28 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[August, 



I could not. without some difficulty, take my coat off 

 in the evening. The next morning- I had greater dif- 

 ficulty to put it on, and nry arm was very tender for 

 several days after. From these circumstanc s I formed 

 a resolution never to be stung by one bte alone, unless 

 another cannot be had. 



Many more observations of the like nature have I 

 made the last seven years past, aud can add with cer- 

 tainty that the more I am stung the less effect I feel 



from it Many have asked my advice 



when stung, and I have always recommended. that 



ANOTHEK STING THEM NEAR THE SAME PLACE, AND 



all will be well. One in particular, who atteuded 

 me at times for many years p<st, in taking bees out of 

 trees and other places, when stung on the face asked me 

 what he should do, and exclaiming lie should be blind ; 

 my advice has constantly been, as I have just said, 

 that another bee sting him near the same place, and 

 he will swell very little or none at all. But though in 

 many respects he is a man of uncommon boldness and 

 will climb a tree of any height, and put his baud into 

 the hole of the tree among the bees, the same as into 

 a bird's nest, yet sooner than take my advice, and 

 make use of my infallible speedy medicine, he will be 

 content to be swollen almost blind, and go blinking 

 like an owl, for near a week together." 



Poor Sydserff, with his infallible remedy, seems 

 to have been unable to make a convert of one 

 who had the benefit of being an eye witness to 

 its marvellous efficacy ; and it is not likely that 

 his zeal will make many converts among modern 

 beekeepers. We can easily conceive how small 

 the demand would be for movable comb bee- 

 hives, if the art of subduing the bees by smoke 

 was as little known to the present generation, as 

 it seems to have been to him. While few will 

 attempt to cure beestings Sydserff fashion, many 

 will agree with him that the pain and swelling 

 from a single sting is often more severe than that 

 caused by many. 



L. L. L. 



[For Wagner's American Bee Journal.] 



Do Italian Bees Gather more Honey than Black 

 Bees? 



In reply to Mr. Bingham's indictment against 

 the Italian bees, in the April No. of the Journal, 

 we give some facts which occurred in our own 

 apiary, and which convinced us that under some 

 circumstances, the Italian bees gather more 

 honey than black bees. 



In 1860, the first year that we had any practi- 

 cal experience with the Italian bees, we had 

 twelve swarms of black bees early in June. To 

 three of these swarms we gave, when hiving 

 them, Italian queens, procured from the apiary 

 of Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, who had just in- 

 troduced this variety to the American beekeepers. 

 The hives were tolerably well filled with combs, 

 built by the black bees, but before the young 

 Italians began to gather stores, the honey har- 

 vest was nearly over. In August, owing to poor 

 health, we not only made no observations, but 

 could not be persuaded even so much as to visit 

 the apiary. A member of our family, however, 

 noticed that while the three colonies with the 

 Italian queens seemed to be working vigorously, 

 the other nine were doing little or nothing. In 



September we were able to open the hives, and 

 found that while the Italians had gathered a suffi- 

 cient supp'y for wintering, the best of the others 

 had only a few pounds. The honey in the black 

 colonies was so scattered that we were compelled 

 to break them all up, adding the bees to other 

 stocks. The Italians wintered well, and the next 

 season we obtained from them about 350 pounds 

 of surplus honey in the comb, and one large 

 swa rm . 



We were not able to determine that year from 

 what sources, unvisited by black bees, our Ital- 

 ians obtained their honey, but have since then 

 felt satisfied that it was mainly from the second 

 crop of red clover. While in some seasons this 

 yields little, if any honey, in others our Italian 

 bees have been able to build new combs and fill 

 surplus boxes from this source, while the black 

 stocks in our vicinity were actually losing weight. 



We have little doubt that when honey abounds 

 and superabounds in the nectaries of the blos- 

 soms, black bees will gather almost if not quite as 

 much as Italians ; but when it is scarce, and 

 only to be procured by extra hard work, then the 

 superiority of the "yellow bee" is very mani- 

 fest. It will carefully search for such blossoms 

 as have the shallowest petals, and will labor long 

 and vigorously for only a small load. 



When Mr. Parsons first procured this variety 

 from Europe, he published the statement, then 

 current, that the Italian bee had a longer probo- 

 scis than the black. This assertion was soon 

 withdrawn ; for it was found by most careful 

 microscopical measurements of numerous speci- 

 mens submitted by us to Professor Joseph Leidy, 

 of Philadelphia, for that purpose, that the aver- 

 age length of the proboscis of the Italian bee 

 was the same as that of the black variety. 



Our experience that first season with the Ital- 

 ian bees has been repeatedly confirmed in our 

 own apiary, and we could quote that of many oth- 

 ers, if it was thought nee ssary. We will only re- 

 fer to that of Gunther, the well-known assistant 

 of the Baron Von Berlepsch, and to that of Mr. 

 Robert Bickford, of Seneca Falls, N. Y. The 

 former says that he found the Italian stocks 

 were increasing in weight at the very time that 

 the black stocks were growing lighter ; and Mr. 

 Bickford says he was not convinced that Italian 

 bees were on the whole better honey gatherers 

 than black bees, until a bad season demonstrated 

 in his own apiary their very great superiority. 

 L. L. Langstroth. 



To Stick Combs in Boxes. 



Cut them up into pieces of the proper size. 

 Then stand near a stove-lid or any other iron 

 plate, moderately hot, with the box in the left 

 hand, held properly, and taking hold of the comb 

 with the right hand rub the edge that is intended 

 to adhere on the warm plate till a portion is 

 melted, then clap it suddenly to its place in the 

 box, when it will stick as well as if waxed with 

 a brush. 



S. SCOTTON. 



Richmond Ltd., June 28, 1872. 



