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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



divisions. I leave it to any intelligent 

 man whether our pursuit is not of more 

 importance than either or both of these 

 divisions. I should be glad to fortify 

 my position with statistics, but, unfortu- 

 nately, we have none. The census 

 enumerator informed me that he had no 

 place on his blanks for honey. The least 

 that we can ask is, that the section of 

 apiculture be raised to an independent 

 division, and that it be put under the 

 supervision of some practical bee-keeper 

 like Mr. Benton, of sufficient scientific 

 and executive ability to perform the 

 duties of the office. 



I want to emphasize the fact that we 

 shall have nothing satisfactorily done 

 until the .svork is in charge of a bee- 

 keeper. To ask an entomologist to 

 superintend this work is like putting a 

 lawyer in charge of a hospital, with a 

 corps of physicians doing his bidding. A 

 first-class experiment apiary should be 

 established at Washington. Mr. Larra- 

 bee, or some other good man, should be 

 called in as an assistant ; and a chemist, 

 botanist, and other help should be at the 

 service of the superintendent at all 

 times. Bulletins should be issued to 

 bee-keepers, giving results of work done, 

 and also giving crop reports, gathered a 

 thoroughness and exactness impossible 

 with the private enterprise now collect- 

 ing them. 



Lastly, Congress should remember the 

 blow they dealt us when they removed 

 the duty on cane sugar, the chief com- 

 petitor of honey, and provide liberal 

 means for carrying on this apicutural 

 experiment station in the most thorough 

 manner possible. 



The State of New York expends about 

 $12,000 yearly on farmers' institutes ; 

 $40,000 on experiment stations, and 

 $92,000 on the dairy commission. Bee- 

 keepers help pay for all this, but get no 

 benefit. In justice, the State ought to 

 appropriate at least a thousand dollars 

 to be expended under the direction of 

 practical bee-keepers in holding one or 

 more bee-keepers' institutes or conven- 

 tions, and for other necessary work in 

 advanced bee-culture. Other States 

 should do likewise. Illinois has already 

 set the example. Our country is so large 

 that it is difficult to maintain a national 

 organization. With State aid this could 

 be made a delegated body, with the 

 traveling expenses of delegates paid. — 

 Oleanings. 



Starkville, N. Y. 



[For editorial conimcnts, see page 

 53b.— Ed.] 



Experience wltli Italian Bees, Etc. 



J. C. LILLIBRIDGE. 



While the discussion of black vs. Ital- 

 ian bees is going on, I would like to give 

 some of my experience with the latter. 

 Different parties here have tried them at 

 different times for the last 20 years, 

 but they have been allowed to die out 

 until I do not know of a colony at pres- 

 ent within ten miles, if you except one 

 that perhaps I have. 



In the Fall of 1890 I bought a queen 

 which produced very nice, gentle bees, 

 but they died through the Winter. 



Last Summer I bought another queen 

 of one of our most noted breeders ; she 

 was a "tested" queen, but when her 

 bees began to come out, oh, my ! If the 

 reader was ever a boy on a farm, who 

 delighted in stirring up yellow jackets' 

 nests, you can guess about how these 

 bees acted. No, they were worse ; for I 

 always found that the yellow jackets 

 would let me alone as long as I did 

 them, but these bees are after me as 

 soon as I go within ten feet of the hive, 

 if they are flying. In color they range 

 all the way from black to almost pure 

 yellow. 



I wrote to the breeder about them, but 

 he says he only guarantees working 

 qualities — not color or gentleness. But 

 I am afraid I shall not be bothered with 

 them any more, as they seem to have 

 paralysis, or some other disease — large 

 numbers coming out and dying on the 

 alighting-board every time they fly. 

 They have been so ever since they 

 hatched. 



If this is the way the bees of a tested 

 queen act, the next time I shall order 

 the cheapest hybrids I can get. 



I can handle my blacks without 

 smoke, veil or gloves, with very few 

 stings. However, I am going to give 

 the Italians a fair trial, as I believe 

 they are the best, if I get them pure. 



HONEY FROM BASSWOOD TREES. 



Did the editor really raeau to say in 

 the foot-note on page 325, that bass- 

 wood trees would bear blossoms in five 

 years, and that "one tree should furnish 

 enough honey for 3 or 4 colonies in a 

 good season ?" If so, they must be dif- 

 ferent than any we have. Here they do 

 not blossom until (I think) about 20 

 years old ; that is, in a natural state, 

 and when sprouted from stumps. I 

 have been at work in basswood timber 

 more or less for the last 15 years, and 



