LETTER FROM S. B. PARSONS. 385 



LETTER FROM S. B. PARSONS. 



Having received sundry requests from gentlemen in Cali- 

 fornia to supply them with Italian queens from the stock which 

 I brought from Italy, I have made arrangements with A. J. 

 Biglow, of Sacramento, corner of Nineteenth and J streets, to 

 take out a number, from which I can supply those gentlemen, 

 and some others, who may desire them. 



He is now preparing the bees, and will soon be ready to 

 leave. The terms on which he can supply them will depend 

 upon his success in carrying them, and will be made known 

 soon after his arrival. 



I obtained these bees in a section where no other race 

 exists. I have not felt like endorsing all that was said of 

 them by German writers, until they had been tested by reliable 

 men here. However beautiful may be bright colors and grace- 

 ful forms, I felt that these were of comparatively little import- 

 ance ; that the great question was Will they make more 

 honey than the common bee ? My own experience, this sum- 

 mer, has been entirely satisfactory in this respect ; but I am 

 unwilling to rely entirely upon my own, when I have that of 

 others. 



The following letters prove conclusively that, the progeny 

 of those bees which came from Italy, have far surpassed the 

 common bee, the past summer, in the production of honey. 



One is from the Rev. Mr. Langstroth, so well known to all 

 bee-keepers as a careful, conscientious man, and the author of 

 the best work on bees that has yet been written. Another is 

 from Dr. J. P. Kirtland, a well known naturalist, of Ohio, 

 whose simple word is sufficient with all who know his truthful- 

 ness, his habits of accurate observation, and his caution in giv- 

 ing his opinion on any subject. The third is from Mr. Brackett, 

 published in the September number of the Agriculturist, and 

 appreciated as the evidence of an unbiased man, who is as 

 skillful an apiarian as he is a successful sculptor. 



To these letters, I would invite the attention of all who de- 

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