AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



45 



enough— to " catch on " to any logical 

 reason, in comparing the origin of foul- 

 brood to that of white clover coming up 

 of itself. If there be any truth in Dr. 

 M.'s teaching, it is too subtle for mortals 

 to perceive. 



In another issue of Oleanings Dr. 

 Miller quotes this from the American 

 Bee Journal : "A new theory of foul- 

 brood. A. Leach says the moth-miller 

 lays eggs in the cells besides the queen's 

 eggs, which hatch out, suck the food 

 from the bee-larvas, which die, causing 

 foul-brood." Dr. Miller asserts by way 

 of comment — " this lacks confirmation." 

 Of course it does, as much so, almost, as 

 does Dr. Miller's theory as quoted in the 

 foregoing. 



The idea that foul-brood spores " are 

 floating around everywhere," is an in- 

 vention of Mr. S. Cornell, but perhaps 

 Dr. Miller may appropriate it without 

 giving credit. 



As matters of fact, live "brood is just 

 the right soil " for foul-brood spores to 

 take root in ; and if the " spores are 

 floating around everywhere,'" they are 

 floating around every hive of bees, and 

 if the spores float inside and attack 

 chilled brood, certainly live brood could 

 not escape ; and if foul-brood spores 

 float everywhere, all chilled brood and 

 all bee-brood would, inevitably, be done 

 for, by foul-brood spores. 



Learned scientists "don't know" of 

 any bacteria or spores that commonly 

 float around in the atmosphere, other 

 than the so-called diplococcus pneumo- 

 nites and the streptococcus pyogenes. 

 If Corneil-Miller is credited with truth 

 in the matter, somebody must invent a 

 foul-brood-spore trap. 

 Kichford, N. Y., Dec. 28, 1891. 



Are tliere Black Bees in Italy ? 



GEORGE THOMPSON. 



In Vol. XIT, page 188, of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, is a communication 

 which I sent to the Michigan Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, on the improvement of 

 the Italian bee. I there stated that I 

 thought from the unstable character of 

 our Italians, that there must be many 

 dark, and even black bees, in Italy, and 

 pointed out the necessity of improving 

 our drones, if we wished to improve the 

 Italian bee. 



In the August number, same volume, 

 page 205, Chas. Dadant takes me to 

 task, and denies that there were any 

 black bees in Italy, and offered to pay 



any man $200 who could prove it. I 

 undertook to do this, and in Vol. XIII, 

 page 127, can be found proof enough to 

 satisfy any reasonable, unbiased mind. 



It is unnecessary to quote from that 

 or subsequent articles — suffice it to say 

 that it was generally believed, and even 

 publicly declared in one of our bee con- 

 ventions in Chicago, that I gave suffi- 

 cient proof to sustain my assertion. 



But now comes forward another wit- 

 ness to testify, and what I consider the 

 crowning evideajce, by a native of Italy, 

 an intelligent bee-keeper, and one of 

 the largest exporters of Italian queens 

 in Italy (See Oleanings for Dec. 15, 

 1891, page 94:8). Question — Did you 

 ever see any black bees in Italy ? " Cer- 

 tainly, in some parts of Italy the black 

 bee is to be found."' This coming from 

 a gentleman who is supposed to be, and 

 doubtless is, interested in the purity of 

 the Italian bee, ought to set forever at 

 rest the truth that there are black bees 

 in Italy. 



Geneva, Ills. 



[At the Albany convention last month, 

 Mr. C. P. Dadant stated that black bees 

 were found just over the mountains in 

 Carniola, and if they are there why not 

 expect to find some in Italy? While we 

 were in Italy, in 1879, we certainly saw 

 some in different apiaries, which, to all 

 appearance, were nothing but black 

 bees. If they had any yellow bands, 

 they were obscure, and it would take 

 good feeding with honey, and active 

 exercise on a window in a sunny day, to 

 discover any golden bands. — Ed.] 



Some TMugs TMt I Haye LeariieJ. 



p. D. WALLACE. 



I have kept bees for two seasons, and 

 have stored away a large quantity of 

 bee-lore in that time. The first thing I 

 learned was that the experts do not 

 agree, and in all replies to the Queries 

 in the American Bee Journal, the last 

 year, none were answered unanimously. 

 I learned also that bees will swarm in 

 good seasons, and in good localities, if 

 they had surplus room as lai'ge as a 

 barn — the assertions to the contrary 

 notwithstanding. I also learned that in 

 years of scarcity, and in poor pasturage, 

 you cannot induce, force, or coax them 

 to swarm to any extent ; that there may 



