THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



225 



For the American Apiculturist. 



ITALIAN BEES. 



A. M. FlKMAN. 



Italian bees were accidentally 

 discovered, during the wars of Na- 

 poleon, by Captain Baldenstein, 

 who carried the first swarm across 

 the Alps in 1843. In 1853 Doctor 

 Dzierzon introduced them in Ger- 

 many, and in 1860 into the United 

 States. The honorary degree of 

 doctor was conferred on him by the 

 University of Munich, and he was 

 decorated by the Grand Ducal Hes- 

 sian Order of Ludwig and the im- 

 perial order of Francis Joseph, I 

 mention this to shovv that govern- 

 ments and learned institutes and 

 agricultural societies now acknowl- 

 edge the importance of beekeeping. 

 Doctor Dzierzon says, "The Ital- 

 ian bee forms a distinct race of ^p<s 

 mellifica, differing from the English 

 or German bees, being different 

 in color and having other marked 

 characteristics ; this beautiful gold- 

 colored bee was known by Virgil 

 (4th book of his Georgics) as pos- 

 sessing positive advantages, which 

 bold good to-day. 



HOW I BEGAN KEEPING BEES. 



First, I read A. J. Cook's "Bee- 

 keeper's Guide ;" became very much 

 interested. Then I got Doctor 

 Dzierzon's "Forty Years among 

 the Bees", read it, followed up with 

 "A B C in Bee Culture," bought 

 two colonies, started, and learned 

 to manipulate, handle, divide and 

 unite. Succeeded, and noiv for a 

 queen. My book sa^^s, " July 7, 

 1883, received a beautiful queen 

 from Henr}'^ Alley, Wenham, Mass." 

 Succeeded in introducing her, and 

 in raising some beautiful golden 

 colored bees and queens, as di- 

 rected by Alley's "Twenty-two 

 Years in Queen-Kearing," In 1884, 

 desirous of starting with the best 

 strain of bees I possibly could get, 

 I got of A. I. Root, one queen, 



a daughter of an imported mother, 

 also an imported queen from Bian- 

 coni direct from Italy, and one 

 from Doolittle. From these I 

 raised three queens each. In 



1885, I took the best of these and 

 raised the queens of my seventy- 

 five colonies now in m}'^ apiary. In 



1886, by careful crossing of the 

 best, I had a fine quality and 

 strain of pure home-bred bees, ac- 

 climated for wintering purposes 

 and fine honey gatherers, and I do 

 firmly believe, I am going towards 

 the coming bee. How I succeeded 

 in breeding up will form another 

 chapter. 



Qaasqueton, Btichancm Co., Iowa. 



From 'Gleanings.^' 



THE PAST AND THE 

 PROSPECT. 



BRIGHTNESS THROUGH DISCODR- 

 AGEMENT. 



Most of the readers of " Glean- 

 ings " are aware by this time, no 

 doubt, that the honey crop of this 

 season is likely to be exceedingly 

 short. My locality is no exception 

 to the general rule, unless it is in be- 

 ing rather worse, if anything, than 

 the average. In fact, the season here 

 has been most exceptionally bad. 

 It opened badly. Fruit-blossoms 

 produced scarcely a ripple on the 

 apiarian sea. White clover came 

 in abundance, but, except for two 

 or three da3's,its blossoms remained 

 almost unvisited by the bees. Bass- 

 wood bloomed early and freely, but 

 the taste of basswood honey never 

 became perceptible in the hives. 

 Mustard and sweet clover came at 

 about the same time. For about 

 two weeks the bees worked well on 

 these in the early morning, contin- 

 uing with less vigor on sweet clo- 

 ver throughout the da3^ 



Mustard is gone now, and sweet 

 clover, in the intense drought that 



