1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



233 



their honey ^fathering qualities has found its way 

 into the journals. 



Interested )iarties have, it is true, sent out 

 large statements and in many instances, claimed 

 that they would gather double the hon«y from 

 led clover, &c. While this was going forward, 

 various honey raisers were trying the merits of 

 Italian bees as honey producers, but as they had 

 converted all their old stocks into Italians, no 

 comparison could be made or opinion formed as 

 to their comparative merits. Those having them 

 obtained large amounts of honey by their skilful 

 m.anagement and modestly gave their Italian 

 bees credit for it. Tiiis was very natural, but, 

 as it was the skill of the apiarian and not the 

 Superior Bee, which gave the results, their re- 

 ports gave an erroneous impression, and the 

 traffic went on. 



Some tried them and gave them up, as they 

 did not i^rovide enough more honey for the extra 

 trouble, and many went so far as to say tliey 

 would not work in the boxes neai'ly as well as 

 the old kind. But I am straying from my sub- 

 ject and must return to the convention for my 

 statistics. At the convention, it may be well to 

 say, each member was lianded apiinted blank 

 on which to carry out the number of bees he 

 had, the number of movable frame hives in 

 use, the amount of honey produced and the price 

 obtained, and the number of Italian stocks. 



Men from all parts of the country gave in 

 their reports. No class failed to do this except 

 Italian queen vendors and a few others tootiug 

 the Italian horn. None of these "advice to 

 beginner's" men report a pound of honey — a 

 very curious fact. 



The honey-raisers' report embraces a few hav- 

 ing some Italians and some blacks, and, as I 

 have no means of knowing Aviien they were 

 Italianized I have left out the mixed apiarians 

 entirely, and give only those reports which have 

 no doubt as to which kind of bees stoi-ed the 

 honey. Of these seventeen hundred and thirtj'- 

 one Italian stocks, produced twenty-nine thou- 

 sand and forty-seven pounds of honey, or an 

 average of about sixteen and three-fourths 

 pounds per hive. 



As tlie old kind were in box hives many of 

 them, and of course not in the hands of the most 

 skilled apiarians — -while ihe Italians were in 

 movalde comb-hives, and managed by the very 

 men who can give "advice to beginners," I 

 think tlie old fogie brown bees have done well. 



Now, Mr. Editor, as the increase of Italian 

 stocks reported does not ditfer essentially from 

 the increase of the blacks reported 'nearly 

 doubling), we have what the weather report of 

 the Smitiisonian Institute ba.ses its opinion on, 

 as also the Life and Fire Insurance Companies, 

 and all other good business men, that is, we 

 have the average yield over a wide extent of 

 territory, managed in a variety of ways with a 

 wonderfully uniform result. It is encouraging 

 to those about to purchase a yearling Balmoral 

 queen with the prospect of raising from year to 

 year a large number of pure queen.'? to take the 

 place of those having a doubtful pedigree. 



When we realize that perhaps queen breeders, 

 who as a rule are or have been patent Bee Hive 



Vendors, may tell the truth when they say there 

 is no profit in rearing tested queens at two dol- 

 lars cash, it certainly seems no trifling matter 

 and lequiring no small amount of courage to 

 embark in an enterprise promising sixteen ])Ow\v\s 

 less honey for every Italian stock wintered, with 

 all the attendant trouble, than they would have 

 had, had they saved tlieir monry and i\\e\v plain, 

 beautiful bees. 



We are not entirely dependent on this average 

 yield for the evidence that black bees are vastly 

 superior to Italians. The greatest average yield 

 in any apiary last season was that of Mr. Hos- 

 men, which was black bees. Mr. Quinbj% who 

 by the way is a large rai.ser of Italian bees, also 

 reports his greatest yield of honey from one hive 

 to have lieen secured from black stock. Mr. 

 Gallup, who has realized Novice's prophecy, of 

 '•five liundred" pounds per hive I presume ob- 

 tained it from his JVew Hive merely, and like Mr. 

 Hazen, will not fail to give it to us in ditferent 

 re-liashes for the next live years. 



With the best wishes for the Journal and bee- 

 keepers, I remain, &g., T. F. Biagham. 



Allegan, Mich. 



[From the N. T. Sun.l 



A Big Prog Story. 



How AN Old Gentleman's Bee Boxes were 

 Robbed of their Honey — And how an Old 

 Thief got rid op his Pursuers — A Stoky 

 FROM A Venerable Clergyman. 



To the Editor of The Sun. 



Sir : — I read your Staten Island frog story the 

 other day with great intei-est. I have met with 

 several very singular facts in connection with 

 these amphibious animals in the course of my 

 travels, one of which I will here record. In 

 Jamaica, AYest Indies, the settlers keep their 

 bees — whose honey, by the way, rivals the 

 famous product of Mount Hybla— in old salt fish 

 boxes. The box is first well soaked in a moun- 

 tain stream, and then daubed inside witli honey. 

 When the bees swarm, the hive is placed har.dy, 

 and they very soon accept the invitation to new 

 quarters. The box is then placed upon four 

 stones, which elevate it about half a foot from 

 the ground, thus giving the bees air ar.d a way 

 of getting in and out. 



An old friend of mine had his house and gar- 

 den near a small stream, which was the resort of 

 a number of frogs. Some of these fellows were 

 eight inches long and four broad. They would 

 come up to the house every evening, and loaf 

 about watching the children at play. When 

 darkness came on, they were supposed to go to 

 their barracks for the night. The old gentleman 

 had a number of bee boxes. He was fond of 

 honey. He liked honey and he liked mead. 

 When the time came one season to take the 

 honey, he was greatly surprised to find that 

 several of his boxes were almost empty. I was 

 passing the next day and he called me in and 

 told me his trouble. He showed me the boxes. 



" Thieves have been at work there," said he. 



I agreed with him. He proposed that I should 



