a dai'ker variety may originate ; and also, 

 tlie inclination of the dark queen towards 

 the black blood. Some apiarists gave this 

 as a reason why most people wanted the very 

 light-colored dollar queens; for if they had 

 mated with a hybrid drone they would still 

 show, what many take to be the mark of 

 purity — i.e., three bands. I never call a 

 queen pure Italian unless she produces bees, 

 which sliow the third band plainly at all 

 times, and queens that are regularly marked 

 light yellow with no black on tliem; there 

 are not many such 1 know, yet a few are 

 found among the imported queens, and some 

 where very careful breeding on light stock 

 has been practiced. But I believe we have 

 very few really pure Italians, with no black 

 blood in them. 



I know that these ideas will clash directly 

 against those of some of our best apiarists, 

 breeders and importers; for most of them 

 hold that the dark queens are the best and 

 their workers the best honey gatherers. 

 Hence they say that they are just as pure 

 Italians. When I say Italians I do not mean 

 anything that comes from Italy, for there 

 are black bees there, too, but I speak of the 

 light yellow variety fcmnd there and no 

 where else. I agree with them in the first 

 point, but not in the latter. And now comes 

 the main point; which do bee-keepers want, 

 absolutly pure Italians or the most industri- 

 ous honey gatherers? For those who want 

 the former I would say, get the light yellow 

 queens, without any black on them if possi- 

 ble; but to those who want the latter, and I 

 do for one, I would say get the darker grades 

 by all means. And now for my reasons for 

 this advice, not that I have any interest in the 

 matter, or have come with an "ax to grind," 

 — for I have no queens for sale — I do not 

 believe the pure Italians are as good as those 

 which have a slight admixture of black 

 blood, say about one-eighth. When it is as 

 much as one-haif, there is too much of the 

 black, and they partake too much of their 

 character. 



In the summer of 1877 I bought some 



?ueens of H. Alley, which were the lighest 

 had ever seen at that time. I selected tiie 

 largest, most active and prolific, and from 

 her raised a good many queens. I had in the 

 apiary about 80 hives, and only 10 of them 

 pure Italians, the rest were from hybrid 

 mothers; so the chances were about eight to 

 one on these queens mating with hybrid 

 drones. In the early spring the pure Italians 

 were, with the exception of one colony, 

 weak ; the hybrids were still worse off ; 

 while the light queens which I had raised, for 

 they were exact copies of the mothers, were 

 strong and doing well ; one swarmed March 

 1.5, with 16 frames well filled with brood and 

 honey, whilethe others were all doing nearly 

 equally well, and they have continued ahead 

 all the way through. 1 took 110 lbs. from 

 one and nearly as much from the others, but 

 noneof the other classes of bees have yielded 

 more than 40 to .50 lbs. These bees all show 

 three bands, but none of them are regularly 

 marked bright yellow, as the bees of the 

 mother are, and the rings are more of a cop- 

 per than golden color. The third band can 

 be seen in all, bat is narrow and dark in some 

 and in others unusually broad and full. 

 I have now some of the dark varieties of 



queens which please me very much, but I do 

 not call them Italians. The pure queens all 

 did very well for a while, but ere the sum- 

 mer came they showed signs of failing and 

 now none of them are first-class layers. I 

 have one of the dark queens which repro- 

 duces herself almost exactly, but 1 do not 

 think this an evidence that siie is pure 

 Italian; but pure of the type or grade of 

 admixture to which she belongs. This is the 

 very class of queens I want, and which 1 

 think will prove most profitable to the 

 apiarist who is after honey and dollarsj 

 regardless of pretty looks. — ^ 



And now for the second view of the case; 

 supposing them to be a cross of the black 

 and Eygptian bee, (which I have never seen 

 or even a good description of it), there 

 will be no difficulty on this stand-point, for 

 the rules applying to the cross of Italians, 

 and blacks, will of course fit here exactly. 

 There are none pure, only some (the light 

 ones I suppose) have taken after the Egypt- 

 ian side of the house, and the darker ones 

 vice versa. Cannot some of our scientific 

 European apiarists who have the facilities, 

 try the experiment of crossing the black 

 and Egyptian bee, then breedins from the 

 cross and see what they will obtain? There 

 is room for a great deal of both thought and 

 experiment in this matter— we want the 

 latter especially. 



I believe the Cyprian bee to have origi- 

 nated in one of these dark grades of Italians, 

 and being shut up in its island home, by con- 

 stant reproduction and certain climatic 

 influences, to have assumed the present 

 type. 



These now are my ideas gained from my 

 observation, reading and experience. I only 

 advance them as ideas. If I am wrong I 

 hope some of our older and more experienced 

 apiarists will take up the subject and show 

 me where, for I am eager to learn as much 

 more on the subject as possible. I shall 

 continue to experiment and hope all will da 

 the same and give us the result. 



J. D. Slack. 



Plaquemine, La., Aug. 12, 1878. 



For the American Bee JonrnaU 



A City Besieged by Bees. 



For six weeks past our bees have not col- 

 lected honey enough to supply their daily 

 wants. A little over a month ago, I 

 extracted about all the honey I could get 

 from several of my strongest colonies, and 

 to-day there is scarcely a cell of capped 

 honey in any of those hives. 



A month of dry, scorching weather left 

 our hillsides destitute of flowers, so that 

 pilfering from our grocerymen and house- 

 wives seems to be their only means of sup- 

 port. The groceryman who leaves sweets 

 exposed, or the housewife who attempts 

 preserving fruit, is visited with "twenty 

 thousand strong " in less time than it will 

 take me to tell you about it, for no sooner do 

 our busy little workers catch the scent upon 

 the breezes, than away they go to the place 

 of attraction. 



The Bee Convention held here last spring 

 has aroused such an interest in bee-keeping, 

 that the business Is entirely overdone. 



