1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



247 



He claims that there is no law, or rule of the 

 Post Office Department, that authorizes them to be 

 sent at less rates. Our Post Master is an intelligent 

 gentleman, has held the office for many years, and 

 should understand his business. Is he right ? This 

 is the question I am now propounding. 



While 1 have had to pay full letter postage rates, 

 usually about six cents on packages containing single 

 queens, I have received queens from other parties, 

 in packages much heavier than mine, with only two 

 cent stamps on them. This difference will amount 

 to several dollars in the course of our season, to 

 parties sending out many queens. It is a matter 

 worth looking into. If we have laws, allowing them 

 to be sent at less rates, we should have the benefit of 

 them. If there are no such laws, we ought to have 

 them, and that speedily. The attention of national 

 legislators should be called to this matter. 



M. C. Hester, Charlestown, Ind. 



[Translated from the Bienenzeituns-] 



The Italian Bee. 



In unpropitious years one learns the worth and 

 superiority of many of the productions of nature, 

 which in good years are not so apparent, owing to 

 the abundance of the yield. It is thus with the Ital- 

 ian bee. I admit that I did oppose the introduction 

 of that bee. Yet the past year the worst we have 

 had in thirty years, has altered my opinion. Now, 

 from the fullest examination, I believe the Italian to 

 be the race most suitable to Germany. Whether 

 those Italians reared artificially by Herr Vogel, are 

 equal to the native Italian, is yet in my mind, a mat- 

 ter of doubt. The appearance is there, but that does 

 not make the Italian bee. In the spring of this year, 

 I had sixteen stands alike as to numbers and quan- 

 tity of food. Four of these were Italians, and the 

 remaining twelve German bees. During the fine 

 days of March, they all flew alike, and my hope was 

 consequently much raised to obtain this year a large 

 yield. Then came the bad days of April. Were 

 there some few good hours during the day, they were 

 invariably followed by cold winds or wet weather. 

 With the opening of April, my sixteen stocks, during 

 propituous moments flew strong. 



But what did I live to see? All the paths of the 

 garden, and the ground around the hive, were cov- 

 ered with German bees, yet no Italians were to be 

 found among them. I then watched the fly-holes. 

 Out of all the hives, many bees flew, the Italians 

 however alone returning. It was a rarity, did the 

 German bees return to the hive. The natural result 

 was, that the German stocks were becoming weaker 

 and weaker, while with the Italians, there was no 

 diminution apparent. Further, by the end of April, 

 the German bees had no brood, while the Italians 

 were rich in brood. May was like April. My Ger- 

 man stocks had become so weak, that except in the 

 warm hours of the day, not a bee was to be seen. 

 The Italians on the contrary increased in strength 

 from day to day, and by the end of May began build- 

 ing comb. Long before this I began to feed the 

 German bees, so as to keep them alive. On the tenth 

 of June, the raspberrys began to bloom. The weather 

 became warmer. The Italians beganjwith their whole 

 strength to gather from the raspberrys. The weak 



German stocks were able to gather little. On the 

 twentieth of June the Acacia began to bloom, but its 

 blossoms were not as rich this year in honey, as they 

 had been in former years, the frost having destroyed 

 fully one half of the blossoms. The Italians now 

 developed daily a stronger flight, as the young bees 

 made their appearance. After eight days, they 

 ascended to the surplus honey rooms and built them 

 half full of comb. The German bees now only began 

 to have large supplies of brood. When on the eighth 

 of J nly, the Linden began to blossom, and the Italians 

 were so strong, that I began to expect them to swarm. 

 The German bees had also, become stronger, and 

 were laboring rather industriously on the Linden, yet 

 the most of the honey brought into the hive was used 

 for feeding the young brood ; there was none stored 

 of any account. With the end of the Linden blos- 

 soms the harvest was practically over ; still the Ger- 

 man stocks continued to increase in numbers so that 

 by the end of August, they were over populous. 



The Italians had at that time filled all the honey 

 room with honey, about thirty pounds, and in the 

 brood chambers there was a superabundance for 

 winter use. When at the end of August I inspected 

 also the German stands I was astonished. All the 

 stocks were in arrears, so that in order to winter them 

 I had to feed them strongly. 



Had I only Italians, the year 1871 would have been 

 for me a good ordinary one, as four stocks of this 

 species would have given me a yield of one hundred 

 and twelve pounds of honey. 



Henceforth I will more and more Italianize my 

 apiary, and request all opponents of the Italian bee, 

 to test my experience in their own apiaries ; as I was 

 also an opponent myself, but have been perfectly cured. 



Klein — Glienieke hear PoUam. Viebeg. 



Nov.l8,1«71. 



[For the American lSee Journal.] 



All Old Bees. 



Mr. Editor: — It appears that this memorable bee 

 disease question is not solved yet, and probably never 

 will be. I have given a description of how my bees 

 fared through the winter of 71-72, and now for this 

 winter. To-day, March twenty-fifth, they are with- 

 out exception splendid, fourteen in number. Mind 

 you one feels no ordinary joy and gladness after 

 such a visitation as the winter before this, when it 

 resounded from every part of the land with an echo 

 ' my bees are dead." I hope sincerly that the readers 

 of the highly prized American Bee Journal, may be 

 blessed with the general surprise of finding their 

 pets all right with abundance of young bees and 

 brood, as is my case at present. Even the "all old 

 bees" theory must surrender as being the cause of 

 the fatal dysentery of a year ago, for which there is 

 not one particle of foundation. My experience 

 proves it. August seventeenth, I removed a stock 

 of bees to a new stand, supplied the bees on the old 

 stand with full compliment of comb with sealed 

 honey etc., their queen I put in a cage for near four 

 weeks, so not a bee was raised, and there were no 

 other bees but what found their way back to their 

 old stand. I liberated the queen and found after 

 that no brood was started and no bees raised. On 

 the eight of November, I removed them to the cellar, 

 of course they were not powerfully strong, but as 



