■who was born and raised in Turin, says 

 tliat the bees of Piedmont are blacker and 

 crosser than those of Milan. Count Castra- 

 lani, who is from the vicinity of Naples, 

 told me also tliat the bees of Milan were 

 more yellow than of the southern part of 

 the peninsula." This additional testimony, 

 with his own, is, 1 think, sufficient to prove 

 that Sartori was right. 



The first reason he gives for changing his 

 mind was he found out that Sartori was 

 only a queen dealer and bought queens from 

 all over Italy. I cannot accept this as a 

 reason why he broke friendship with a man 

 whom he esteemed "very conscientious." 

 What! did he not know that he was a queen 

 dealer and bought queens all over the 

 country? Let Mr. Dadant answer. 



"1 stay at Sartori's and take care of his 

 bees while he is traveling to buy queens." 

 Again, " Sartori has been out in the country 

 during the beginning of this week hunting 

 for queens for me." 



Tlie next reason he gives was because, 

 "Where Sartori had told me that there were 

 impure bees from these I received good 

 queens." Well, what of that? Suppose I 

 toldMr. Dadant that the bees in Ohio were 



furer and nicer, as a whole, than those in 

 Uinois, would it be detrimental either to 

 my judgment or veracity if he found a few 

 good queens in Illinois? And would that 

 justify him to say that all the bees in Illi- 

 nois were pure? And would it be reason 

 enough for him to cut my acquaintance and 

 publish me through the Journal? I am 

 credibly informed that the cause of es- 

 trangement was business difficulties for the 

 last lot of 50 queens that Mr. Dadant sent 

 for, Sartori would not supply. 



Mr. Dadant endeavors to break down the 

 testimony I gave to prove that there were 

 hybrid bees in Italy by saying that Nice is 

 outside of Italy. Yes, it was ceded to 

 France in 1860, and it was in 1855 that F. A. 

 Deus and his thx-ee companions made a toiu- 

 through the country and found black bees 

 at Nice, then in Italy. 



Again, he says, "My contradictor has 

 now to rely on Varro, Columella, Virgil 

 and Spinola, all writers of another era, to 

 prove nis assertion that the Italian bees are 

 a hybrid race." 



Well, if a man does not believe in truths 

 and facts because they have been handed 

 down to us for thousands of years, I would 

 not give him much credit for intelligence. 



I never made the assertion that the 

 Italian bees are a hybrid race ! I never 

 thought so ; and had he paid any attention 

 to the subject, he never would have said so. 

 It is very unfortunate for Mr. Dadant that 

 he cannot quote correctly. Whether this is 

 intentional, or a careless habit, I know not. 

 I hope he will take in good part, this gentle 

 hint. 



With regard to the Italian bee, to my 

 mind, Mr. Dadant misapprehends the whole 

 subject. What is an Italian bee ? Mr. 

 Yogel, who, the late Samuel Wagner says, 

 was an experienced and accomplished bee- 

 keeper and breeder, of the Province of 

 Brandenburg, in Prussia, who has probably 

 had more diversified, practical and experi- 

 mental knowledge of it than any other 

 apiarist, came to the conclusion, from his 



numerous experiments, that the Italian bee 

 is a cross between the black and the 

 Egyption bee. 



Now cross the Italian with the black, and 

 very soon we find queens as dark as the 

 black, i have had queens blacker. Cross- 

 ing on the black line seems to intensify the 

 color. This is the reason why " the bees in 

 Tyrol are black, and as cross as hybrids." 



I have elsewhere stated my belief that the 

 Italian bee was not a very well fixed 

 variety, having, as florists would say, a 

 great tendency "to sport." Pure Italian 

 queens are very rare that duplicate them- 

 selves for any length of time ; hence the 

 great diversity, not only in coloi', but in 

 characteristics. 



This, in my way of thinking, is the whole 

 subject in a nutshell, solving the problem 

 why pure Italians, at times, are seemingly 

 impure ; but once crossed with the black 

 and it will show itself for many genera- 

 tions. I will close this subject by saying 

 that Mr. Dadant, in my humble judgment, 

 has signally failed in his endeavors to break 

 down the testimony I have given in support 

 of my belief that there are hybrid bees in 

 Italy. 



Mr. Dadant says, (vol. 8, p. 223,) " I intend 

 to preserve, for Mrs. E. S. Tupper and my- 

 self, all the dark queens ; for we both very 

 well know that the light-colored queens are 

 less vrolific and less vigorous than the 

 dark.'' 



Again he says, (vol, 14, p. 200,) " We see 

 no difference as to prlijicness in dark or 

 light-colored queens." Geo. Thompson. 



Geneva, 111. 



Swarming. 



W. H. Lloyd, of Wilcox Co., Ala., gives 

 the following as his method : 



Early in Feb. he examines all his colo- 

 nies, giving honey where necessary, and 

 uniting weak or queenless colonies, if any 

 such are found, that he may have all his 

 colonies strong and ready to take advan- 

 tage of the first opening flowers. 



By the middle of March, the bees are 

 growing quite numerous, and beginning to 

 store a little honey, so that he finds it nec- 

 essary to open the entire entrances ; and as 

 honey is his object, he sees that they have 

 plenty of surplus room for storing, in order 

 to keep down swarming as much as possi- 

 ble. But despite all his etforts, he says 

 there will be some swarming ; so that by 

 the first of April, he is not surprised on any 

 pleasant day to receive a message to the 

 effect that " the bees are swarming." 



In response to this message he at once 

 repairs to the apiary and gets ready for 

 the hiving. If theyiseem to be irritable, he 

 gives the cluster a thorough sprinkling 

 with water, sweetened with sugar or honey, 

 waits a few minutes until they have sucked 

 themselves full, and then finds all quiet 

 and docile. After seeing that the hive for 

 their reception is clean, cool and dry, he 

 next goes to the colony from which" they 

 issued (or another will do) and selects a 

 frame with a nice, straight comb, contain- 

 ing honey and uncapped brood. This he 



