THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



137 



But since these solons in bee-investiga- 

 tioti have ceased to let their light shine, a 

 new set of lights, of far less niagiiitude, 

 have ignored the above standard of purity, 

 and now teach us that these rings can not 

 be depended on as a criterion; that when 

 some of the worker progeny of the queen 

 are black bees, it does not at all invalidate 

 the purity of tiie queen— she may be a pure 

 Italian and purely mated with a pure Italian 

 drone for all that. Now this, when placed 

 by the side of our " standard," seems rather 

 paradoxical. According to one phase of the 

 question it is true, and to another it is false. 

 Upon the assumption that all the bees in 

 Italy are of one type, one class, one variety, 

 it is true; but if we come down to facts, 

 that were even cognizant to all the old 

 Latin writers upon the bee, such as Virgil, 

 that the bees in Italy are not all of the same 

 variety, then the theory of purity so ad- 

 vanced by our modern bee-lights is false. 



HI.STOKV OF THE MAKKS. 



All impartial writers and travelers tell us 

 that there are two kinds of bees in Italy; 

 that the bees in tire northern portion of that 

 country have the markings much more dis- 

 tinct than those in the southern part. Spi- 

 nola, who wrote a treatise on bees in 1805, 

 found two kinds of bees in Piedmont, 

 though the common bee was less frequent 

 there than the i)ure Italian, the pecularities 

 of which he describes, and terms it the 

 Ligurian, a name by which it is now known 

 in Europe. Varro and Columella also speak 

 of two varieties. Kleine, a German apicul- 

 turist and writer of distinction, when speak- 

 ing of the Ligurian bee, says: "At this day 

 both varieties are met with in various parts 

 of Italy. Mr. Dens, of Dusseldorf, found 

 the orange-colored bees at Genoa and the 

 black ill Nizza." Capt. Baldenstein, when 

 a soldier in the Napoleonic war. found the 

 Ligurian, or pure ty])e of the Italian bee, in 

 the Lombardo- Venetian province, and near 

 Lake Como, which he described in the 

 Bienenzeitu7ui in 1848. But even in these 

 provinces the bees are mixed. 



In October, 187.5, 1 received an invoice of 

 queens from Sig. Sartori, of Milano, Italy, 

 and among the lot was a very fine dark 

 leather-colored queen that produced pro- 



feny badly mixed. At least one-tenth of 

 er worker progeny were as black as any 

 natives to the " manor born." They had no 

 signs of the bands that characterize the 

 pure type. Now there was no mistaking; 

 for, as she was a fine looking queen, I iiad 

 great anxiety to know how she was con- 

 ducting herself, and so examined the liive 

 every few days (no interim longer than five 

 days) to report progress. There was no 

 superseding — no getting round the difficulty 

 upon any such pretext. I wrote my corres- 

 pondent to send me no more such queens. 

 Now this queen was undoubtedly a pure 

 Italian if the fact of her coming from Italy 

 could make her such; but according to our 

 standard of purity she was nothing but a 

 mongrel liybrid. Had I purchased her for 

 an imported queen from any dealer outside 

 of Italy, I should have concluded he had 

 imposed a queen upon nie that had never 

 seen balmy Italy. I never charged this 

 Italian seller with dishonesty, but only 

 blamed him for his carelessness. The most 

 of Italian queen breeders do not rear all 

 their queens, but purchase them from the 

 country people; and as bee-keeping among 

 the Italian peasantry is conducted in the 



most careless and slovenly manner, very 

 little attention is paid to selection. 



PURITY ESSENTIAL. 



The Italian bee is not a distinct species 

 as many suppose, but only a variety. The 

 probable origin of it I will not discuss. 

 Since Capt. Baldenstein first called atten- 

 tion to the pure type of this bee, it has un- 

 doubtedly been the means of shedding more 

 light upon the mysterious wonders of bee 

 life than all other agencies heretofore ap- 

 plied. Of its superior qualities over the 

 ordinary bee I will not speak, for they are 

 already well known. But in order to reap 

 the full benefit of this variety of the honey 

 bee, it is necessary to keep it up to the full 

 standard of purity. Then it is an easy mat- 

 ter to control the crosses with the blacks, if 

 such mixtures are more desirable tor honey 

 gatherers. Why does the stock breeder 

 desire his pure breeds ? He knows that if 

 grades are desirable, they cannot success- 

 fully be made unless he starts with pure 

 blood. The same principles apply to the 

 honey bee, although the cases are not exact- 

 ly parallel. If hybrid bees are desirable, 

 then why not make the crosses ourselves. 

 These observations and suggestions are 

 offered for the consideration ot bee-keepers 

 who desire to see the interests of apiculture 

 promoted; for just in proportion as we de- 

 velop this industry do we add to the wealth 

 of our coutry. J. H. P. Brown. 



California B. K. Association. 



The San Diesro Bee-Keepers' Association 

 organized on Thursday, Feb. 1. After the 

 reading of the reports, Mr. J. S. Harbison 

 expressed his views at length, and in a very 

 interesting manner. The points that were 

 discussed were: The size and weight of 

 packing eases; the proper tare to be allow- 

 ed, and the kind of lumber to be used; the 

 distribution of bees so as not to overcrowd 

 the ranges; the number ot grades to be used 

 for making honey for shipment; and the 

 necessity for properly instructing bee-keep- 

 ers on tliese points. A motion was carried 

 authorizing the directors to prepare a circu- 

 lar, giving information on important points; 

 nave copies printed and distributed to mem- 

 bers, requesting them to post the same in 

 their bee-houses and give attention to them. 



Board of directors for the present year:— 



E. W. Morse, li. G. Balcom, J. G. Frazier, 



F. Kitzke, E. J. Khodes, C. J. Fox, A. P. 

 Herrick, L. Saunder, R. Eea. 



The directors organized by electing for 

 president, Chas. J. Fox; for vice-president, 

 E. W. Morse, and for sec'y and treas., R. G. 

 Balcom. 



The president, E. W. Morse, in his report 

 stated that he had issued and signed 2,860 

 grade certificates. He had corresponded 

 extensively with a view to extend their 

 market for honey and beeswax. Comb- 

 honey had been successfully shipped to 

 Scotland. If comb honey could be as safely 

 shipped as extracted, European markets 

 would take all of our surplus of both kinds. 

 He then added: 



In correspondence with parties in Mexico 

 and Central America, I was told that those 

 countries produced enough honey for their 

 own consumption, but imported consider- 

 able quantities of beeswax, and this singu- 

 lar fact was shown: that the merchants 

 residing on the Pacific coast of those coun- 



