THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



the result is that we always obtain young queens. 

 Still, with all his ignorance in this respect, the 

 poor bec-koepcr docs not fare so ill as might be 

 supposed, since the Italian bees commonly su- 

 percede their old queens in due time, and rear 

 young ones seasonably llcuce the destruction 

 ot'stoCks in consequence of the superannuation 

 of queens, is not so common an occurrence with 

 him as might be supposed. 



In many districts peculiar prejudices prevail. 

 Some refuse to sell their supernumerary stocks, 

 conceiving that they would at the same time 

 convey their luck to the purchaser. They pre- 

 fer dooming them to the brimstone pit, and thus 

 harvest the honey in a good or a bad condition 

 as it may happen. But since Professor Mona 

 has commenced buying bees here, superstitious 

 notions and prejudices are beginning to give 

 way, because a handful of francs is an argu- 

 ment agreeably persuasive and powerfully con- 

 vincing. More generally prevalent is the per- 

 suasion that a swarm accidentally found or one 

 obtained by barter, is more certain to prosper 

 than one bought with money. Whether a stolen 

 hive comes within the same category in their 

 estimation, I am unable to say. Many, like- 

 wise, are under the impression that any wrong 

 thej' do will react on their bees ; and it is fairly 

 presumable that those bee-keepers who cherish 

 this ilxith, are not the worst class of citizens. It 

 is furthermore the universal belief that when a 

 bee-keeper dies, his hives will gradually go to 

 destruction ; and hence they arc exchanged for 

 others as soon as practicable or sold in hot haste. 

 Of course these remarks apply only to peasants 

 Avho keep bees ; yet the clergy here and others, 

 though free from these prejudices, know as lit- 

 tle of bee culture as the rest of the population. 



Whether it is owing to the abundance of pas- 

 turage and a propitious climate or to the hardi- 

 ness and industry of the Italian bee, that this 

 valuable insect has survived amid such general 

 neglect, mismauiigement and ignorance, is hard 

 to decide, though doulitless something is to be 

 attributed to each of these causes. Local cir- 

 cumstances, too, may exert a favorable influence. 



Among innumerable other, larger or smaller, 

 honey-yielding herbs, plants, trees and shrubs, 

 white clover is specially to be noticed in the 

 fields here in sea>on. The steep hill-sides pro- 

 duce plenty of wild thyme and heather. The 

 cultivated field furnish no .supplies for the bees 

 till towards the end of August, when the buck- 

 wheat, sown in the rye-stubbles in July, comes 

 into blossom. Of special account, too, is the 

 blossom of the chestnut tree, which grows on 

 the hills on both sides of the valley to the height 

 of 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. In tact 

 nearly the entire valley likewise might be called 

 a chestnut forest. On a level plain this would 

 constitute only a transient source of supplies; 

 but it is otherwise liere. The mountains are 

 steep and lofty, and beyond them are the Alps 

 with their eternal snow. The result is that 

 during the summer, vegetation advances slowly 

 and gradually upwards from the valley. Thus 

 in the spring the same species of plants bloom 

 three weeks later at an elevation of 2,000 feet 

 above than they do in the plain below, and are 

 yet within reach of the bee's flight. Hay mak- 



ing begins earlier in the fields and meadows 

 below, and flowers will again be b'ooming 

 ther-, by the time the grass on the higher lo- 

 calities is fit for the scythe We have this 

 further advantage that the valley is narrow, not 

 over half a mile wide. The bees can con«e- 

 (picntly resort to the pasturage on either side, 

 while the sun is shining there — exploring the 

 flowers and appropri ting the nectar on the 

 one side in the morning, and turning in the 

 allernoon to an equally well supplied area on 

 the other. The soil is everywhere sandy. 



From what has been said, it is manifest that 

 a fair amount of pasturage is found here all the 

 summer ; that every early issuing swarm, 

 though small, can gather sufficient supplies for 

 the Avinter, if placed in a suitable hive ; and 

 that from strong colonies a large surplus of 

 honey may be confidently expected. The best 

 evidence of this is furnished by the stocks of 

 the peasantry. In the course of my perambu- 

 lations last fall, I saw more than a thousand 

 hives, and though the increase of stocks had 

 been nearly threefold, the average yield was 

 rarely under ten pounds per hive. The most 

 of them were decidedly full of honey, there 

 being hardly six square inches of empty combs 

 visible near the entrance below. This, too, 

 while the hives had stood exposed to the full 

 heat of the sun, so that the melted wax from 

 the combs had run down on the bottom board, 

 closing the lower entrance, and constraining 

 the bees to deposit their stores from above. 

 In many places the industrious insects, want- 

 ing room within, had built combs between the 

 hives. What could not be accomplished here 

 by the proper use of the movable comb hive ? 



As regards the bees themselves, it were su- 

 perfluous to speak further of their untiring in- 

 dustry, since it must be evident from what I 

 have stated that they must labor as assidiously 

 here in their native home, as they do wherever 

 introduced abroad. In the absence, however, 

 of common or black bees, we have no means of 

 instituting a comparison ; but their extraordi- 

 nary activity and productiveness repeatedly as- 

 tonished me last summer. 



In Germany, I regarded the Italian bees as per- 

 tinacious robbers, and had occasion frequently 

 to protect the common bees from their encroach- 

 ments. But here it was ver}^ obvious that they 

 paid great respect to each other's rights, and re- 

 frained from attempts to commit depredations 

 on their neighbors. We have often, the same 

 day, deprived of their queens one-half of the 

 colonies in a large apiarj^ ; have kept at the 

 side of my large and populous stocks, small or 

 weak nucleus colonies rearing queens, most 

 generally ciueenless, and scarcely strong enough 

 to cover the brood combs ; yet no attempt was 

 ever made to rob them. At the end of Septem- 

 ber and the beginning of October, we had for a 

 time more que^nless bees than we could pro- 

 perly dispose of. We placed them temporarily 

 in roomy hives, supplied them with the need- 

 ful honey, and set them among our other strong 

 stocks, where, though the weather continued 

 warm, they guarded their stores, and no serious 

 attacks were made on them till we were able 

 to 'use them for strengthening other colonies. 



