THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



IGl 



ill the voyage ; and moths. Ah ! yes, moths ! 

 One day I received a package of Ki (lueens ; 

 not one live l)ee in the IfJ boxes, bnt plenty of 

 living and flying and creeping moths in every 

 I)ox. llow good that sniclled ? Prof. Mona 

 wrote to me, a few years ago, that, in Italy, it 

 was impossible to send bees withont sending 

 moths ; the winters are too nnld there to kill 

 the moths. 



Never have I seen so many moths, at the 

 same time, as in a well known and far famed 

 apiary of Italy. 



In fact, I have received but one package 

 witliout moths and that invoice was the last, 

 received a few days ago, with 8 living queens. 

 Eight living queens out of Ki, after 37 days 

 journey. That was marvelous ; but the bees 

 were so carefully packed ; the little atten- 

 tions that I had prescribed had been so com- 

 pletly observed, together with some others so 

 intelligent and ingenious cares, that I have at 

 once sent to that careful breeder an order for 

 10() queens, to be sent in six packages, from 

 week to week. This man lives not far from 

 the shores of the Adriatic Sea, in one of the 

 best bee districts of Italy. He is a very care- 

 ful and successful Apiarian. I could say, the 

 first careful bee breeder that I have foiuid in 

 Italy. 



Many bee-keepers, of this' country, after 

 losing money in their importations, have 

 given it np in disgust. But, in spite of the 

 losses and disappointment, I have persever- 

 ed ; surely there are some conditions which 

 would insure success. Of course I had to 

 learn these conditions, one after another, by 

 examining tlie boxes on their arrival here ; 

 the requisites of a successful joru-ney being 

 determined, the most difficult to be found : 

 a man who could com])ly with them without 

 varying, to do better. 



The Importation of bees is like gambling, 

 with its illusions and its deceptions. When 

 the bees arrive, I feel the same sensations as 

 a gambler at the lottery ; and too often the 

 result is the same : loss, dead loss. But to- 

 day I am sure to have turned the chances on 

 my side ; if the man continues to prepare the 

 bees as he has done for his first invoice, and 

 I do not doubt it. 



(^UESTIOX. 



In your answer to H. A. Spraoupjs in the 

 ,Iune Xo. of the Ameiucax Bek .Jouknal. 

 you say that you know of no honey yielding 

 plant, good for hedging, in this country. Will 

 not the honey locust, (glcditschia trUvwnth- 

 o.s) answer the purpose ? Edgak SA(iEi{. 



ANSAVEK. 



The honey locust would make a good hedge 

 were not the cattle so fond of its leaves and 

 young sprouts. 1 know a Frenchman who 

 tried it, but had to protect his hed,ge against 

 the teeth of his cows. 



QrESTION. 



I wish to know what color the ])ure bred 

 Italian bees are ? I purchased a (lueen two 

 years ago, about two-thirds of lier progeny 

 are wliat I take to be pure, that is are not 

 (piite as dark as the native bee, with three 

 yellow bands around them ; the others are 

 about tlie color of the native bee. I fear she 

 is hybrid, will you iilease inform me U])on 

 that point. ' W. F. Ferox:sok. 



AXSWEU. 



The pure Italian bees have three leather 

 colored bands around the abdomen, /. c, the 

 lirst small ring which is attached to the 

 corslet, then the second and the third. This 

 third ring is more or less bordered with 

 black. When the bee is empty, the leather 

 color disappears and the bee seems to have 

 but two yellow rings. All the bees in a pure 

 colony have the three rings visible, in the 

 young bees as soon as they have taken their 

 first meal ; in the old bees when they return 

 from the fields, in the time of honey harvest, 

 yometimes, even in Italy, there are a few 

 black bees among the thousands of well 

 marked, but it is not a mark of impurity. 



The color of bees is not always a sure test 

 of purity. By selecting the yellowest (lueens, 

 for several generations, there are produced 

 bees with so much yellow and so thin black 

 borders on the rings, that a slight dash of 

 black blood cannot be detected in their pro- 

 geny. It is on that account that some (pieen 

 breeders do not like the impoi'ted Italian 

 (lueens, the smallest stain of black being 

 visible in their progeny, these breeders 

 obtain from them a less number of seeming 

 pure queens and consequently they claim 

 that the Italian bees are injurious. Yet this 

 false idea is fast disai)pearing, for I have 

 received lately orders from breeders who 

 three years ago complained of the Italian 

 queens : and who now want dark colored 

 bees, because they are more hardy and more 

 fertile tlian the light colored. 



As for myself. I consider tlie color of the 

 bees but a second test of purity. My first 

 test being the demeanor of the bees, when 

 the combs are taken out of the hive. The 

 quieter, the purer are the bees. 



If the progeny of the queen that you receiv- 

 ed two years ago was then such as you 

 describe it, she was impure. It is more pro- 

 bable that, after vou received her. she was 

 replaced and that her daughter failed to mate 

 with a pure drone. 



QUESTIOX. 



I am using the Langstroth hive — is it good".' 

 I think if there is any better. I would like to 

 know it. W. T. F. 



AXSWEK. 



The Langstroth hive is good, but I prefer 

 the old Quinby (not the new) enlarged to 11 

 or I'i frames. I use two sizes of hives : C^uin- 



