THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



197 



There is a lesson in this kind of 

 a season that should not be lost. 



It has afforded every possible ad- 

 vantage for securing large quantities 

 of brood, and making all stocks ex- 

 treinely populous. 



When stocks are in this condition, 

 a large amount of surplus may be se- 

 cured, even if the season is short. 

 The motto in this, as in all other 

 things where success is attained, is 

 "Faithfulness to the end." 



As every loyal heart has been made 

 sad in the death of him whom all 

 delighted to honor, so should we re- 

 joice that he taught us that success 

 can only come by honestly "fighting 

 it out on this line," which must always 

 be a line of honesty and faithfulness. 



The few lines I am able to send 

 you I. am pencilling on a pad in the 

 midst of my busy family. 



I have never seen honey stored 

 more rapidly than it is being at pre- 

 sent. I am running forty-eight stocks 

 in my home apiary for extracted hon- 

 ey. We extracted all of the honey 

 from these stocks on the 15 th of 

 July. On the 27th, we extracted 

 from these hives 3,715 lbs., all hav- 

 ing been gathered in twelve days. 



The next day, July 28th, we had 

 with us Pedro Casanora, the pioneer 

 beekeeper of Cuba, who accom- 

 panied us to our apiary, six miles 

 distant, where there were forty stocks. 

 We had extracted all the honey 

 from these hives just seven days pre- 

 viously. 



This day's work proved one of 

 the most astonishing of our experi- 

 ence ; we secured 4,103 lbs. of 

 honey. 



This proves something of the pos- 



sibilities of advanced bee-culture un- 

 der favorable conditions. 

 Mohawk, N. V. 



BLACK BEES MORE DIS- 

 POSED TO ROB, AND MORE 

 LIABLE TO BE ROBBED 

 THAN ITALIANS. 



By L. L. Langstroth. 



When the Italian bees came to 

 this country they brought with them 

 this character, from the Baron of 

 Berlepsch : " they are more disposed 

 to rob than common bees, and more 

 courageous and active in self-de- 

 fence." Experience soon convinced 

 me that while Berlepsch was right in 

 the second of these two assertions, he 

 was entirely in error as to the first. 

 Let me give some facts. 



On one occasion I was examining 

 a colony of bees, when a visitor was 

 announced. Intending to return in 

 a few moments, I left the hive open 

 while several combs were resting 

 against it on the outside. I forgot 

 all about this hive until my visitor 

 asked if there was not robbing go- 

 ing on in my apiary. We went 

 at once to the neglected hive which 

 was now surrounded by thous- 

 ands of robbers. The bees on the 

 combs which were outside were 

 vainly striving to protect them, while 

 the robbers were literally swarming 

 upon them and forcing their way into 

 the exposed hive. Many were killed ; 

 but we all know that under such cir- 

 cumstances this makes no dif- 

 ference. Putting back the exposed 

 combs, thereby shaking off the bees, 



