THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



81 



forage for these months, have been 

 failures. This period of our sum- 

 mer is mostly dry, and what little 

 saccharine matter is secreted by 

 the nectaries of the flowers is evap- 

 orated by the dry and warm atmos- 

 phere before the bees can gather it. 



In September the fall flowers such 

 as the solidago, asters, etc., com- 

 mence to bloom, and keep on nntil 

 the frost comes ; and in favorable 

 seasons I have known considerable 

 surplus to be taken. 



In the south, the active work in 

 the apiar}' requires fully eight 

 months with not as much average 

 surplus as is taken in a northern 

 apiary with three months' labor. 

 From observations made both 

 north and south, I am satisfied that 

 a cool climate is preferable for the 

 production of honey. In the north 

 it often comes like a flood in a few 

 weeks or days, while in the south 

 we have such an abundance and 

 variety of honej^-producing plants, 

 that the flow is less profuse but 

 more extended. Honey in the 

 south is still considered more of a 

 luxury than a staple article, but 

 there are very few places where 

 honey cannot be sold if put np in 

 nice neat packages. There is not 

 a town of any size in which a honey 

 market cannot be established if per- 

 severance and intelligence are 

 properly used. 



Augusta, Ga. 



ITALIANS VERSUS ALL 

 OTHER BEES. 



By J. E. PoNu, JR. 



It has of late become quite the 

 fashion to cry down our beautiful, 

 gentle Italians, and assume that 

 other races are far superior to 

 them. This fashion was started 

 by one of the "big guns," and 

 behold all the small fry follow suit 

 even those whose experience is 

 covered by a single year. But 

 why is all this? Only a few years 

 ago after twenty years' experience 

 with them, the Italians were ac- 

 knowledged to be A No. I. Has 

 the race really deteriorated or is 

 the fashion simply changing? 



Let us for a moment look the 

 field over and see what those points 

 are which the Italians lack, and 

 which the other races possess to so 

 high a degree. We can throw the 

 blacks entirely out, for it is ad- 

 mitted that they are inferior, al- 

 though there are a few queen 

 breeders who would have us be- 

 lieve that across of the Italians with 

 the black produces something su- 

 perior, but I am inclined to go a 

 little slow on hybrids, as the evi- 

 dence given during the last twenty 

 years until very lately has been 

 strongly against any hybridizing" 

 of our stock ; and I fear that those 

 who just now are so anxious to 

 make us believe they are so very 

 superior are grinding an axe on 

 our grindstone, and trying to get 

 us to turn. As for myself, I am 

 willing to loan the stone, but some 

 one else must man the crank. I 



