104 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



do not winter well ; the}^ com- 

 mence breeding late in the spring 

 and cease early in the fall ; they 

 are not good as hone3'-gatherers, 

 working but little in steady cool 

 weather, and abstaining from labor 

 when the nights and mornings are 

 chilly ; thus they work half-time 

 only, on full pay, eating quite as 

 much as in warmer weather, 



I do not saj^ that all light-col- 

 ored Italians are poor workers ; I 

 do say, that compared with this 

 breed, the industrious dark Ital- 

 ians with their leather-colored 

 bands seem to me much more de- 

 sirable. They are hardy ; they 

 winter well ; they commence breed- 

 ing early in the spring, continuing 

 until late in the fall. 



As honey-gatherers they are ex- 

 cellent, and as a general thing 

 they mind their own business and 

 are easy to handle. I think friend 

 Heddon holds the same views. 



While on the subject of bands, I 

 wish to state, that I have in my 

 apiary a swarm of Italian bees 

 having /o?«- yellow bands. Friend 

 Root of Ohio maintains that no 

 Italian bees have more than three 

 light bands on the horny part of 

 .the abdomen; and if a fourth is 

 seen, on close examination it will 

 be found to be yellow down or 

 hair. Now I positively assert that 

 the four bands on the bees of said 

 swarm were all m the horny scale. 

 I examined them minutely and at 

 many different times during tlie 

 summer ; and to '' make assurance 

 doubly sure" I asked my partner 

 to count the bands carefullv, and 



he confirms my statement. These 

 bees, however, although large and 

 handsome, are laz3\ and unless 

 they improve I shall give them an- 

 other queen. I wish to say a word 

 or two more concerning the hand- 

 ling of bees. 



Old beekeepers maintain that 

 the reason novices have so much 

 trouble in handling bees, and are 

 often stung so badl}^, is owing to 

 their lack of skill. Not thinking 

 this the whole cause of the trouble 

 and wishing to ascertain the se- 

 cret of the safe handling of bees 

 by experienced apiarists, I made a 

 number of experiments during the 

 past summer. 



I had noticed that after hand- 

 ling the bees for a few days, my 

 hands were so strongly scented 

 with propolis and wax that even a 

 wash of alcohol would not obliter- 

 ate the odor, and that while thus 

 scented, the bees, unless roughly 

 handled, would not sting me. I 

 therefore dissolved some propolis 

 in alcohol, and bathed my hands 

 in the mixture. This proved a 

 success, the bees attacking only 

 the unwashed surface of the skin. 



I experimented more fully by 

 omitting one finger in making the 

 application ; and this finger was 

 invariably attacked. 



In mixing this wash I added 

 enough propolis to the alcohol to 

 give it tlie color of ordinary tea; 

 this will not make it so strong as 

 to be sticky, and make the odor 

 suflflciently powerful. 



Barrington, R. L, Nov. 20, 1883. 



