AMERICAN BEE JOURNA] 



623 



Italian Bees— Historical Facts. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY M. M. BALDBIDGE. 



The writer has been a constant reader 

 of the American Bee Journal from its 

 very first issue in 1861, and he has 

 tried to Iceep himself pretty well ad- 

 vised about bees from that date up to 

 the present time. He, as well as many 

 others, has always regarded the "Old 

 Reliable " as the special repository for 

 historical facts about bees, hives, etc. 

 From time to time certain statements 

 have appeared in the American Bee 

 Journal that were said to be historical 

 facts, but, on close inspection, they did 

 not prove to be. Without doubt the 

 writers believed in many cases that their 

 statements were indisputable facts, but 

 sometimes they found that they had, in 

 some way, been misled, and, when 

 shown their mistakes, have generally 

 been willing to stand corrected ; but, 

 occasionally, the reverse has been true. 



I find on»page 244, some statements 

 about Italian bees and P. J. Mahan, 

 made by C. J. Robinson, one of the old- 

 est writers on bee-culture now living in 

 the United States, that I do not fully 

 endorse ; and I therefore think they 

 need some attention, and likewise some 

 correcting. To treat the subject fairly. 

 I will try to give in detail, and, in sub- 

 stance, what Mr. R. says, as follows : 



1. In 1859, P. J. Mahan and I tried 

 to induce the Chief of the United States 

 Patent office to send Mr. Mahan to Italy 

 as Government Agent, to buy some Ital- 

 ian bees, and to bring them on to Wash- 

 ington to be tested. The official refused 

 to do as desired, but instead instructed 

 S. B. Parsons, who was acting as gov- 

 ernment agent in Europe, to secure a 

 few colonies of said bees, and to forward 

 them on to his Department. The pur- 

 chase was made, as per instructions, but 

 the bees did not reach the Patent Office. 

 But " Mr. Parsons got the bees," and 



this was the " Parson's importation " we 

 have read so much about. 



2. Soon after Mr. Mahan's proposi- 

 tion was refused by the Patent Office, as 

 stated, he went himself to Germany and 

 obtained some Italian bees and queens 

 on his own account from both Dr. Dzier- 

 zon and Baron Berlepsch, and, on his 

 return, he brought them to the United 

 States. There were also a few colonies 

 of Italian bees, upon the same steamer 

 that Mr. Mahan came, consigned to 

 Messrs. Wagner and Colvin. This was 

 in September, 1859. Mr. Mahan suc- 

 ceeded, on reaching New York, in land- 

 ing his bees before the Wagner and Col- 

 vin consignment was landed, and, there- 

 fore, claims the honor of being the first 

 to land living Italian bees on the Ameri- 

 can continent. Besides, Mr. Mahan 

 was also the first person to breed Italian 

 queens in America. 



In regard to the foregoing I would say 

 this : 



1. The impression that I got from this 

 statement is that Mr. Parson's did not 

 obey his instructions from the Patent 

 Office, nor treat his employer fairly nor 

 honorably in this Italian bee transac- 

 tion. In other words, what Mr. Par- 

 son's did on that occasion, in plain Eng- 

 lish, was dishonest. Now, if my inter- 

 pretation of what Mr. Robinson says, or 

 insinuates, be incorrect, please Mr. R., 

 do explain, just exactly what you in- 

 tended to convey. But let me warn you 

 in advance to be very careful what you 

 say in reply, for I happen to know what 

 the main facts are and were. 



2. Now, Mr. Langstroth denies that 

 Mr. Mahan, on that occasion, was the 

 first person to land living Italian bees in 

 America. Here is verbatim what Mr. L. 

 says on that subject : 



"Our queens, which came in 1859, 

 were in charge of a German resident of 

 Brooklyn, N. Y., who was returning 

 home from a visit to his friends, and to 

 whom Mr. Wagner had given very care- 

 ful directions how to care for them. This 

 person, learning that Mr. Mahan had ex- 

 pressed the intention of having the 

 honor of landing, in America, the first 

 living Italian bees, and desiring, as he 

 told me, to secure this honor for us, com- 

 municated Mr. Mahan's intention to the 

 captain, who, as soon as the gang way 

 was in place, was the first person to 

 step ashore, proclaiming with a loud 

 voice, '■These are ihe first Italian bees 

 ever landed on the shores of A7)ierica .'' " 



So, you see, Mr. R., your statement 

 that Mr. Mahan was the first person to 

 land the Italian bees on this continent 



