AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



669 



Xhe Flowers and ttic Bees. 



lu Spriag--time"s early morning, 

 When Winter's chill is past. 



The flowers come adorning 

 Where'er the eye is cast ; 



In woodland and ou mountain. 



In valley and in g-len. 

 And 'round each bubbling fountain 



The flowers bloom again. 



Their fragrance cheers the saddened. 

 The sorrowing and oppressed— 



Their beauty blesses, gladdens— 

 The flowers bring peace and rest. 



Besides this glorious mission, 

 These fragrant blossoms bring 



A wonderful transition 

 Among the bees in Spring. 



Pent-up within each flower 

 Are drops of nectar sweet. 



That form the " honey-shower"— 

 For men and bees, a treat. 



Thus bees and flowers, together. 



Are the sweeteners of earth. 

 And in the Spring-time weather. 

 Are full of life and mirth. 

 Chicago, Ills., May 2, 1892. 



Topics ol Interest. 



Mm Bees at Fairs, 



GEO. F. ROBBINS. 



Messrs. S. F. & I. Trego, on page 

 421, wonder where I got my " prevail- 

 ing verdict " as to the superior qualities 

 of darker Italian bees as compared with 

 the lighter strains, and add, " Surely 

 not in the advertising columns of the 

 bee-papers, or in the number of orders 

 such advertisers are receiving." 



No, of course not. Messrs. Trego will 

 certainly admit that the way anything, 

 especially any new thing, is puffed in 

 advertisements, is no evidence of worth. 

 Too often it is quite the reverse, as with 

 new varieties of grapes, strawberries, etc. 

 Neither is the volume of orders the 

 breeders of yellow bees are receiving, of 

 itself proof of merit. Four and five 

 banded bees are a comparatively new 

 thing, and of course everybody wants to 

 try some of them. The fact that they 

 are having a boom now, is no proof the 

 boom will last. That old customers are 



coming back again is better testimony 

 in their favor, and if the "prevailing 

 verdict " is really in their behalf, I am 

 ready to be convinced. I have no " ax 

 to grind" in this case. 



But I have in past years seen much in 

 the bee-periodicals concerning the super- 

 ior qualities of the darker strains, and 

 condemniug the growing practice of 

 breeding to color. I believe such have 

 largely had reference to Albinos — a type 

 of bees, by the way, that are not now 

 puffed so much as they used to be. 

 Where I have seen such expressions I 

 cannot now recall, except in two or three 

 cases. One of the most pronounced I 

 have seen is in the proceedings of the 

 New York State Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion of 1890, I think. I have not time 

 to look it up, but as near as I can re- 

 member, it was claimed there that the 

 leather-colored Italians went into sec- 

 tions more readily, gathered more honey, 

 and capped it whiter than the yellower 

 strains — a verdict that went unchal- 

 lenged. 



At the Sangamon Fair, last Fall, two 

 eminent bee-keepers — J. M. Hambaugh 

 and A. N. Draper — expressed themselves 

 in favor of the darker Italians. Although 

 I have not tested the two types thor- 

 oughly, I do rather lean toward their 

 view, notwithstanding the fact that I 

 had the yellowest, prettiest bees at the 

 Fair — and got left in consequence. 



Mr. Wallace, on page 548, repeats 

 substantially the same view he freely 

 expressed to me at the Fair. He argues 

 for improvement of the races of bees by 

 breeding, but his " improvement" seems 

 to all lie in the line of color. He does 

 make the same claim for his bees that is 

 generally urged for golden Italians, etc., 

 i. e., gentleness. But that superiority 

 as honey-gatherers, and for other traits 

 essentially accompanies beauty of color 

 and quietness of diposition, remains to 

 be proven. 



I repeat, however, what I have inti- 

 mated before, that I was not quite cer- 

 tain of my ground when I fixed that 

 standard. That entire article was 

 "thrown out as a feeler." I wanted the 

 views of others. The questions now are, 

 Shall the standard be settled in favor of 

 the golden or five-banded Italians — the 

 yellower the bees the higher the scoring? 

 Or shall we have no standard at all, and 

 give judges entire liberty ? 



The Progressive Bee-Kecpcr wants the 

 two types recognized with a standard for 

 each. That might do if Fairs would be 

 willing to grant two or more premiums 

 where they now grant one, and we knew 

 it would not furnish a precedent that 



