1860 ; 

 in the forepart of the year 1861, a per- 

 iod of five-months' bee-season, Lang- 

 stroth (I doubt his being guilty), Kirt- 

 land and Baldridge [of the far West], 

 certify [to favor Mr. P.] that they have 

 actually observed the habits, propensi- 

 ties, breeding qualities, working as 

 honey-gatherers, comb builders, winter- 

 ing, hardiness, etc. Every practical 

 bee-keeper knows, when informed of 

 the facts in the case, that those whose 



