206 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



lisher of The Journal and he will gladly 

 mail you the book, and it may prove to 

 be the best investment you ever made. 

 M. M. Baldridge. 

 St. Charles, Illinois. 



■ • -*' > ' 



My Experience with Italians. 



I regret that I have so little new experi- 

 ence to add to your interesting columns. 

 To have contributed anything of value to 

 the general fund of knowledge, I should 

 have kept a journal of my summer and 

 spring work ; a plan which every one who 

 has sufficient leisure should adopt. 



My 30 colonies were carried to their 

 winter house about the 28th of November, 

 and were removed again to their summer 

 stands in the last week of March. The 

 winter here^ as elsewhere, was unusually 

 severe, but they maintained the tempera- 

 ture at all times above freezing, except for 

 two days, when it was found necessary to 

 assist them by heated plates of old iron 

 carried in twice a day. Fewer bees left 

 tlie hive from distended abdomens than 

 usual. This I attribute to the plan of 

 giving no upward ventilation. The caps 

 were removed, the summer entrances left 

 wide open, and the quilts closely tucked 

 over the frames. Heretofore I have given 

 some upward ventilation, without as good 

 results. 



I placed one strong colony in a hot bed 

 pit, which is mostly under ground, four 

 feet deep, six wide, and twelve long. 

 Although it wintered well, and came out 

 strong and prosperous early in March, (at 

 which time I was obliged to use the bed 

 for early vegetables,) I cannot say the 

 result was equal to my expectations, for 

 whenever the pit was heated up enough 

 to tempt the bees to make a purifying 

 flight, they lingered so long in the warm 

 rays of the sun, on the sashes, that they 

 became chilled and lost, before darkness 

 drove them back again to the hive. 



I shall make another trial this winter, 

 and add a muslin curtain to the under- 

 side of the sashes, according to the plan 

 recommended by one of your correspond- 

 ents. I shall also during most of the 

 winter cover tlie sashes wiih matting to 

 prevent too frequent flights. 



I am glad to learn that Mr. Dadaut pro- 

 poses to procure for us the chronios issued 

 by the Milanese society. He is entitled 

 to our thanks for his disinterestedness in 

 distributing them at cost. This reminds 

 us of Mr. J. S. Coe's remark that an ear- 

 nest' progressive bee-keeper will, to his 

 utmost power, forward the best interests of 

 the fraternity. It has* always seemed to 

 me that the bee-fraternity constituted the 

 fourth learned profession, and that all its 

 members were, as in the other professions, 

 entitled by courtesy, and the laws of 

 brotherhood, to the best ideas and results 



of the researches of each one of its mem- 

 bers; and that any one unwilling to 

 acknowledge this, had mistaken his call- 

 ing. 



My queen of Dadant's importation, 

 proved prolific ; her drones, and workers,^ 

 her queens and their progeny also proved 

 dark enough to satisfy the most fastidious 

 lover of the dark Italian. There was no 

 trace of Albinoism. As formyself I must 

 confess to the weakness of wanting my 

 Italians with the three bands of uniform 

 bright golden yellow, and so distinct as to 

 be seen without fully distending the abdo- 

 men when the third ring seems to be a 

 reflection of the second. But if the com- 

 ing bee must be so dark as to be hardly 

 distinguished from hybrids, in order to be 

 most prolific and endowed with the high- 

 est and best instincts for gathering honey 

 earl}^ and late and storing in boxes — why 

 then I suppose I must sacrifice beauty to 

 utility. 



Take it on the whole, the season has 

 been very poor so far, but enough stores 

 have been gathered to induce a fair 

 amount of swarming, and the colonies 

 are now strong so that we expect during 

 August and September, our usual honey 

 months, to have an abundant harvest. 



New Bedford, Mass. Edw. P. Abbe. 



For the American Bee Journal, 

 Amende Honorable.— Errata. 



Since my article on honey adultera- 

 tion appeared in The American Bee 

 JouRNAii, for August, I have received a 

 note from Mr. Perrine in which he desires 

 me to say that the " statement " respecting 

 Mrs. Spaids was not made at his " sugges- 

 tion." He says he regrets the intimation 

 exceedingly, as he " hopes there is now 

 no unpleasant feeling existing between 

 us." 



I give place to the above with pleasure, 

 and will forthwith say that Mr. Perrine 

 knew nothing about the preparation of 

 the article in question, and that, in fact, 

 we have not seen nor communicated with 

 each other for the past six months ; also, 

 that no one, save the writer, is responsible 

 for the statements and intimations found 

 therein. 



In justice to all, permit me to add that 

 I have no desire to convey the idea that 

 Mr. Perrine is the only first-class honey 

 dealer in Chicago. Special mention was 

 made of Mr. P. because it could not very 

 well be avoided. Adam Kernberger, suc- 

 cessor of Baumeister & Co., is likewise a 

 first-class Chicago dealer in honey. I have 

 frequently examined samples of the honey 

 put up by Mr. K. and have alwaj's found 

 them to be A No. 1. At present his trade 

 is not so extensive as Perrine's but it is 

 having a fine healthy growth. I judge 

 him to be a straightforward business man 



