trade than a dozen producers like your- 

 self. 



Second. If you cannot get your friends 

 who keep bees to adopt a nice, tasty 

 style of package, and get their honey off 

 in nice shape, do not let them get it in 

 the marketatall. Buy it yourself, or at 

 least make them an offer for it, for all it 

 is worth, so if they should not get the 

 price in market you offered they will 

 bring it back to* you. After having 

 bought it, dress it lip in the best shape 

 possible and sell it with your own crop, 

 and thus, as a rule, you can get out of 

 it without loss, and after a few years of 

 energetic work on the part of intelli- 

 gent honey producers, we shall have a 

 more uniform price for our product. I 

 have had the handling of nearly all the 

 honey in my neighborhood for the past 

 5 years, and although as a whole I have 

 lost on that I have bought, still I am 

 satisiied I have realized more on my own. 



Borodino, N. Y., June, 1880. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Cyprian Bees— American Apiculture. 



C. J. H. GRAVENHORST. 



"The valuable qualities of the Cyprian 

 bee are now everywhere acknowledged, 

 and, as a matter of course, the demand 

 for the same daily increases. Even the 

 Italians came gradually to the conclu- 

 sion that the Cyprians are in many ways 

 superior to their own bees. 



Prof. Sartori, in Milan, purchased a 

 Cyprian queen in Prague, with the in- 

 tention of improving his bees. But 

 more than that was done by Fiorini in 

 Monselice, Italy. He started, on Nov. 

 13, 1879, for the island of Cyprus, and 

 there purchased eight colonies, which 

 he took with him to Italy to improve 

 his apiary by introducing them into his 

 hives. He arrived home on Dec. 12, 

 1879. Fiorini, who is very circumspect 

 and full of experience as a bee-keeper, 

 will surely gain his point. He will be 

 able' to raise a species of bees, by choos- 

 ing with care and bringing together 

 bees from both races, which will unite 

 the good qualities of both. It cre- 

 ated a joyful sensation among the ad- 

 mirers of the Cyprian bee in Germany 

 thai steps are taken also in America to 

 introduce that race of bees into that 

 country. Messrs. D. A. Jones, of Can- 

 ada, and Frank Benton, of Michigan, 

 are importing the Cyprians with suc- 

 cess. Both gentlemen (with Mrs. Ben- 

 ton) paid me a visit last February, when 

 on their way to the island of Cyprus, 

 and remained at my house for 2 days. 

 I was greatly pleased with their visit, 

 and we conversed very profitably to- 



gether about bees and apiculture. From 

 here they went to Cori and the Count 

 Kolowrat, to whom I had previously 

 sent word as to their coming. 



The American Bee Journal. 



I have had the pleasure of reading 

 the American Bee Journal ever 

 since its commencement by the late Mr. 

 Samuel Wagner at Washington, D. C. 

 In every volume I have had the honor 

 to contribute articles for its columns. 



I have tried to study from it the 

 apicultural conditions of America, and 

 I am indebted very largely to this pa- 

 per — which now is, through your ability 

 as its editor, and through your exer- 

 tions, the most renowned of apicultural 

 journals — for much information that 

 has enabled me to report and judge of 

 American bee-culture with intelligence. 



Reports from it have been published 

 in many of our bee-publications, and I 

 have also translated many articles from 

 your valuable journal and given to our 

 publishers who have printed them. 

 These were read everywhere by apia- 

 rists in Europe with great satisfaction. 

 I believe that, through these transla- 

 tions, I have done much towards creat- 

 ing a better knowledge and comprehen- 

 sion of American apiculture, bee-plants 

 and the excellent productions of the 

 American bee-keepers. 



More than this, I have found strong 

 support in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, against the many attacks that have 

 been made on American apiculturists, 

 and against which I have made a vig- 

 orous defense. You will find, for in- 

 stance, in No. 1 of the Bienen Zeitung an 

 article from Hannemann, in South Bra- 

 zil, in which this gentleman talks of me 

 as an emigrant agent, who is trying to 

 coax German bee-keepers to go to 

 America, just because I have defended 

 my American brother bee-keepers from 

 outside attacks. 



With great arrogance, Hannemann 

 denies that the Americans live in a 

 country which is the best honey-pro- 

 ducing country on earth (see Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, December, page 

 533). He pronounced the magnificent 

 honey harvests of Grimm, Wilkin and 

 others, as nothing but humbug, and at- 

 tempts to prove that it is impossible to 

 obtain 112 lbs. of honey from one hive 

 during one season. 



Last year he wrote a lengthy article 

 in the Bienen Zeitung, in which he made 

 strong attacks on American bee-cul- 

 ture. That article has been ably re- 

 futed by Greiner Bros., of Naples. N. Y., 

 in the BienenZeitung No. 9 of this year. It 

 indeed pleased me that these gentlemen 

 so clearly exposed the mistaken views 



