AMERICAN BEE JOQRNAL. 



679 



j^Ir. R. F". Holtermanii— the new 



President of the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association — we have the pleasure of 

 presenting to our readers this week by way 

 of a recent picture. Mr. H. was born in 

 Hamburg, Germany, June 14, 1860. When 

 two years old, his parents removed with 

 him to Canada, where, as nearly all know, 

 Mr. Holtermann still resides, and now 



President B. F. lloltcnaann. 



edits the " Canadian Bee Journal." If you 

 wish to see Mr. Holtermann personally — 

 and of course you do — be sure to attend the 

 meeting of the North American in Toronto, 

 Canada, next year — probably in September. 

 He will then wield the gavel, and show his 

 "State-ly cousins" how they run bee-con- 

 ventions in " The Land of the Canucks." 



Xliat Italian-ISec History.— We 



have received a lengthy reply from Mr. C. 

 J. Robinson, of Richford, N. Y., to the 

 comparatively brief article written by Mr. 

 M. M. Baldridge, and published on page 

 311. Mr. R.'s reply covers five pages of 

 closely written manuscript, and would 

 occupy not less than three full pages of the 

 "American Bee Journal." In the main, 

 the article is simply a repetitioii of what we 



have already published from the pen of Mr. 

 R., and nothing additional to show that the 

 United States has ever paid a dollar to- 

 wards importing Italian bees. As we un- 

 derstand the position of Mr. Baldridge on 

 that point, it is simply this: 



That the United States never paid a dol- 

 lar to Mr. Parsons, nor to any one else, for 

 the purchase of Italian bees, or on what is 

 now known as the "Parsons' importation 

 of Italian bees from Italy to the United 

 States;" and that there is nothing on 

 record in Washington to show to the con- 

 trary. As all the records are still on file 

 there, or should be, in regard to the rela- 

 tionship of Mr. Parsons, as agent of the 

 United States in Europe, Mr. Robinson 

 should lose no time to avail himself of the 

 opportunity to have those records searched, 

 and the proof brought forward for publica- 

 tion, in order to sustain his position that 

 the United States lost more or less money 

 in the transaction. 



Mr. Baldridge claims, if we mistake not, 

 that Mr. Parsons paid for his purchase of 

 Italian bees in Italy, the cash out of his 

 own private purse ; that the United States 

 never re-imbursed him for so doing, nor in 

 fact ever made a promise or any effort 

 after the purchase was made to do so ; that 

 Mr. Parsons, in fact, was the real owner of 

 the bees that he bought for the United 

 States, and that he had both the moral and 

 legal right to ship the importation direct 

 to his home at Flushing, N. Y., and to keep 

 the bees in his possession until he had a 

 proper adjustment of the matter with the 

 Agricultural Department in Washington ; 

 that no adjustment was ever effected, and 

 consequently the United States never got 

 possession of any Italian bees. Mr. Par- 

 son's kept the bees and pocketed his loss, 

 saying nothing about the matter except to 

 a few personal friends — Father Langstroth 

 being one of them. 



Mr. Baldridge claims to be in possession 

 of the entire history ; but he has, up to this 

 time, made no attempt to make it public, 

 preferring to keep "in the dark," so as to 

 draw out Mr. Robinson, and thereby make 

 him show how much or little he knows 

 about the true history of the case. 



Mr. Baldridge, on page 311, made no 

 attempt to reply in full to all of Mr. Robin- 

 son's allegations, but will probably do so 

 by and by. This was done so as to confine 

 Mr. Robinson's reply to his charge, that 



