286 



AMERICAN BEE JOURMAU 



enough to cover the brood, consequently 

 it was chilled. When the weather mod- 

 erated, the bees always hung out, and 

 did not work much, so I examined them 

 with another bee-keeper, and we con- 

 cluded that they had foul-brood. I 

 decided to send away a sample of comb, 

 and I was informed that it was not foul- 

 brood — only chilled brood — and that it 

 would be all right when the bees had it 

 cleared out. But they worked so slowly 

 at it, and became weaker, so I filled 

 another hive with foundation, and 

 brushed the bees into it, and commenced 

 feeding again. They built up and stored 

 enough to keep them through the Win- 

 ter, and are now quiet. I think I will 

 get them through the Winter all right. 

 There were 3 colonies altogether. I 

 bought 7 more colonies last Fall, and 

 will try again. 

 La Crosse, Wis., Feb. 8, 1892. 



Italian Bees VS. BM Bees. 



W. H. LAWS. 



Is Mr. Ellingwood (page 192) lauding 

 the good qualities of the black bee be- 

 cause he believes in their superiority over 

 the Italian race? or is he doing so just 

 to be odd ? In comparing the merits of 

 the Italian bee with those of her darker 

 cousins, surely he has not given them a 

 fair trial, and is too hasty in his con- 

 clusions. 



Mr. E. says he has "had six years' 

 experience with bees," but he does not 

 say that he has handled Italians each of 

 these few years, and I should think a 

 few years' test in one locality is not 

 conclusive. 



Until within the past two years I too 

 have kept a few colonies of blacks to 

 test as to their relative good qualities. 

 Occasionally there would be a colony 

 with an extra-prolific queen that would 

 outstrip even some of the Italians, but 

 as a rule I have found them decidedly 

 inferior, as a race. 



The third year of my bee-keeping I 

 had 9 colonies of blacks and 25 of Ital- 

 ians ; from the latter I secured 1,100 

 pounds of surplus honey, and from the 

 blacks " nary a bit ;" and the Italians 

 were in better condition for Winter. 

 Those 9 colonies each received an Ital- 

 ian queen in the Fall. 



It is said that " in the multitude of 

 counselors there is safety," and have we 

 not for th(! past 2(J years had a multi- 

 tude of witnesses, and an overwhelming 

 testimony of the thousands of bee-keep- 



ers all over our land, who are loud in 

 their praises of the excellence of the 

 Italian race, that for hardiness, gentle- 

 ness, and general " get up and get " 

 qualities, the Italians leave the blacks 

 far behind in the race for favor with the 

 bee-keeping world ? and that wherever 

 introduced, do they not find an accept- 

 able home ? 



Now, I would ask Mr. E., does he 

 think we have all these long years been 

 living in delusion ? and is it possible that 

 men who count their colonies by the 

 hundreds, and producing honey by the 

 carload, are yet living in delusion as to 

 the better race of the two under discus- 

 sion — and the two with v/hich we are 

 most familiar ? We are not blind to 

 some of the redeeming qualities of the 

 black bee, nor do we say that they are 

 not a valuable race of bees, but we do 

 say they are the less valuable of the 

 two, and their only points of excellence 

 are minor points. 



In conclusion, let me ask Mr. Elling- 

 wood to show us a man who has pro- 

 duced, in one season (or two), a carload 

 of honey with black bees alone. I do 

 not say that it cannot be done, but I do 

 contend that where a man is energetic 

 enough to produce honey by the carload, 

 he has long since made friends with the 

 Italian bee, and brought her to the tasft 

 of producing it. 



Lavaca, Ark., Feb. 6, 1892. 



OwiiersMp of Swarms of Bees. 



EUGENE SECOR. 



A peculiar question of title arose in 

 Rhode Island a few years ago, and was 

 decided by the Supreme Court of that 

 State, although the decision has but 

 recently been reported. The property 

 in dispute was a colony of bees, and the 

 Court held that a person who placed an 

 empty bee-hive in a tree upon land be- 

 longing to another, without license from 

 the owner, did not thereby acquire any 

 title in bees that swarmed in said hive, 

 or to honey placed by them therein, 

 which he could assert against a third 

 person who went upon the land and 

 helped himself to the contents of the 

 hive. The following extracts from the 

 "opinion" state the facts and the 

 ground of the Court's ruling : 



In May, 1881, the plaintilT placed a 

 small pine box, called a "bee-hive," in 

 the crotch of a tree in the woods on the 

 land of Samuel Green, in the town of 

 Hopkinton. It remained in that posi- 



