TITE AMERICAN BER JOURNAL. 



57 



[For the American Bee Journal. ] 



Purity of Italian Bees. 



In consequence of my advertisement in the 

 American Bee Journal, I have received a 

 srreat many letters, desiring information rela- 

 :ive to Dr. Blumhoff 's queens. Let me answer 

 through your estimable Journal. 



It is an error to think, as most apiarians do, 

 that the imported queens and their workers are 

 more yellow than those reared here, on the as- 

 sumption that they are purer. 



Either because the first imported queens came 

 from Germany, where the yellow color is in 

 fashion ; or hecause all queen-breeders in this 

 country have always selected their brightest 

 colored queens to breed from ; some of the 

 queens and workers reared here are brighter 

 than those imported from the best bee regions 

 in Italy. That is a remarkable change ; un- 

 fortunately, I cannot say that it is an ameliora- 

 tion. 



Indeed, as Messrs. Bidwell Bro's. state in the 

 American Agriculturist lor January last, in no 

 apiary can you find two hives whose workers 

 are exactly alike. Can we then le proud of our 

 improvement or amelioration, on account of 

 the lighter color of our bees ? 



The workers of the Blumhoff imported queens 

 are all alike, in all the hives ; all have the three 

 yellow bands, with black rings larger than 

 ours, bordered with dense gray hairs, and 

 above all an abdomen more tapered, a body 

 more slender, giving them a more graceful 

 shape and a brisker appearance than those of 

 our would-be improved bees. 



As it is above all in the shape of the body of 

 the workers that their superiority over the black 

 bees resides, we must adhere especially to the shape 

 of the Italian bees. 



What should we think of a man who, know- 

 ing that the Percheron French horse is gray, 

 would claim that all gray horses are Perche- 

 rons ? The comparison is apt, for I have bred 

 impure queens from mothers all of whose wor- 

 ker progeny showed the three yellow stripes ; 

 and, again, have reared pure queens from 

 queens whose workers were far less light-colored 

 those of the former. 



Till the contrary is shown, I lay down the 

 following principles : 



First. The Blumhoff imported bees are purer 

 than the bees reared here, for all their wor- 

 ker progeny, in all the hives, are alike; and no 

 criterion is more certain than this. 



Second. The shape of the body of the workers, 

 more than their color, ought to point out the 

 queens to breed from. 



Third. The color of the queens and drones is 

 too variable for relying on with any certainty. 



The shape of the workers is not so difficult to 

 recognize as many imagine. No one, after 

 seeing bees from an imported queen, can mis- 

 take, or consider as pure our wide, flattened, 

 three-striped bees. 



Starting from these principles we may seek to 

 breed Italian workers with four yellow rings, 

 or even with the abdomen entirely yellow ; but 

 should probably produce a degeneration similar 



to that sometimes observed in the human race, ol 

 which albinos are a rude exemplification. 



Cn. Dadant. 

 Hamilton, III., August 4, 1868. 



[For tho American Boe Journal.] 



Color of Italian Bees. 



I would like to know through the Journal, 

 why it is that the queens reared from imported 

 Italian queens are not as light colored as arc 

 those of the third or fourth generation ? Also, 

 why the workers are not as light, though they 

 have the three rings? And why the drones 

 are almost as black as the common drones ? 



R. R. M. 



[For the American Beo Journal.] 



Purity of Italian Bees and Queens. 



It is now commonly maintained in many 

 quarters that the sole evidence of the purity of 

 Italian bees is that they are as gentle as flies; 

 that is, that they will not sting. Have not 

 those who maintain this one-sided proposition, 

 had occasion, this year, to change their mind ? 

 I believe that if pure Italian bees are found any- 

 where in the United States, it is even here in 

 Jefferson. I believe that I have myself more 

 than a hundred colonies unquestionably pure ; 

 and, moreover, that Mr. Adam Grimm owns 

 many hundred colonies pure and genuine. 

 Furthermore, I believe that the queens which 

 Mr. Grimm himself imported from Italy are 

 and must be pure. Nevertheless, while thus 

 believing, we know that Italian bees do sting ; 

 aye, and at times do so more readily than the 

 black bees. During the swarming season the 

 weather was very hot here; and all the swarms, 

 especially the Italiaus, were, for swarming bees, 

 very much disposed to sting, so that it was fre- 

 quently dangerous to undertake to hive them. 

 Accustomed as I am to handling bees, I would 

 not venture to hive any swarm without using 

 a bee-cap for protection. A prime swarm issu- 

 ing in my absence, from a hive in my 

 home apiary near the dwelling house, and 

 hived by my wife, was so excited and 

 furious that the like had never been witnes- 

 sed here ; and throughout the day, persons in 

 all the neighborhood around were stung. Next 

 morning I transferred that same hive to a trans- 

 porting hive, and carried it open to xny other 

 apiary, two miles and a half distant, without 

 receiving a sting. 



Mr. Grimm informed me that his imported 

 bees are as ill tempered as all the rest, if not 

 more so. At other times, indeed, I And tho 

 Italian bees so gentle that I can freely open 

 the hives and perform the required operations 

 without any protection whatever. Still on cold 

 days or cool mornings, it behoves us to be careful 

 in removing the honey-hoard or lifting the frames 

 not to cause any sudden jar or noise. Neverthe- 

 less, with proper careful handling, I would 

 at any time rather open and thoroughly exam- 



