136 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ing. We presume there are nien living to- 

 day who remember the time wiien American 

 dairying was confined mostly to one county 

 of this State, and but a few thousand 

 pounds was the ri'suit of their annual 

 labors. Cheese was slow of sale and dairy- 

 men talked then as some bee men at the 

 present time do, that any addition to their 

 production would cause its ruin; and when 

 the business began to spread over adjoining 

 counties fear came over many that were 

 engaged in that branch of industry. They 

 felt that their products would become 

 worthless and their occupation would be 

 gone. But time proved their fears ground- 

 less; as the dairy products augmented the 

 consumption increased, and this branch of 

 industry has continued to grow until mil- 

 lions of pounds have taken the place of 

 thousands. Associated system has liad 

 much to do with this result. 



Whatnnityof action has done for dairy- 

 ing and other branches of industry, it may 

 also do for apiculture. It is beginning to 

 be understood that association and unity of 

 action are the great main springs of power 

 and progress in the world. The bee-keepers 

 of this country are not fully awake to this 

 principle in marketing their products. 

 They have proceeded upon the plan of in- 

 dividual action, and often through inex- 

 perienced salesmen the market becomes 

 impared and a loss to bee men is the result. 

 1 am glad to hear the sound of reform in 

 this direction coming over the plains from 

 California, and may an echo return sound- 

 ing the glad news to our brother bee-keep- 

 ers in California, that the East is also 

 waking up to this subject. 



I take tlie following extract from a com- 

 mittee report on selling honey. It says:— 

 " We are advised by San Francisco dealers 

 that producers are very much to blame in 

 our present demoralized market in this city, 

 by ordering forced sales while it is out of 

 season for its sale, and also by sending to 

 parties who, by inexperience are not in- 

 formed as to this fact, and have consequent- 

 ly sacrificed their consignment." 



Our local home market has been affected 

 in a similar way to that of San Francisco, 

 and all of these will act and react so that 

 our eastern markets will be affected in like 

 manner, according to the well-known laws 

 of trade. This report tells us that the Cali- 

 fornia honey market has become demoral- 

 ized by inexperienced salesmen, etc., and 

 fears are entertained that the eastern mar- 

 kets may become so, too. Is not this the 

 case, to a certain extent, already? We 

 earnestly hope tliat the bee-keepers of this 

 country will wake up to this matter and 

 prevent, if possible, further injury. 



I venture here to present another subject 

 which I deem injurious to our interest as 

 bee-keepers, and that is the wholesale pub- 

 lication of reports of large yields of honey 

 from single stocks or apiaries, without stat- 

 ing the condition of the bees, and how they 

 ■were managed. It is not in many cases 

 with these large reports, as with the case of 

 a mammoth ox, made by a freak of nature 

 aided by the care and skill of man regard- 

 less of expense? And do not such instances 

 occur only once in an age ? In other cases, 

 and more often than in the former, are not 

 such reports made by operating against 

 nature, that is, by conibining a number of 

 swarms and in that way making them 

 mammoth in size, and are not these large 



yields of honey the result? All this is well 

 enough if the facts go with the report. But 

 is it not more otten the case that these 

 mammoth reports are only on paper for 

 noteriety and to have it go out that they are 

 in advance of their neighbor bee-keepers. 

 Such reports are to be deplored, and evein^ 

 honest bee-keeper should rebuke them. If 

 this matter ended with the publications, the 

 effect would not be so injurious. But we 

 regret that this is not the case. We think 

 in not less than three ways are bee-keepers 

 injured by these I'eports : 



1st. Many people who read these reports, 

 believe them to be untrue, or in other 

 words, " fish stories," and thei'eby the 

 veracity of bee men comes to be questioned, 

 and I ask what is a man in any business or 

 calling without character ? Is it not gener- 

 ally the case when a part of any profession 

 is assailed for lack of honesty that it casts 

 a shadow over the whole fraternity ? 



2d. It induces some people to start in bee- 

 keeping with the expectation of large yields 

 of honey, which will soon give them wealth, 

 but when it is too late they wake up to find 

 they were deceived, and then curse the bee 

 fraternity for their failure and loss. 



3d. Honey buyers keep their eyes upon 

 all reports that have to do with the amount 

 of honey produced in the country, and from 

 these reports they fix the price to be paid, 

 and when you go to dispose of this article, 

 said reports are showed you, and if you are 

 equal to the task of meeting^them, you may 

 carry your case to success. 'If not, you will 

 suffer loss; the result is an injured market. 



I would like to say more on this subject, 

 but I have already taken too much of your 

 time. I will only add, the old maxim, 

 " honesty is the 6est policy." It is just 

 as true to-day as ever, and is as applicable 

 to bee-keepers as to any other class of men. 

 Having an honorable employment let us 

 ever ]n-ove ourselves an honor thereunto. 



The Purity of the Italian Bee. 



EEAD BEFORE THE XORTH EASTERN B. K. 



ASSOCIATION, FEB. 8, 1877. 



Have we a standard by which the purity 

 of the Italian bee can be gauged ? Our old 

 teachers in apiculture, such as Langstroth, 

 Quinby, Dzierzon, Berlepsch and many 

 other veterans, taught that there were 

 marks by which the pure type of this bee 

 could be known from the impure. These 

 marks were confined to the abdomen, and 

 consisted of three bands or rings varying in 

 color, in bees of different progeny, from a 

 dark leather to a bright yellow orange. The 

 first band is near the thorax, and quite nar- 

 row; the second or middle band is the 

 widest, while the third is narrow, and some- 

 times indistinct, except when the abdomen 

 is di.stended with honey, when it can be 

 plainly seen. If the bee is held by the 

 thorax with the thumb and forefinger, it 

 will, in its efforts to get free, distend the 

 abdomen and show this third band. These 

 bands can also be plainly seen when the 

 bee is placed before a window. These in- 

 structors also taught that the entire worker 

 progeny of the queen must show these three 

 bands in a greater or less degree of con- 

 spicuity. If such was not the case, then 

 the queen herself was either impure or im- 

 purely mated. 



