so 



THE AMEKIUAJN BEE JOUKJNAL. 



mint, catnip^ balm, celandine and marjorum — 

 are all excellent, and where they abound add 

 materially to the honey resources of the bee. 

 Borage, goldenrod, and several rarieties of 

 the aster, yield plentiful supplies, of long con- 

 tinuance, late in the fall, some of the latter even 

 surviving the earlier frosts. Many plants and 

 flowers, besides those here cursorily enumer- 

 ated, will the observant bee-keeper find fre- 

 quented by the bees. He should carefully note 

 them; encourage the introduction and cultiva- 

 tion of such as can be rendered useful in other 

 respects also, and strive to prevent the destruc- 

 tion of such as, being regarded as weeds, are 

 perhaps of no direct or known and positive 

 economic value, but yet of benefit to the bee and 

 in no wise injurious to the cultivator of the soil. 

 When they do not occupy or encroach on culti- 

 vated ground, they should be permitted to 

 grow. 



In some seasons and sections honey-dew is 

 of frequent occurrence, and bees eagerly collect 

 it. For the subsistence of the bees it answers 

 well enough, but as honey for table use it is of 

 inferior quality and poor flavor. In dry sea- 

 sons, especially in autumn when plants and 

 tlowers cease to supply nectar, wasps and hor- 

 nets will attack ripening fruit, such as cherries, 

 plums, apricots, peaches, pears and grapes, and 

 the bees follow in their wake, appropriating the 

 saccharine juices. Here the damage is really 

 done by the first-named insects, and the bees 

 simply gather up and preserve what would 

 otherwise be lost. 



1E^~ As the evidence of the purity of Italian 

 bees is now being discussed in the Bee Jour- 

 nal, and is a topic of much interest to those bee- 

 keepers who contemplate introducing that race 

 in their apiaries, we have deemed it proper 

 to copy from the Albany '■'■Country Qenileman'''' 

 an article giving Mr. Quinby's views of the 

 subject — the more so, as reference has been 

 made to him by some of our correspondents. 

 Our own convictions, as heretofore expressed, 

 certainly differ widely from those of Mr. Q. 

 In accordance with our observations and ex- 

 perience, docility may be regarded as the ex- 

 ception among black bees, whereas it is the rule 

 among Italians. We have never yet seen pure 

 stock, where the workers had not three orange 

 colored bands fully displayed, were not striking- 

 ly docile under ordinary treatment when the 

 hive was opened and combs lifted out, and did 

 not tenaciously adhere to the combs when these 

 were shaken. Of course they may be forcibly 

 shaken off, and aroused to anger, but not by 

 ordinary treatment, or even by such as would 

 hardly fail to irritate black bees : 



Dooility of Italian Bees. 



Eds. Co. Gent. : Ever since the first impor- 

 tation of Italian bees by Mahan and Parsons, 

 some seven years ago, there bas been great 

 solicitude on the part of many breeders lest 

 some purchasers might get an impure article 

 from his competing neighbor. Parsons sug- 

 gested, in a card, that Mahau's was not the 



genuine. Mahan challenged a comparison, and 

 brought specimens from Philadelphia to New 

 York city. I was called two hundred miles to 

 look on. Parsons refused to exhibit, and noth- 

 ing was settled. 



In reply to some remarks relative to the Ital- 

 ian bee "stinging furioijsly, R. C," of Balti- 

 more, says : " I have not met with a single in- 

 stance where queens were purely impregnated 

 and produced irritable workers. This is so in- 

 variably the case, that I regard docility of tem- 

 perament as one of the best and surest tests of 

 purity." 



I wish he had given the number of casea 

 where he knew the queens were "purely impreg- 

 nated." It may be half a dozen or five hun- 

 dred. The latter number would prove the posi- 

 tion much stronger than the first. It would 

 also throw a little light on the suggestion that 

 even hybrids are sometimes docile. 



At one of our State Fairs, a bee and patent- 

 hive vender was distributing " Circulars on 

 Bee-keeping" to bee-keepers, free. While 

 listening to him, I was interested in the same 

 story of the quiet disposition of the Italians, and 

 without being aAvare of my presence, he in- 

 dulged in some entertaining remarks : "Quinby 

 was reliable generally, but was mistaken here ; 

 he had said that his bees were cross, and they 

 Avere, of course, hybrids. He could prove to 

 Quinby, or any one else, that this was a test of 

 purity ; for that purpose he kept them in two 

 yards, alike in appearance but different in dis- 

 position, «&c." I suggested that if " exti-eme 

 docility was proof suflicient of pure Italian 

 origin, that the bees of Mr. Flanders, which he 

 collected in his hat, in his hand, even in his 

 mouth, with impunity, ought to be doubly and 

 trebly refined Italian, and yet they were com- 

 mon bees." If it is said they were trained or 

 charmed, how will it be proved that those of Mr. 

 were not trained also — I mean those that 



were kept for exhibition to prove purity. After 

 ascertaining that Quinby had been a listener 

 for sometime, he endeavored to conciliate by 

 offering to send him a pure queen for the purpose 

 of contrasting their qualities, &c. The queen 

 has not yet arrived, consequently I am unable to 

 report. Another, full of commisseration for me, 

 as he had the pure ones, would send me one for a 

 specimen. If I found her bees more docile 

 than any I already had, I was to pay double 

 price, if not, he was to charge me nothing. I 

 replied to this by another proposition: "That he 

 might furnish the queen, and I would let him 

 know when her bees constituted the entire 

 family, and he, or some one that he would 

 designate, should visit my apiary ; I would 

 point out a few hives, one of which should 

 contain his queen and her family ; he should 

 say which it was, judging by the disposition. If 

 he failed, it would be evidence that mine were 

 as pure as his own, and he should be entitled 

 to nothing; if he designated his own, he was 

 to have pay for his queen and all trouble." I 

 have heard nothing further from him. Can I 

 not infer that he had not full confidence in his 

 test ? A person that never had any experience 

 with black bees, further than with a few dozen 

 box hives, can know but little of the difference 



